ABSTRACT
Many teachers and preservice teachers feel tension about the teaching of reading. Tension about the views often leaves teachers and the public not only feeling confused, but caught in the middle and, at times, exasperated by legislative actions, changing standards, and the popular press’ representations of teachers, children, and schools. Learning is a commitment to intense searching, data collection, data analysis, arguments about what data seem to say, and presentation of the data in a manner that reflects the content and intent of the data. Learning in the CL classroom is active and may involve individuals working alone, in pairs, in small groups, or with the entire class. Learners in Critical Literacy classrooms are treated as and expected to be productive and thoughtful members of a democratic community. They are expected to participate in class meetings, suggest topics for those meetings, and explore their own feelings and beliefs.
