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Reading Matters

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Reading Matters | Volume 16 • Winter 2016 |

scira.org

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81

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Moving Beyond a Pedestrian Approach:

Rethinking HowWe Use Social Justice-Themed

Children’s Literature in Our Classrooms

Jill Shumaker, Duquesne University

Sandra Quiñones, Duquesne University

Abstract — In this article, we share our experiences and perspectives

about the use of social justice-themed children’s literature in both

early childhood and university classrooms. Specifically, we describe

a pedagogical challenge regarding the meaningful use of picture

books about poverty and homelessness with young learners. This

challenge unearthed issues for both of us to contend with—namely,

the need to go beyond a pedestrian approach to read-alouds. A

pedestrian approach denotes a lack of depth and engagement with

the text and the complex issues that it raises. Thus, there is a need to

create authentic learning experiences grounded in children’s literature

and social action; particularly in regards to the Common Core State

Standards. In the implications section, we provide recommendations

to early childhood practitioners and teacher educators. In doing

so, we contribute to the growing scholarship about how to critically

use children’s literature as a vehicle to address social justice issues.

The purpose of education in an unjust society

is to bring about equality and justice.

Students must play an active part

in the learning process.

Teachers and students are both simultaneously

learners and producers of knowledge.

—Paulo Freire, as cited in Mary Cowhey’s

1st Grade Classroom (2006)

Part of our role as educators is to expose students—both early

childhood and university students—to a variety of classroom

materials that reflect our increasingly diverse and global society

(Nieto, 2013; Silvers & Shorey, 2012; Souto-Manning, 2013).

In this collaborative narrative, we share our experiences and

perspectives about the use of social-justice themed children’s

literature, specifically realistic fiction picture books centered

on issues of poverty and homelessness. We approach this topic

from the perspective of an early childhood classroom teacher

(Jill) and a teacher educator in literacy education (Sandra).

For the purposes of this paper, we describe a pedagogical

challenge posed to us during the 2014 Barbara A. Sizemore

Urban Education Conference at Duquesne University. This

pedagogical challenge pointed to an area of development for

both of us to contend with—namely, the need to go beyond what

we call

a pedestrian approach

to social justice-themed realistic

fiction picture books. A pedestrian approach is one that merely

raises awareness about biases and inequities, but does little to

interrogate and respond to biases and inequities. In other words,

a pedestrian approach denotes a lack of depth and engagement

with the text and the complex issues that the text raises.

We ground our conceptual thinking in Nieto’s (2013) definition

of social justice in education. Nieto defines social justice as having

four components, two of which inform our thinking. Teaching

within a social justice framework “challenges, confronts, and

disrupts misconceptions, untruths, and stereotypes that lead

to or exacerbate structural inequality and discrimination” (p.

21). Moreover, “social justice in education is about creating a

learning environment that promotes critical thinking and supports

agency for social change, in effect providing students with an

apprenticeship in their role in a democratic society” (p. 21). This

lens complements the use of realistic fiction picture books about

poverty and homelessness as tools for critical thinking that

spurs action at the individual, community and systemic levels.

In this article, we emphasize the need to go beyond a

pedestrian

approach

to social justice-themed children’s picture books in our

classrooms. In so doing, our work contributes to the literature in

two ways. First, we pursue this challenge from the perspective of

a classroom teacher and a literacy teacher educator. Second, we

provide the reader with a discussion of the relevant literature and

A Sneak Peak from our Winter 2016 Issue

Our next issue of Reading Matters will focus on the issues of social justice education

and issues of equity in classrooms. This article by Jill Shumaker and Sandra Quiñones

was selected as both a preview and an inspiration for themed articles to be included

in our next issue. We challenge you, our readers, to explore the ways that you can

research and practice equity education in our schools, and how we can empower

students from pre-K to university to challenge the status quo in order to create a

more just society. We look forward to what you will have to share!

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