Paying Attention: Talking about Social Justice in a Reading Intervention Program

Attempting discussions about social justice issues in a junior high classroom can be a daunting but critical task. Uncertainty about how to get conversations started, along with fear about where such talk might lead, can make the task easy to dismiss. In this paper, one teacher tells her story of inviting rich discussion about a variety of issues—including racism, sexism, and poverty—in a classroom targeting 8th and 9th graders in a reading intervention program. Strategies to encourage discussion included inviting all students, modeling critical questioning, being open and honest, sharing control with students, and finding the right texts.