Critical Literacy : A Novice Teacher in an Urban Classroom

The author examines the efforts of a teacher to bring critical literacy to life in a classroom, and also defines and critiques the use of this pedagogical practice within Quebec Anglophone schools. She points out that critical literacy is often referred to in many government-based curriculums across Canada, and especially within Quebec's Anglophone documents; however the author challenges whether or not it is actually enacted in the classroom. By primary means of reflection on three critical incidents of teaching and examination into professional practices, the author reveals that it is far too often teachers that are convinced they are enacting the emancipatory purpose of critical literacy, but in reality, due to personal and outside (peers, administration, community) censorship the pedagogical act is greatly diluted. Standardized programs developed outside of Canada, like Success for All or the Daily Five, which are used in many Anglophone school boards, are used as examples of how critical literacy is often misunderstood and misappropriated. By primary means of personal narrative reflection and a review of the literature, the author examines whether or not critical literacy, as defined from a critical pedagogy position, can be found within the Quebec's English-language schools, and what barriers exist to hinder its implementation.

Master's Thesis

McGill University

Montreal

2011

iv-85

en