Abstract
Jones (2006) describes critical literacy as “a pair of eyeglasses that allows one to see beyond the familiar and comfortable” (p. 67). It was precisely this lens that my preservice teachers were sorely missing as they entered my literacy courses and one that I was determined to help them find through my classes. This, of course, was a tall order considering that our literacy department had just reorganized an already-packed curriculum to meet the many external local, state, and national expectations. This was also going to be harder than I thought because many of my students had never been out of the tristate in which we lived and seemed perfectly content with the familiar. Fresh out of my progressive doctoral program, I soon realized that I had on rose-colored glasses, expecting to create critical thinkers who were going to interrogate educational issues and be committed to fighting for more equitable schooling.
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Notes
- 1.
All names are pseudonyms.
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Clarke, L.W. (2009). Adjusting to Rose-Colored Glasses: Finding Creative Ways to Be Critical in Kentucky. In: Groenke, S.L., Hatch, J.A. (eds) Critical Pedagogy and Teacher Education in the Neoliberal Era. Explorations of Educational Purpose, vol 6. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9588-7_14
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