Literacy Matters - Vol 21 - Winter 2021

educators address issues that deal with social justice and equality and bring them to the forefront to make students socially aware of such issues. In other words, students need to develop a sense of literary reactions, so when social justice and equity issues arise in text, they can appropriately respond because they know how to connect and give meaning to the work and its context. Researchers have underscored that teachers need a clear understanding of race and how schools and society have contributed to racial inequity (Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1995; Milner, 2012; Seider & Huguley, 2009;). Teachers often learn about issues of race and racism in teacher education programs but receive little guidance on facilitating related classroom conversations (Bolgatz, 2005; Lin, Lake, & Rice, 2008). Consequently, racial literacy is important in helping teachers improve upon their transformative potential in the classroom and can serve as an essential catalyst in the process of students’developing their use of language to challenge injustice in the world. The racially literate educator equips students with tools they can use to view the world, their role, and their identity in the world after pointing them in the right direction. However, there comes a time when the instructor must step back, confident they have provided enough for their students to continue on their path. By responding to texts that have social justice themes and issues of equality, students can use their own personal experience to become empowered to make necessary, timely, and relevant changes. Through text, students can become aware of inequalities that exist and become empowered by developing a critical response to make sense of them and become change agents. The author hopes students who engage in critical literacy and racial literacy be empowered to find their voice and use that power to change the world. Educators have seen numerous instances of the next generation of students who are stepping up to shape the future, but equipping them to analyze and think critically about issues can position our youth to be trendsetters and changemakers. The time is now as we cannot delay creating a better and more socially just and equity-focused society—a society where students will lead these conversations believing they can make a difference, and knowing their voice, lives, education, and existence matters. Thus, the structure of literature circles matters, especially as it relates to racial literacy practices. Using elements of literature circles can help participants’appropriate successful problem- solving strategies, collaborate on detailed and grounded explanations, and participate in a reflective dialogue that could foster racial literacy practices (Bolgatz, 2005). The development of these practices in whole-group discussions facilitated by literature circles shows how the group benefits from engaging in these small group conversations. Initially, teachers may want to avoid conversations that open opportunities for students to make biased comments while reminding them to posit facts when making a claim or a comment. However, without these opportunities, students do not have the chance to hear other perspectives and think critically or analytically (Bolgatz, 2005). Consequently, it is vital to provide space for students to work through issues independently without teacher facilitation. Simultaneously, a teacher’s guidance can be helpful, so teachers

must know when to step up or step back. Thus, racial literacy is not something students can attain overnight and in one instance of being exposed to critical texts and dialogue around race, social justice, and even privilege. Instead, students must practice through constant conversation and ample opportunities to engage in dialogue around these issues. Consequently, literature circles can be a way to engage in these conversations. By incorporating racial literacy and topics on race and racism in the classroom setting, these conversations are likely to shift over time. They can be used as a powerful tool for building social justice capacity in our schools. References Altman, A. (2020, June 4).Why the killing of george floyd sparked an american uprising. Time Magazine . https://time.com/5847967/george-floyd-protests-trump/. Avci, S., & Yüksel, A. (2011). Cognitive and affective contributions of the literature circles method on the acquisition of reading habits and comprehension skills in primary level students. Educational Science: Theory and Practice , 11 (3), 1295-1300.

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Batchelor, K. (2012). The“Us”in discuss: Grouping in literature circles. Voices from the Middle , 20 (1), 27-34.

Bolgatz, J. (2005). Revolutionary talk: Elementary teacher and students discuss race in a social studies class. Social Studies 96 (6), 259–264.

Bishop, R. S. (2007). Free within ourselves: The development of African American children ‘s literature. Portsmouth, NH: H

Boutte, G.S., Lopez-Robertson, J., & Powers-Costello, E. (2011). Moving beyond colorblindness in early childhood classrooms. Early Childhood Education Journal , 39(5), 335–342. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-011-0457-x

Christensen, L. (2000). Critical literacy: Teaching reading, writing and outrage. English Journal (High school edition), 53-67.

Ciardiello, A. V. (2004). Democracy’s young heroes: An instructional model of critical literacy practices. The Reading Teacher , 58(2), 138-147.

Comber, B., & Simpson, A. (2001). (Eds.) Negotiating critical literacies in classrooms. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Curwood, J.S. (2013).“The hunger games”: Literature, literacy, and online affinity spaces. Language Arts, 90 (6), 417-427.

Daniels, H. (2002). Literature circles: Voice and choice in book clubs and reading groups. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.

Daniels, H., & Steineke, N. (2003). Minilessons for literature circles. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Davila, D. (2011).“White people don’t work at McDonald’s”and other shadow stories from the field: Analyzing preservice teachers’use of Obama’s race speech to teach for social justice. English Education , 44(1), 13-50.

DiAngelo, R. (2012). What does it mean to be white? Developing white racial literacy. New York, NY: Peter Lang.

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