Accessible and engaging, this methods textbook provides a roadmap for improving reading instruction. Leland, Lewison, and Harste explain why certain ineffective or debunked literacy techniques prevail in the classroom, identify the problematic assumptions that underly these popular myths, and offer better alternatives for literacy teaching. Grounded in a mantra that promotes critical thinking and agency-Enjoy! Dig Deeply! Take Action!-this book presents a clear framework, methods, and easy applications for designing and implementing effective literacy instruction. Numerous teaching strategies, classroom examples, teacher vignettes, and recommendations for using children's and adolescent literature found in this book make it an ideal text for preservice teachers in elementary and middle school reading, and English language arts methods courses as well as a practical resource for professional in-service workshops and teachers. Key features include: Instructional engagements for supporting students as they read picture books, chapter books, and news articles, and interact with social media and participate in the arts and everyday life; Voices from the field that challenge mythical thinking and offer realworld examples of what effective reading and language arts instruction looks like in practice; Owl statements that alert readers to key ideas for use when planning reading and language arts instruction.

* New edition will include updated, recent children's literature and popular culture examples * Expanded attention to censorship, culturally and linguistically diverse learners, and the needs of students around the world. * Invites multiple ways for engaging with children's literature that extend beyond the typical genre and elements approach * Explains and shows how to integrate children's literature into and across the curriculum in effective, purposeful ways * Shows what a critical approach looks like in real classrooms- numerous vignettes throughout offer examples of teachers implementing critical pedagogy * The materials and practical strategies focus on issues that impact children's lives-building from students' personal experiences and cultural knowledge * Updated Companion Website enriches and extend sthe text-includes annotated bibliography of literature selections; suggested text sets; resources by chapter; and syllabi, strategies, and assignments

Accessible and engaging, this methods textbook provides a roadmap for improving reading instruction. Leland, Lewison, and Harste explain why certain ineffective or debunked literacy techniques prevail in the classroom, identify the problematic assumptions that underly these popular myths, and offer better alternatives for literacy teaching. Grounded in a mantra that promotes critical thinking and agency-Enjoy! Dig Deeply! Take Action!-this book presents a clear framework, methods, and easy applications for designing and implementing effective literacy instruction. Numerous teaching strategies, classroom examples, teacher vignettes, and recommendations for using children's and adolescent literature found in this book make it an ideal text for preservice teachers in elementary and middle school reading, and English language arts methods courses as well as a practical resource for professional in-service workshops and teachers. Key features include: Instructional engagements for supporting students as they read picture books, chapter books, and news articles, and interact with social media and participate in the arts and everyday life; Voices from the field that challenge mythical thinking and offer realworld examples of what effective reading and language arts instruction looks like in practice; Owl statements that alert readers to key ideas for use when planning reading and language arts instruction.

* New edition will include updated, recent children's literature and popular culture examples * Expanded attention to censorship, culturally and linguistically diverse learners, and the needs of students around the world. * Invites multiple ways for engaging with children's literature that extend beyond the typical genre and elements approach * Explains and shows how to integrate children's literature into and across the curriculum in effective, purposeful ways * Shows what a critical approach looks like in real classrooms- numerous vignettes throughout offer examples of teachers implementing critical pedagogy * The materials and practical strategies focus on issues that impact children's lives-building from students' personal experiences and cultural knowledge * Updated Companion Website enriches and extend sthe text-includes annotated bibliography of literature selections; suggested text sets; resources by chapter; and syllabi, strategies, and assignments

This popular text articulates a powerful theory of critical literacy in all its complexity. Critical literacy practices encourage students to use language to question the everyday world, interrogate the relationship between language and power, analyze popular culture and media, understand how power relationships are socially constructed, and consider actions that can be taken to promote social justice. By providing both a model for critical literacy instruction and many examples of how critical practices can be enacted in daily school life in elementary and middle school classrooms, "Creating Critical Classrooms" meets a huge need for a practical, theoretically based text on this topic.

Pedagogical features in each chapter

Teacher-researcher Vignette

Theories that Inform Practice

Critical Literacy Chart

Thought Piece

Invitations for Disruption

Lingering Questions

New in the Second Edition

End-of-chapter "Voices from the Field"

More upper elementary-grade examples

New text sets drawn from "Classroom Resources"

Streamlined, restructured, revised, and updated throughout

Expanded Companion Website now includes annotated Classroom Resources; Text Sets; Resources by Chapter; Invitations for Students; Literacy Strategies; Additional Resources "

This popular text articulates a powerful theory of critical literacy in all its complexity. Critical literacy practices encourage students to use language to question the everyday world, interrogate the relationship between language and power, analyze popular culture and media, understand how power relationships are socially constructed, and consider actions that can be taken to promote social justice. By providing both a model for critical literacy instruction and many examples of how critical practices can be enacted in daily school life in elementary and middle school classrooms, "Creating Critical Classrooms" meets a huge need for a practical, theoretically based text on this topic.

Pedagogical features in each chapter

Teacher-researcher Vignette

Theories that Inform Practice

Critical Literacy Chart

Thought Piece

Invitations for Disruption

Lingering Questions

New in the Second Edition

End-of-chapter "Voices from the Field"

More upper elementary-grade examples

New text sets drawn from "Classroom Resources"

Streamlined, restructured, revised, and updated throughout

Expanded Companion Website now includes annotated Classroom Resources; Text Sets; Resources by Chapter; Invitations for Students; Literacy Strategies; Additional Resources "