Julie L. Pennington

Educating for Critical Democratic Literacy educates pre and in-service elementary school teachers in teaching four key civics concepts through social studies and literacy integration. Written together by both literacy and social studies experts, it is based on a conceptual revision of the notions of civic education and critical literacy called "Critical Democratic Literacy" (CDL). The authors’ dual expertise allows them to effectively detail the applications of their knowledge for teachers, from lesson conception to implementation to assessment. Part I explains the theory and basic principles of CDL and provides background information on the role of democracy in education. Part II consists of four sample lessons designed using the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) C3 Framework and the Common Core State Standards for English/Language Arts (CSS ELA) standards. Part III includes a primer explaining the four civic concepts that frame the book. Fully aligned to both the CCSS ELA and NCSS C3 Framework, this timely resource provides future and current teachers with specific lessons and tools, as well as the skills to develop their own rigorous, integrated units of study.

Educating for Critical Democratic Literacy educates pre and in-service elementary school teachers in teaching four key civics concepts through social studies and literacy integration. Written together by both literacy and social studies experts, it is based on a conceptual revision of the notions of civic education and critical literacy called "Critical Democratic Literacy" (CDL). The authors’ dual expertise allows them to effectively detail the applications of their knowledge for teachers, from lesson conception to implementation to assessment. Part I explains the theory and basic principles of CDL and provides background information on the role of democracy in education. Part II consists of four sample lessons designed using the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) C3 Framework and the Common Core State Standards for English/Language Arts (CSS ELA) standards. Part III includes a primer explaining the four civic concepts that frame the book. Fully aligned to both the CCSS ELA and NCSS C3 Framework, this timely resource provides future and current teachers with specific lessons and tools, as well as the skills to develop their own rigorous, integrated units of study.

Excavating Whiteness: How White Teachers’ Histories, Communities, and Relationships Frame Their Understandings about Race follows a group of sixteen teachers, fourteen White, one African American, and one Native American teacher as they participated in a university summer course centered on examining the role of race in education. The voices and experiences of the teachers powerfully demonstrate their various views and stages of racial identity development. The teachers’ interactions illustrate the difficulties they encountered, how they engaged with each other, and how and why they retreated from learning opportunities due their past, their relationships within previous learning communities, and within the newly created learning community of the course. Excavating Whiteness follows the story of a group of teachers working together to understand why race matters in their lives as educators. Their individual journeys through the course are representative of the myriad of ways White teachers respond to race and can provide others with insights into the nuanced ways race and identity are bound by personal history, experiences, and beliefs.

2020 Society of Professors of Education Outstanding Book Award winner Autoethnography: Process, Product, and Possibility for Critical Social Research provides a short introduction to the methodological tools and concepts of autoethnography, combining theoretical approaches with practical "how to" information. Written for social science students, teachers, teacher educators, and educational researchers, the text shows readers how autoethnographers collect, analyze, and report data. With its grounding in critical social theory and inclusion of innovative methods, this practical resource will move the field of autoethnography forward.

Literacy and justice for all? What happens when teachers are faced with educational policies ostensibly focused on ensuring that all children will be reading by third grade? This book focuses on how eight educators in one Texas elementary school navigated the policies of the Texas Reading Initiative, a precursor to the No Child Left Behind Act. Exploring how an educational policy that supported a monolithic, simply defined view of literacy education actually decreased expectations for all students, teachers share their views and provide a basis for understanding how leaving no child behind has the potential to lower the bar for many children. The Colonization of Literacy Education reveals how teachers' instructional practices were subject to educational policy constructions of the literacy capabilities of children of color.