Between the Lines and Out of the Box: Critical Literacy

This case study examined the perceptions of a preservice teacher during the implementation of critical literacy with the integration of digital technology into a K-5 classroom setting. A formative experiment (Bradley & Reinking, 2011) model was used to better understand the perceptions of preservice teachers while implementing critical literacy in K-5 classroom settings. The teacher-centered, continuous mentorship focused on critical literacy and technology integration served as the intervention. This case study showed how teachers can fit critical literacy through technology integration into the literacy block by engaging students in shared or interactive reading activities with predetermined critical literacy questions as discussion points throughout the story. The results of this study also indicate that teaching critical literacy appears to affect elementary grade students positively. The pedagogical goal is for teachers to modify mandated curriculum so that they build learning experiences about student’s lives in engaging ways-multiple, multimodal, and multifaceted