Examining Urban Teacher Candidates' Use of Critical Media Literacy

• In Event: Multimodality in Literacy Education

Abstract

Twenty urban teacher candidates from a Fellows program interning in diverse public schools were asked to complete a critical literacy assignment. The assignment was to read and respond to an article in the New York Times by columnist, Charles Blow (2020), who recently questioned the placement of statues pertaining to the Confederacy throughout the United States.
For critical theorists, education is much more than memorizing and replicating knowledge – it involves carefully considering existing knowledge, as represented in textbooks and school curricula, so that the biases and assumptions embodied in them can be identified and social justice might be obtained. Results indicated mixed responses yet animated discussion related to lenses perspective teachers bring to teaching accepting educational responsibilities.

Authors

• Francine C. Falk-Ross, Pace University

• Peter McDermott, Pace University