The Possibilities of Moving from Theory to Practice in Urban Schools (Peter Lang)

with Jeffrey M. Duncan-Andrade
Editorial Review from Amazon.com
This book furthers the discussion concerning critical pedagogy and its practical applications for urban contexts. It addresses two looming, yet under-explored questions that have emerged with the ascendancy of critical pedagogy in the educational discourse: (1) What does critical pedagogy look like in work with urban youth? and (2) How can a systematic investigation of critical work enacted in urban contexts simultaneously draw upon and push the core tenets of critical pedagogy? Addressing the tensions inherent in enacting critical pedagogy —between working to disrupt and to successfully navigate oppressive institutionalized structures, and between the practice of critical pedagogy and the current standards-driven climate—The Art of Critical Pedagogy seeks to generate authentic internal and external dialogues among educators in search of texts that offer guidance for teaching for a more socially just world.

Pedagogies of Access, Dissent, and Liberation (Routledge)

Editorial Review from Amazon.com
“Critical Literacy and Urban Youth” offers an interrogation of critical theory developed from the author’s work with young people in classrooms, neighborhoods, and institutions of power. Through cases, an articulated process, and a theory of literacy education and social change, Morrell extends the conversation among literacy educators about what constitutes critical literacy while also examining implications for practice in secondary and postsecondary American educational contexts. This book is distinguished by its weaving together of theory and practice. Morrell begins by arguing for a broader definition of the “critical” in critical literacy - one that encapsulates the entire Western philosophical tradition as well as several important “Othered” traditions ranging from postcolonialism to the African-American tradition.Next, he looks at four cases of critical literacy pedagogy with urban youth: teaching popular culture in a high school English classroom; conducting community-based critical research; engaging in cyber-activism; and doing critical media literacy education. Lastly, he returns to theory, first considering two areas of critical literacy pedagogy that are still relatively unexplored: the importance of critical reading and writing in constituting and reconstituting the self, and critical writing that is not just about coming to a critical understanding of the world but that plays an explicit and self-referential role in changing the world. Morrell concludes by outlining a grounded theory of critical literacy pedagogy and considering its implications for literacy research, teacher education, classroom practice, and advocacy work for social change.

Editorial Review from Amazon.com
Morrell’s book is profoundly important for teachers, teacher educators, and those who are interested in issues of 21st literacy acquisition more generally. What separates Morrell’s work from so much of the other pieces in this field is that they are emergent out of literacy instruction that he is actually doing himself. Much of what passes for literacy theory and urban educational theory more generally is profound on paper and passe in practice. This happens in large part because teachers struggle to understand what it means for them in their day to day practice and urban teacher educators struggle to help them with this challenge. Much can be said about why this is the case, but Morrell’s book helps us to begin to understand how to circumvent this shortcoming in the field of literacy development.

Morrell’s book begins by helping us understand the expanding definition of literacy in lives of 21st Century youth. Although Lee, Gee, Alvermann and others are beginning to investigate this topic with more vigor, there is still a dearth of research on the ways in which popular cultural literacies are exploding traditional definitions of being literate. The historically conservative definition of literacy is tremendously significant for our understanding of literacy development and instruction among new century youth. Morrell’s work helps us to understand this theoretically. But, what makes the book even more compellling and useful for those involved in educating young people, or preparing/supporting those that plan to do so, is that he maps this theory onto real classroom practice. Drawing from his own practice and the voices of America’s most marginalized youth, Morrell provides readers with a grounded theory of practice about engaging secondary literacy instruction. The books is particulary useful because it gives educators insight into the practice of drawing on youth popular cultural literacies as a scaffold into more traditional academic literacy acquistion. The book is replete with examples of how this can be accomplished, the theoretical underpinnings to justify such an approach, and resources for teachers that are inclined to take on such a project in their own work.

I highly recommend this book for literacy instructors at all levels and those involved with the challenge of preparing/supporting teachers in this endeavor.

Book Review from Amazon.com
Becoming Critical Researchers analyzes the findings of a two-year ethnographic study of the apprenticeship of urban youth as critical researchers of popular culture. Drawing on new literacy studies, critical pedagogy, and sociocultural learning theory, this book documents the changes in student participation within a critical research-focused community of practice. These changes include the acquisition and development of academic and critical literacies and the resulting translations of these literacies into increased academic performance, greater access to college, and commitment to social action. This book inserts critical and postmodern theory into the conception and evaluation of classroom practice and its findings suggest that programs centering on the lived experiences of teens can indeed achieve the goals of critical education, while also promoting academic achievement in urban schools.