Papers by Susan Cridland-Hughes
English Journal, Nov 1, 2015
As a first-year teacher in Baltimore City in 2001, I heard stories from my students that overwhel... more As a first-year teacher in Baltimore City in 2001, I heard stories from my students that overwhelmed me. Care was often sidelined in their personal lives even as external and structural factors placed them in the position of care-giving for others. Many of my students juggled child-care responsibilities for younger brothers and sisters as their parents worked two and three shifts; my students navigated unstable home and family situations, violence in the streets, police brutality, and the complications that came from being raised in the heart of the drug trade in Baltimore City. As I found myself buckling under the weight of students' challenges, a veteran teacher told me that the most important thing I could do for my students was to teach them as if their lives depended on it.After that conversation, I started fighting back against the challenges my students faced through my pedagogy, making transparent the externally imposed hierarchies through critical engagement with text and big ideas. What my veteran teacher friend did not tell me, however, was that the teaching of critical thought and reflection had to come from a place of care-I learned that the hard way. Although I taught my students as if their lives depended on it, it was not until I centered care in my curriculum and teaching that they flourished as intellectuals. Because I cared for my students and wanted to honor their experiences, I taught with passion, with analytical thought, and with a focus on critical literacy.Care and Critical Literacy as Joint Pillars of Classroom CommunitiesIn her 2010 book, Culturally Responsive Teaching: Theory, Research and Practice, Geneva Gay argues for the concept of multicultural teaching as "caring-in- action" (51). Caring-in- action is an articulation of care that highlights the act of engaging with another human being around the idea of learning and making meaning through activism. Among other things, the recommendations for a mode of teaching that centers care include "being academically demanding but personally supportive and encouraging" and "creating habits of inquiry, a sense of criticalness, and a moral edit among students to care for self and others" (Gay 52). Caring, in this context, becomes the foundation upon which learning builds and through which interactions flow. In Gay's perspective, caring is not added to a class or discipline; rather, caring is the nexus of education. This reconceptualization of the classroom is infinitely bigger than shifting who determines the focus of education. Instead, this shifts the "why" of education. If not to support the development of whole people, then why do we teach?Shifting attention to research in critical literacy, definitions of the term often revolve around the notion of critical literacy as action. One of the commonly cited definitions of critical literacy describes it as "habits of thought, reading, writing and speaking which go beneath surface meaning . . . to understand the deep meaning, root causes, social context, ideology, and personal consequences of any action" (Shor, Empowering 129). In this understanding of critical literacy, Ira Shor emphasizes the act of engaging critically with not only the act of interpreting but also with the active implications of that interpretation. Critical literacy has primarily been a conceptualization of literacy that emphasizes literacy within activism (Shor, "What" 284; Cridland-Hughes, "African American" 112, "Literacy" 195) and as the engagement with, and critique of, content. Using definitions such as this, we look to critical literacy to frame radical critique and action, to describe spaces where youth push back against oppressive structures and unwelcoming pedagogiesThe goal of exploring critically literate communities has been to document both the process of supporting critically literate adolescents and to argue for the connection between literacy and power. However, less attention is paid to the context in which critical literacy flourishes and how supportive relationships form the basis for hard conversations and reflection. …
Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, Nov 1, 2012
This study examines critical literacy and the intersections of oral, aural, written, and performa... more This study examines critical literacy and the intersections of oral, aural, written, and performative literate practices in City Debate, an afterschool program dedicated to providing debate instruction to students in a major Southeastern city. Previous research into definitions and beliefs about literacy in an urban debate program over its twenty year history described literacy activities in debate as active and activist, attributes connected with a belief in literacy as critical (Author, 2008). City Debate participants facilitated the development of critical literacy as students prepared to compete in debate tournaments, but also as youth, volunteers, and organizers worked together to develop a community framed around “critical reading, critical thinking, and critical speaking.” This study offers insight into how one empowering youth literacy community prepares students to use critical literacy in debate and throughout their lives.
Teaching and Teacher Education, Jun 1, 2021
Abstract Although there is a growing body of research related to disciplinary and critical litera... more Abstract Although there is a growing body of research related to disciplinary and critical literacy practices within social studies classrooms, little is known about how teachers cultivate these practices through structured debates within the school day. Focusing on teachers at one high school, the researchers used a qualitative case study to explore how debate promoted critical and disciplinary literacy, simultaneously providing space for student empowerment and agency. Findings demonstrated an increased focus by teachers on student-led learning, highlighting how teachers made incremental changes that prioritised students’ argumentation skills and comfort in sharing their voice throughout the debate process and beyond.
Routledge eBooks, Mar 11, 2022
In this article, we explore three cases at the intersection of sports and social studies: the bac... more In this article, we explore three cases at the intersection of sports and social studies: the backlash related to Sherman’s 2014 post-game interview with Andrews, the broadcasters of the 2014 NFL Combine, and the Coca-Cola advertisement. We offer some essential questions and a brief idea to guide teaching—a broad overview of the potential for each case within the aims of the social studies
Journal of curriculum theorizing, Mar 6, 2017
This article explores the theoretical ramifications of securitization on critical literacy and te... more This article explores the theoretical ramifications of securitization on critical literacy and teaching, linking the high stakes assessment movement and the rhetoric of security with the development of a culture of fear in classrooms. It can be argued that the current culture of fear actually makes for less secure and supportive classes, but a focus on affirming teaching through critical literacy and dialogue offers a curricular space for reclaiming the classroom.
