Transformation Through Nonfiction Young Adult Literature: Developing Critical Consciousness in the Era of Common Core

• In Event: 44.050 - Inside Schools, Outside Schools: Transforming Student Experiences

Abstract

In order to properly equip pre-service teachers (PSTs) with the tools required to navigate instructional shifts generated by the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), teacher educators must recognize and respond to the changing realities of secondary classrooms. This study offers one such recognition and response through Sonia Nazario’s novel Enrique’s Journey. Our understanding of the CCSS and its incongruences with social justice-oriented pedagogies as well as our conception that immigration is a timely, salient issue for PSTs, teachers compelled us to craft an assignment that would synergize—and humanize—these conversations. This study uncovers how, and in what ways, using non-fiction young adult literature could stimulate PSTs’ critical consciousness around the issue of Latin immigration.

Authors

• Ashley Summer Boyd, Washington State University - Pullman

• Jeanne Dyches, Iowa State University