Introduction. Living a critical literacy curriculum -- What is critical literacy? -- Critical literacy texts -- Building a critical literacy curriculum -- Creating spaces for critical literacies -- Inquiries into critical literacy -- An amusement park for birds: The influence of Reggio Emilia documentation -- 1. Creating spaces for critical literacy. Getting beyond prescriptive curricula, the mandated curricula, and core standards -- Critical literacy as pleasurable work -- What complexities are involved with engaging in critical literacy practice? -- How our classroom was organized -- How our school day was organized -- Common elements of our school day -- The role of parents/guardians -- 2. Getting started: setting the scene. Constructing a curricular audit trail -- Choosing artifacts -- What is an audit trail? -- Using an audit trail as a tool for generating, constructing, and circulating meaning -- The audit trail grows -- Creating a rain forest play -- Raising issues of gender -- Audit trail as a tool for constructing curriculum -- Deciding on what incidents to represent on our audit trail -- Visibly connecting issues on our audit trail -- Critical literacy across the curriculum -- The audit trail: assessment and evaluation -- The audit trail and standards of learning -- Alternate possibilities or constructing an audit trail -- 3. The French café. Setting the scene -- What is a French café? -- Analyzing the French café -- Learning about powerful forms of language -- Offering children alternate ways of acting -- Critical reflections and pedagogical questions -- 4. Our friend is a vegetarian. Setting the scene -- We have vegetarians at our school? -- Problematizing social text -- Extending our literacies -- Further extensions of the vegetarian issue -- Reflective summary -- Critical reflections and pedagogical questions -- 5. Save the Beluga. Setting the scene -- Save the Beluga -- Baby Beluga take two: our version -- Grounding our work in social intent with real-world effects -- Further opportunities for analyzing the book -- Analyzing the Beluga incident -- Critical reflections and pedagogical questions -- Resources on critically endangered species -- 6. We know how McDonald's thinks. Setting the scene -- The McDonald's Happy Meal as text -- We know how McDonald's thinks: the discussion continues -- Reflecting on how McDonald's thinks -- Who can have collectibles? -- Reflecting on the conversation -- Further analysis of the Happy Meal -- Reflecting on the conversation -- Final thoughts on the Happy Meal discussions in the classroom -- Social action outside the classroom -- Designing a toy container -- Critical reflections and pedagogical suggestions -- Revisiting the Happy Meal -- 7. A look back over the year. Organizing a junior kindergarten conference: a culminating experience for our negotiated critical literacy curriculum -- Using social critique, social analysis, and social action to construct literacy -- Asking questions that matter: a final reflection -- What next year's junior kindergartens should know -- Epilogue : Why critical literacy continues to matter today and in the future ; New lenses through which to do critical literacy: the use of technology -- Appendixes : A. Resources for negotiating critical literacies ; B. Alternate possibilities for constructing an audit trail.
Summary:
"In this innovative and engaging text, Vivian Maria Vasquez draws on her own classroom experience to demonstrate how issues raised from everyday conversations with pre-kindergarten children can be used to create an integrated critical literacy curriculum over the course of one school year. The strategies presented are solidly grounded in relevant theory and research. The author describes how she and her students negotiated a critical literacy curriculum; shows how they dealt with particular social and cultural issues and themes; and shares the insights she gained as she attempted to understand what it means to frame one's teaching from a critical literacy perspective. New in the 10th Anniversary Edition: "Getting Beyond Prescriptive Curricula, the Mandated Curriculum, and Core Standards;" "Critical Reflections and Pedagogical Questions" at the end of the demonstration chapters; "Resources for Negotiating Critical Literacies;" and "Alternate Possibilities for Conducting an Audit Trail." Companion Website: narratives of ways in which the audit trail has been used as a tool for teaching and learning; resources on critical literacy including links to other websites and blogs; podcast focused on critical literacy and young children."--Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.