Silvers Et Al. (Narrative)

Journal of Early
Childhood Literacy
http://ecl.sagepub.com/
Critical literacy in a primary multiliteracies classroom: The Hurricane Group

Penny Silvers, Mary Shorey and Linda Crafton
Journal of Early Childhood Literacy 2010 10: 379
DOI: 10.1177/1468798410382354
The online version of this article can be found at:
http://ecl.sagepub.com/content/10/4/379
Published by:
http://www.sagepublications.com
Additional services and information for Journal of Early Childhood Literacy can be found at:
Email Alerts: http://ecl.sagepub.com/cgi/alerts
Subscriptions: http://ecl.sagepub.com/subscriptions
Reprints: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.nav
Permissions: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav
Citations: http://ecl.sagepub.com/content/10/4/379.refs.html
Downloaded from ecl.sagepub.com by Villy Tsakona on July 25, 2011
Article
Critical literacy in a
primary multiliteracies
classroom: The
Hurricane Group
Journal of Early Childhood Literacy

10(4) 379409
! The Author(s) 2010
Reprints and permissions:
sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/1468798410382354
ecl.sagepub.com
Penny Silvers
Dominican University, USA
Mary Shorey
Pritchett Elementary School, Illinois, USA
Linda Crafton
University of Wisconsin Parkside, USA
Abstract
This qualitative research presents an expanded perspective of literacy practices in which
young students engage in multiple literacies while exploring personal inquiries about
Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, LA. An extended classroom example and analysis
taken from a broader research project focusing on early multiliteracies, illustrates the
ability of young students to ask critical questions, explore alternative perspectives, and
engage in multimodal responses to construct and communicate meaning as they take
social action. Narrative inquiry and discourse analysis provide insight into ways that
primary children engage in authentic inquiry from a critical, social justice perspective.
They also show how traditional early childhood curriculum can focus on social issues
through critical framing. This classroom example demonstrates students increasing
ability to use a range of multimodal tools to accomplish mutually agreed socially relevant
goals within a classroom community of practice.
Keywords
Early multiliteracies, multimodal tools, critical literacy, critical inquiry, communities of
practice, social justice
Corresponding author:
Penny Silvers, School of Education, Parmer Hall, Dominican University, 7900 W, Division Street, River Forest
IL 60305, USA
Email: [email protected]
380
Journal of Early Childhood Literacy 10(4)
Introduction
During the first week of the 2007/08 school year, Bobby1 ran into Ms first
grade class to inform her that there was a new hurricane brewing in the Gulf
of Mexico. Now a third grader, he wanted to reconvene the Hurricane Katrina
inquiry group he had been part of when he was in her first grade class two
years earlier. The word got around the third grade and by the following week,
the original Hurricane Group had sent M an e-mail asking when they could
have lunch and made a date to meet together. P (researcher) also received a
special invitation to join the group at lunch from Carrie, another Hurricane
Group student who had been e-mailing P periodically since first grade. On the
day of the lunch reunion, the five students came right into Ms room as if they
had never left it, and took their former seats around the work table in the
center of the room. Bobby found some hurricane books from Ms classroom
library and placed them in the center of the table, just as he had done in first
grade. Carrie asked M if she had kept their research stuff and M opened her
laptop to show them her digital photographs of their first grade work. With
great nostalgia about all that had been accomplished in first grade, M and the
students began to reflect and reminisce.
Background information
Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in August 2005, right at the beginning of
the new school year. The disaster was on the television news constantly and
Ms students, then just six- or seven-years-old, were both horrified and fascinated by the destructive power of the storm, the scientific information
coming across the news channels, and the wealth of information available
on the Internet. Hurricane Katrina was a national disaster of great interest to
everyone in the country, and in Ms classroom, it became an authentic primary
grade curricular engagement. P and L are two university researchers who have
been exploring multiliteracies as an expanded view of literacy practices with
M (classroom teacher and researcher) in her primary grade classroom. We saw
this event as a perfect opportunity for the students to take on a significant issue
and to deepen our understanding of multiliteracies theory while exploring its
many facets in practice in Ms classroom.
Ms elementary school is in a fairly affluent, multicultural suburb of
Chicago. In her 2005 class of 25 six- and seven-year-old children, 60 %
were Caucasian and 40 % represented Asian, Hispanic, and other ethnicities.
Collectively, in addition to English, they spoke many languages, including
Silvers et al.
381
Polish, Russian, Hindu, Hebrew, Chinese, Japanese, Greek, and Spanish. But
regardless of the diverse ethnicities and languages, the students were united in
their interest to learn more about storms and weather-related disasters.
In this primary multicultural classroom, a small group of concerned young
students named themselves the Hurricane Group and with the support of their
teacher, assumed the leadership in taking on a social justice inquiry study
about the hurricane. Following a brief review of the multiliteracies literature
and our research methodology, we present an extended classroom example
and analysis to illustrate how the teacher scaffolded discussions among the
Hurricane Group members to raise critical questions, present alternative
perspectives, and encourage multimodal responses to help the students
construct meaning. We present a Hurricane Group discussion that occurred
early in the year, and contrast it with one of their discussions toward the end
of the year to demonstrate the students expanding ability to use a range of
multimodal tools to accomplish mutually agreed socially relevant goals within
a community of practice (Wenger, 1998). This example is just one of many
taken from our broader research project focusing on early multiliteracies.
However, it demonstrates how young children can engage in authentic
inquiry from a critical, social justice perspective (Comber, 2003; Vasquez,
2003). It also provides insight into how early childhood curriculum can be
multimodal, focused on social issues, and responsive to students needs and
interests, while accomplishing traditional curricular benchmarks and standards. We conclude with a discussion of our learning and implications for
literacy instruction.
Literature and theories informing the work

