Critical Literacy

Lisa Patel Stevens has published refereed journal articles in top reading research journals exploring practical, research, and policy issues surrounding critical literacy. She has also conducted dozens of professional development sessions on the use of critical literacy in the classroom; these sessions have provided rich opportunities to participate in the complicated implementation of critical literacy with teachers across schooling levels and backgrounds. This experience helps to inform the praxis tone of this book. Stevens is an experienced researcher and practitioner in the area of reading and literacy education. She has co-authored (with Thomas Bean) several chapters on reading and literacy. Thomas W. Bean, Ph.D., is a Professor of Literacy and Reading in the Teaching and Learning Department, College of Education, at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Tom earned his Ph.D. at Arizona State University and is considered a leading scholar in content area literacy and the infusion of multicultural and global young adult literature in the classroom. His work has been published in the ALAN Review, Reading Research Quarterly, and the Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy. Along with Co-Author Dr. Judith Dunkerly-Bean, he served as co-editor of the International Reading Association’s Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy. Tom is senior author of the widely used text, Content Area Literacy: An Integrated Approach (10th ed.). He can be contacted at: beant1@unlv.nevada.edu.

• Foreword by Michele KnobelPrefaceChapter 1: Redefining LiteracyGenealogy of the Critical: Paulo FreireDefining Critical LiteracyMrs. Cutter’s ClassProblematizing Classroom Applications of Critical LiteracyChapter 2: Why We Need Critical Literacy: Dynamic Texts and Identity FormationLiteracy Proficiency and New Texts: A Moving TargetTexts, Attention, and Identity?The Transformation of Texts and Readers’ AttentionTexts as Tools of Identity FormationTexts: Mediating Identity and CultureChapter 3: Critical Literacy and Teacher EducationTeacher IdentityRisk, the Future, and Critical LiteracyDisrupting Education Discourses With Critical LiteracyCritical Media Literacy and Teacher EducationResident CriticChapter 4: Critical Literacy at the Nexus of PraxisMaintaining Critical Literacy as a Moving TargetEssential Features of Critical LiteracyChapter 5: Praxis Point 1: Popular Culture, Fandom, and BoundariesSnapshot 1: Critical Media Literacy and Social StudiesReflection: Practice Informing TheoryChapter 6: Praxis Point 2: Critical Numeracy Across the CurriculumSnapshot 2: Critical Literacy Across the CurriculumReflection: Practice Informing TheoryCritical Literacy and the Institutional ContextChapter 7: Praxis Point 3: Cycles of Deconstruction and ReconstructionSetting the Context and ParticipantsReflection: Practice Informing TheoryAssessing Critical LiteracyReflections on Critical Literacy as PraxisChapter 8: Critical Literacy and Educational Policy TextsWhat Is Policy?Critical Policy AnalysisNational DiscoursesMoving From National to Local: Complex ConnectionsChapter 9: Critical Policy Analysis in Local ContextsPolicy and GovernmentalityLocal ConversationsTransforming Policy InteractionsEducational Policy and Complexity Theory