Making room for discomfort: Exploring critical literacy and practice in a teacher education classroom
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to relay and discuss the experiences of a teacher educator teaching critical literacy to preservice teacher candidates immediately following the US presidential election in 2016. In a time of increasing polarization in the USA, teachers and teacher educators have unique opportunities to create honest spaces for dialogue, but developing classrooms that can serve as these spaces is not an easy task.
Design/methodology/approach – This paper is a self-study practitioner narrative of a teacher educator teaching a secondary literacy course.
Findings – The paper discusses the importance of addressing critical literacy in the context of particular historical moments and as more sustained, engaged work that makes room for minority voices that may not be heard across particular settings. The findings prompt teachers and teacher educators to consider whose voices are present, absent and valued during difficult conversations.
Originality/value – Making room for uncomfortable dialogues in preservice teacher education classrooms can transform the ways in which teacher candidates (and their future students) engage with written and nontraditional texts in the world around them. Promoting spaces for critical, authentic and honest dialogue requires teacher educators to model the willingness to move beyond their own comfort zones and interrogate their own deeply help beliefs. This paper is evidence of engaged self-reflection, a necessary part of transformative practice related to critical literacy.
Reference
Hsieh, B. (2017). Making room for discomfort: Exploring critical literacy and practice in a teacher education classroom.
English Teaching: Practice & Critique,
16(3), 290–302.
https://doi.org/10.1108/ETPC-05-2017-0086
Journal
English Teaching: Practice and Critique
Analysis
Is this article part of a larger project or series of studies?
no
Does this study draw on a large, preexisting data set?
no
Research Approach
- practitioner research
- Self-Study
Geographic Setting
Institutional Context
Certification Level
- English Education
- Secondary
Programatic Focus
Research Location Context
- Content area literacy course
- University
Preservice Participants
Preservice Sample Size
23
Duration of Data Collection
Data Sources
- course discussions
- reflections
Data Analysis Tools
Researcher Positionality
- inside (staying their own students)
- Inside (studying their own practices)
Research Questions
What are "ways to honor [a teacher educator's beliefs, support students in ways consistent with critical literacy and facilitate conversations that might push our learning community to think beyond our individual perspectives"?
Is this research question explicit from the manuscript? Combination