Traditional views of early literacy instruction emphasize only print literacy.
However, narrow views of literacy do not go far enough to prepare learners to
negotiate their lived experiences outside of school. Children in the 21st
century need to be able to use multiple literacies to meet the informational
challenges and manage the complexities of the political, economic, and technological world beyond school (Kress, 2003). Multiliteracies theory is
described as a design science in which curriculum and instruction are in a
continuous process of being designed and redesigned based on student needs,
interests, engagements, and actions during learning (New London Group,
2000). As the world changes technologically, socially, and economically, the
use of texts, and means of communication are changing rapidly. Life opportunities are now embedded within a social environment that includes
382
increased cultural diversity and new ways of communicating (Cazden et al.,

1996). Even in the earliest grades, literacy and literate practices encompass a
greater range of knowledge, skills, processes, and behaviors . . . and these practices will continue to change (Anstey and Bull, 2006, p. 17).
Our understanding of literacy pedagogy requires an expanded perspective
that will prepare students for the literacy demands of a more complex world.
As teachers and researchers, we recognize that children need a new toolkit of
basic skills that encompasses ways of communicating and constructing meaning that are multimodal (print, art, drama, language) and multimedial (combining different means of communication, such as the Internet and video)
(Luke and Freebody, 1999; Vasquez et al., 2004). It is important to recognize
that meaning may be constructed through different kinds of texts in various
ways, such as moving images, spoken language, animation, graphs, and maps.
Reading can include visual images, digital information, gestures, voice, movement, music, as well as print. This is in direct contrast to typical school
curricula that still tend to treat literacy as monomodal, monolinguistic, and
monocultural, and thus appears to have more in common with what children
learned about literacy a generation ago than with the literacies needed for the
world today (Siegel et al., 2008, p. 97).
In Ms classroom, we saw children moving intentionally and seamlessly
between various sign systems to accomplish particular goals for particular
purposes. Many of the children naturally gravitated to the three computers
in her classroom and used them confidently. They readily assumed the role of
experts and, whenever needed, willingly coached those students who were
less proficient. In addition to using technology, students drew pictures to
illustrate their writing, wrote notes to the teacher to inform her of their
needs or concerns, dramatized favorite stories, painted their interpretation
of a story, or sang songs and listened to music that fitted the mood of what
was being studied (e.g. jazz and blues to connect with New Orleans history).
To these children, linguistic (print) texts were only one of a range of resources
available to them as they constructed meaning and learned about their world.
We also believe that literacy is about social practices and how one lives ones
life (Harste, 2007; Vygotsky, 1978). These behaviors develop within various
communities of practice when participants take on shared endeavors to
accomplish goals and construct identities in relation to those communities
(Crafton et al., 2007; Wenger, 1998). Participants bring their own lifeworlds
(Cope and Kalantzis, 2000) to these communities. By collaboratively pursuing
socially meaningful work, the community of practice provides an opportunity
to learn together while developing an identity of participation. In this way,
Silvers et al.
383
identity and learning serve each other in a series of transformative experiences

