Enacting Critical Literacy in English Classrooms

In a time of increased standardization and top-down reform, teachers with democratic and social justice-oriented perspectives must work to create classroom spaces that value student voice and position them as knowledge holders. This article draws on a critical literacy framework to analyze the case study of one teacher working within a teacher study group on adolescent literacy education in a large urban area. This teacher re-articulated her values in the context of a constraining school culture, made sense of her practice in order to improve it, and considered how she might negotiate the micropolitical environment of her school. The article concludes with a discussion of how the study group provided structured support for this teacher's inquiry and discusses how teachers can work together to open more space for enacting critical literacy practices within constraining policy environments.