(Re)Making of Identities: Critical Literacy–Inspired Practitioner Inquiry in an Urban Canadian Context

• In Event: Centering Student Identity in Our Practitioner Research: Crossing Borders, Systems, and Educational Life-Spans

Abstract

Objectives:
I conducted a practitioner research case study of my own practice in an urban high school in Toronto, Ontario, to understand the role that critical literacy plays in the relationships and the understanding of identity of racialized students. Over the course of the school year students learned to engage in discourses related to identity-making and remaking identities from critical perspectives as described by the work of Cummins (2001), Ballanger (2007),Friere (1972), Cammarota (2011), and Christensen (2000).

Theoretical Framework:
Researchers such as Cummins (2011), Moje (2002), Christensen (2011) and James (2011) have explored issues related to identity of multiracial and multiethic youth. I locate critical literacy in relation to meaning-making around identity, influenced by the work of Linda Christensen (2009, 2000).Using practitioner research, I hope to “challenge the power within teachers to question and theorize their own work” (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 2009).

Methods/Data:
This practitioner research case study (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 2009; Simon, Campano, Broderick, &Pantoja, 2012), involved systematic documentation and reflection,analysis of written classwork based on the themes of social justice, as well as document analysis including students’ creative writing and drawings.

Findings:
In the classroom, students engaged in critical literacy meaning-making in relation to their racialized identities. When these students are given an open forum their work becomes interdisciplinary and cross-curricular in ways that build a deeper knowledge and understanding of the students in the class for both the teacher and the student.

Significance:
This practitioner research study demonstrates the importance of inviting students’ whole lives into the classroom,suggesting that students are well-positioned to explore matters of critical literacy in relation to their diverse identities. This research demonstrates how students can begin to push an agenda of social justice and democracy through understanding their identity.

Author

• Airin Stephens