(Wenger, 1998). These communities need to be engaged in activities that have
meaning and consequences beyond their boundaries, providing experiences
for students to find ways of being in the world that can encompass multiple,
conflicting perspectives in the course of addressing significant issues
(Wenger, 1998, p. 275). The Hurricane Group was united in its desire to
teach the rest of the class what they were learning about the Katrina disaster.
Through all their talk, shared experiences, and work gathering information
and planning to do something significant, they were developing a language of
participation and an understanding that their inquiry was important not only
for the rest of the class, but beyond the classroom as well.
A critical literacy curriculum makes diversity and difference visible and
helps teach children to critique their world, examine their own assumptions
and beliefs, and take on new identities as they try to make a difference
through social action (Leland and Harste, 2004). This theory recognizes
that literacy and learning are not neutral practices that certain interests
are always being served (Lewison et al., 2008; Vasquez, 2003). We believe
that even with young children, literacy practices should include teaching for
social action, cultural critique, and for democracy, both inside and outside of
school (Bomer and Bomer, 2001; Dewey, 1939).
Luke and Freebody (1999) theorize that readers use at least four knowledge
resources when engaging in any literacy event: code breaker, meaning maker,
text user, and text critic. The code breaker uses basic structural conventions
and patterns of language such as the alphabet, letters and sounds in words,
spelling, and other grammatical features of written texts. The code breaker
also learns about ways that members of a community interact, behave or talk
together while gaining knowledge of the particular cultural codes that are
valued. The meaning maker understands and constructs written, visual, and
oral texts, and recognizes that this process reflects an individuals prior and
current knowledge of what is acceptable or appropriate in a particular
community. The text user can use texts in socially appropriate ways to reflect
social and cultural practices or ways of thinking and behaving that are acceptable to a particular group. Finally, the text critic learns to read the word and
the world from a critical lens (Freire, 1998); there is an awareness that texts
are socially constructed and represent particular points of view that privilege
some perspectives while silencing or marginalizing others (Kucer, 2008;
Vasquez et al., 2004).
Luke and Freebodys research demonstrates that real world literacy involves
all four of these dimensions working together. However, in a traditional
384
curriculum, the dimensions of code breaker and meaning maker are usually
privileged over text user and text critic (Kucer, 2008). Through our research,
we have come to understand that a critical literacy stance is a significant part of
a multiliteracies curriculum and provides a way to more clearly position the
linguistic dimensions of text user and text critic into the early childhood
curriculum.
As we continue to work with young children, we understand the need to be
intentional and explicit in helping children become knowledgeable consumers
of information, able to critically question, analyze, problem solve from different perspectives, and take action on behalf of social justice. Of great importance, regardless of the grade or age, is the recognition that all texts need to be
understood in relation to identities and social worlds, and provide ways for
individuals to interpret the world and their place in it. This critical literacy
perspective is essential to helping others act on their beliefs and engage in
socially relevant action (Gee, 2000; Lewison et al., 2002).
Methodology
In this ongoing qualitative research study, we three researchers have been
observing, analyzing, and interpreting the lived experiences of 25 six- and
seven-year-old children within their classroom context, seeking a deeper
understanding of literacy practices and the implications for curriculum, teaching, and learning in a multiliteracies classroom. We designed our research
question to help us better understand the many and varied paths to multiple
literacies and to examine ways in which children use them to connect, communicate, and construct meaning. The main research question that has guided
our work asks: what are the ways in which young children develop a broader
understanding of literacy practices and construct new identities as they engage
in multiple literacies, including conventional print, digital, visual, spatial,
gestural, musical, and critical literacies?
Our experience with the Hurricane Group began in 2005, at the start of our
second year of researching together in Ms classroom. During that year,
P spent at least one morning a week in Ms classroom as a participant-observer
(Glesne and Peshkin, 1992) during the language arts block of instruction.
In addition to observing and writing field notes, P interacted with individual
children by reading and writing with them, occasionally reading stories to the
whole class, and engaging with small inquiry groups to help them gather
information in a variety of ways (books, Internet, writing, etc.). This regular
participation in Ms classroom provided P with greater insight and
Silvers et al.
385
understanding of the teaching, curriculum, and students as learners. L visited

