What Do Professional Journals in Elementary Literacy Education Say About Teaching Critical Literacy?

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 2
  In Roundtable Session: Considerations in Early Childhood and Elementary Literacy

Abstract

Professional journals provide an important source of information for teachers to maintain and build their knowledge about teaching. We examined what teachers would learn about teaching critical literacy from reading journals in literacy education. Content analysis served as our research method. All volumes of The Reading Teacher and Language Arts, published after the Common Core, were examined. Fifteen manuscripts meeting our search criteria were identified and clustered into four categories: (1) descriptions of successful critical literacy lessons; 2) theoretical articles examining the importance of critical literacy; (3) uses of critical literacy with literature and digital literacies; (4) ways the performing arts support critical literacy. We argue for increased need for teaching critical literacy in the elementary grades.

Authors

• Peter McDermott, Pace University

• Kathleen Gormley, The Sage Colleges