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In this article, we use practitioner research to explore the challenges and possibilities of including critical texts in elementary classrooms. In particular, we illustrate what happens when we invite preservice teachers to live a critical curriculum in two undergraduate literacy methods courses in distinct geographical locations. After situating the research within the current political moment characterized by standardization and discourses of certainty, we review existing literature on the challenges and opportunities of bringing social issues and critical texts into elementary classrooms. We then draw upon data from two undergraduate literacy methods courses to illustrate how pedagogies that center non-mainstream perspectives, make space for student inquiry, and model uncertainty have the potential to prompt preservice teachers to overcome barriers to including critical texts and to think differently about what might be possible in literacy teaching and learning.