Routledge eBooks, Jun 3, 2016
The Clearing House: A Journal Of Educational Strategies, Issues And Ideas, Apr 6, 2023
The Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas
A Field Guide to Community Literacy, 2022
English Teaching: Practice & Critique, 2018
PurposeThe purpose of this study is to explore the use of policy debate as a frame for developing... more PurposeThe purpose of this study is to explore the use of policy debate as a frame for developing critical participatory literacy skills focused on student engagement with current events.Design/methodology/approachUsing dialogism as a frame for a discussion-based course (Bakhtin, 1982; Reznitskya, 2012) and self-study as a methodological structure (Samaras, 2011), they explore the iterative process of shaping a policy debate curriculum across three separate cohorts. In the process, they share reflections and insights about what they learned about their assumptions as teachers.FindingsInstructors offer recommendations for structuring literacy practices that are dialogic and focused on student voice and policy activism. Specifically, authors suggest focusing attention to discussion activities, an emphasis on critical dialogue, where students engage with the ideas of others, and the practice of constant facilitator reflection to determine whether they have continued to center student v...
International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 2015
An extensive body of empirical data emphasizes the numerous benefits of incorporating discussion ... more An extensive body of empirical data emphasizes the numerous benefits of incorporating discussion into the social studies classroom. Therefore, it is necessary to better understand how educators view discussion and what experiences they have with in throughout their college courses. The authors conducted a single-case study at a large southeastern university that sought to explore how 12 preservice social studies teachers experience discussion in their college-level coursework. The study also sought to discover the extent to which the participants valued discussion within their coursework and whether they considered discussion as a practical approach for their own classroom. Findings suggest that the participants mostly experience lecture in their lower-level core curriculum courses as well as their teacher preparation coursework. Additionally, the study demonstrates that the participants valued discussion as a pedagogical approach, but they viewed it as a less practical strategy than more traditional forms of pedagogy such as lecturing.
Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 2012
This study examines critical literacy and the intersections of oral, aural, written, and performa... more This study examines critical literacy and the intersections of oral, aural, written, and performative literate practices in City Debate, an afterschool program dedicated to providing debate instruction to students in a major Southeastern city. Previous research into definitions and beliefs about literacy in an urban debate program over its twenty year history described literacy activities in debate as active and activist, attributes connected with a belief in literacy as critical (Author, 2008). City Debate participants facilitated the development of critical literacy as students prepared to compete in debate tournaments, but also as youth, volunteers, and organizers worked together to develop a community framed around “critical reading, critical thinking, and critical speaking.” This study offers insight into how one empowering youth literacy community prepares students to use critical literacy in debate and throughout their lives.
Teaching and Teacher Education, 2021
Abstract Although there is a growing body of research related to disciplinary and critical litera... more Abstract Although there is a growing body of research related to disciplinary and critical literacy practices within social studies classrooms, little is known about how teachers cultivate these practices through structured debates within the school day. Focusing on teachers at one high school, the researchers used a qualitative case study to explore how debate promoted critical and disciplinary literacy, simultaneously providing space for student empowerment and agency. Findings demonstrated an increased focus by teachers on student-led learning, highlighting how teachers made incremental changes that prioritised students’ argumentation skills and comfort in sharing their voice throughout the debate process and beyond.
The Handbook of Critical Literacies
English Journal, 2015
At a preparatory workshop session with 32 predominately African American high school students in ... more At a preparatory workshop session with 32 predominately African American high school students in the Emerging Scholars program, we introduced a clip of a Congressional hearing where Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) muted the microphone of Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) and adjourned the meeting ("Rep. Elijah Cummings"). "He just turned offthat microphone when that man was talking-can he do that?" erupted one student. "Did they do that because he was Black?" queried a second. "What we have here," we replied, "is a failure to communicate."In a nation and political climate where models of communication and respect for another's ideas are difficult to find, we take seriously our charge to support educational practices that prepare students to critically engage in a free and democratic society. If venerable public figures such as Representative Cummings, the ranking member of the committee where he was silenced for asking a question, have diffic...
Journal of language and literacy education, 2018
1 Abstract: This article explores the interaction between popular culture, community-based educat... more 1 Abstract: This article explores the interaction between popular culture, community-based education, and the establishment of a critically literate debate community, using the case of City Debate as one example of how critical literacy is embedded and taught through curriculum. Debate has historically been conceptualized as a structurally rigid space for traditionally academic youth (Fine, 2001); however, in the nontraditional space of the urban debate community, instructors and students used access points rooted in both popular culture and Black culture to engage students in deep thought about national policy and the ethics of actions (CridlandHughes, 2017; Warner & Bruschke, 2001). Using ethnographic methods, including participant observation and interviews (Merriam, 1998), document analysis (Prior, 2003), and triangulation, I examine the framing and implementation of one urban debate community, looking for how curriculum and pedagogy meet community critical literacy goals.
Journal of curriculum theorizing, 2017
This article explores the theoretical ramifications of securitization on critical literacy and te... more This article explores the theoretical ramifications of securitization on critical literacy and teaching, linking the high stakes assessment movement and the rhetoric of security with the development of a culture of fear in classrooms. It can be argued that the current culture of fear actually makes for less secure and supportive classes, but a focus on affirming teaching through critical literacy and dialogue offers a curricular space for reclaiming the classroom.
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Papers by Susan Cridland-Hughes