the classroom once each semester, but M and P met with L monthly after
school to review data, view videos, read and write narratives about what was
seen in the classroom, and discuss emerging themes and categories, using
multiliteracies theories to further inform our thinking.
We used narrative inquiry to help us analyze our data (Clandinin and
Connelly, 2000). The narrative inquiry methodology divides itself into the
three-dimensional narrative inquiry space and the directions this framework
allows our inquiries to travel inward, outward, backward, forward, and
situated within place allowing us to more closely examine the personal and
social (interaction); past, present, and future (continuity); combined with the
notion of place (situation) (Clandinin and Connelly, 2000, pp. 4950).
It emphasizes multiple narratives constructed over time from the researchers
lived experiences in the field and provides a way to reflect deeply on our
experiences (Dewey, 1938), generating new insights and inquiries.
P and M each wrote individual field note observations of the class events,
student interactions, and student responses during discussions. These field
notes were shared weekly and became part of the data pool that helped identify insights into our research question in the context of the classroom and Ms
teaching. In addition to our written field notes, teacher/researcher data also
included: reflective journaling exchanged and elaborated upon via e-mail; and
audiotaped transcriptions and analyses of teacher and researcher debriefings,
discussions, planning for instruction, curriculum analysis, and reflections on
learning. Student data sources included: anecdotal observations written as field
notes documenting multimodal ways students construct meaning; work samples; photographs; transcriptions of selected videos of teacher read-alouds,
class discussions, and small group work; students oral and written reflections
of their learning (content and process); and teacher anecdotal observations of
students reading and writing development related to grade-level literacy
objectives.
During the research process, the data were continually analyzed, discussed,
reflected upon, and rewritten multiple times in narrative form as we tried to
make sense of what they were revealing. Our discussions and written narratives moved from initial observations to interim texts to final research texts,
revealing patterns, tensions, themes, and narrative threads that suggested
insight to inform our research questions and generate possibilities for new
inquiries. As we reflected together about the classroom events, shared stories
and observations, and compiled narrative data, the evolving themes fell into
three major categories: multimodal literacies; communities of practice
386
including the sociocultural dimension of learning; and critical literacy, which

