Language Arts - Volume 101, Issue 6, 2024

Using critical multicultural analysis and a justice-oriented approach to teaching history, this study analyzes the portrayal of George Washington in children’s biographies.

Drawing on ethnographic classroom data and a synthesis of research literature, this article presents a transformational civic pedagogy framework for fostering student-centered, equity-oriented civic learning.

Using sociocultural approaches, the authors document how one middle school teacher uses critical conversation to center humanity when discussing economic disparity.

Across the country, GOP legislators, parent groups, and school boards are banning books and attempting to take away the power of children’s literature. The resistance comes in the form of book bans and Critical Race Theory legislation. Taking away diverse books or banning the conversations that accompany such books from happening prevents books from being windows, mirrors, or sliding glass doors for students.

As the fifth piece of our year-long inquiry asks, “What does it mean to prepare students for civic engagement?,” Vivian Vasquez, Carolyn Clarke, and Barbara Comber speak to the importance of developing learning experiences that center our students’ experiences, questions, and tensions when helping them develop critical literacies.