Reimagining Literature Response: Critical Interrogations of Disability and Difference in a Third-Grade Classroom

• In Event: 64.033 - Innovative and Promising Pedagogy and Practices: The Social Context of Motivation

Abstract

This qualitative study documents a year-long collaborative research project between a 3rd grade classroom teacher and a university-based researcher. The goals of this work were two-fold: (1) to document the development of critical literacy practices over the course of a literature-based social action project, and (2) to explore how students’ understandings of disability and difference changed over the course of a literature-based social action project. Findings indicate that students became more critical and empathetic readers and composers as they analyzed texts featuring characters with disabilities, interrogated stereotypes, created multimodal video documentaries, and took action to promote social justice.

Author

• Robin Jocius, The Citadel