Do "the Little Things Do Something"? Preservice Teachers' Wrestling With "Truths" About Activism Through Picture Books

• In Event: Diversity and Activism in Teacher Education

Abstract

This paper examines preservice teachers' meaning-making in response to children’s literature depicting activism. Preservice teachers met in a professional learning group to read, write, and discuss children’s literature focused on portrayals of activism. Through multiple sessions and modes, preservice teachers made connections and disconnections to their lives and beliefs about activism. Using critical literacy and activism as frameworks, the findings illuminate the conflicting understanding of activism in the past versus present, as well as the roles that teachers inevitably play in leading young children around critical social issues. The significance of the paper implies the need for explicit opportunities and learning around the intersections of teaching critical literacy and activism as ways of being within and beyond the classroom walls.

Authors

• Lauren Fletcher, California State University - Stanislaus
  Presenting Author

• Erica Holyoke, University of Colorado - Denver
  Presenting Author