Critical Talk: How Urban 8th Grade Students Critically Talk About the Holocaust

With in the confines of this action research project I answered my question about how urban 8 th graders talk critically, specifically about the Holocaust. Using the book Night by Elie Wiesel three students from an urban upstate New York school district met with me and discussed the Holocaust, particularly events around the novel. In addition to participating in two critical discussions, the students wrote in their journals, answered a questionnaire and responded to a picture. The journals, questionnaire, picture response and transcriptions were analyzed using the four dimensions model of critical literacy. The study showed that students were able to talk critically about the Holocaust and how teacher questioning can affect discussion