became a category of significance in our research, influencing all the other
literacies.
It is important to note that we three researchers bring a critical, social
justice perspective to the data analysis, intentionally focusing on issues of
power, equity, justice, and equal access in regard to gender, race, and class.
Collected data were analyzed with the understanding that we have a
particular agenda of affecting change and taking action to accomplish
social goals. Sharing and interpreting data in our professional community
of practice provided opportunities for us as researchers, to benefit from
our individual backgrounds, areas of expertise in literacy and curriculum,
and shared insights. We also audiotaped and transcribed our professional
conversations and reflections to gain insight into our growing understanding of multiliteracies, and the dynamics of collaboration within a community of practice. Discourse analysis (Gee, 1999) was used to analyze
selected segments of our researcher discussions, and also selected transcripts from whole-class discussions, small-group student dialogue, and
teacher read-alouds.
We used the curricular/analytical framework developed by Cope and
Kalantzis (2000) to examine Ms classroom practice and organize our observations to more easily notice and better understand the dynamics of teaching
and student learning that were occurring. This framework includes four interconnected components: situated practice, overt instruction, critical framing,
and transformed practice. Situated practice is about the students lived experiences and learning in their daily classroom context where they are immersed
in meaningful experiences within their classroom community as they participate in their own learning. Overt instruction occurs when instruction is intentional, scaffolding for learning is occurring, and students are helped to gain
conscious understanding and control of what they are constructing and
acquiring as knowledge. Critical framing helps students learn to view what is
being analyzed or studied from a critical perspective in terms of power,
politics, ideology, and values. Critical framing supports the engagement of
students in analyzing tacit assumptions inherent in behaviors, interactions,
and discussions whether they are the students beliefs, those of the characters in novels, or the authors point of view. Transformed practice is about living
ones beliefs as one has come to understand them, developing new ways of
participating, and implementing new understandings. In working toward the
goal of transformed practice, the expectation is for the students to learn to
recognize their own biases and beliefs, name them, act on them, and begin
Silvers et al.
387
to change old ways of behaving, leading to identity transformation

(Wink, 2005). Through this framework, we were able to categorize our
data to see more clearly, the evolving shifts in social consciousness leading
to agency and identity transformation.
Analysis of the classroom learning that occurred throughout the hurricane
experience demonstrated that all four features of this framework occurred in
various ways. M moved in and out of each dimension as she carefully guided
student learning toward transformed practice. However, data analysis showed
that it was the critical framing component that consistently provided the
greatest impact in helping students take on a critical social justice identity.
This element was especially visible as M interacted with the Hurricane Group.
But she also raised critical social justice questions during read-aloud time with
the whole class, during discussions about stories the students were reading,
and when she asked everyone to reflect on their learning during group inquiry
time. Critical framing helped infuse a critical social justice perspective into the
work of the classroom and provided ways to help move all the students toward
taking social action. It also helped to inform curriculum and instruction as we
saw opportunities to expand the districts existing language arts and social
studies curriculum toward content that was more focused on social justice
issues and critical perspectives.
Multiliteracies in the primary classroom

As we researched how literacy is multimodal, we observed many ways Ms
students constructed meaning through drama, music, art, gestures, expressions, technology, as well as print. We know from Hallidays work (1975) that
children learn language, learn about language, and learn through language all
at the same time. Similarly with multiliteracies, we observed the students
learning unfolding in layers, with multiple events, insights, and instruction
occurring simultaneously as critical incidents occurred and opportunities
emerged for moving beyond the traditional curriculum.
From the beginning of the school year, M helped all her students to understand that reading includes more than print and that they could read
pictures, information on the computer, each others expressions and body
language the signs all around us. She was also explicit in informing the
students that it is important to ask critical questions as they analyze what they
read. Critical questions informed by the work of Vasquez (2003) were posted
in the classroom and, over time, became part of the multiliteracies framework.
388
They were referred to and used for all book discussions, conversations, inquiries, and taking social action. These questions asked:
.
.
.
.
Whose voices are heard? Whose voices are absent?

What does the author/illustrator want the reader to think/understand?
What is an alternative to the author/illustrators message?
How will a critical reading of this text help me change my views or actions in
relation to other people?
M knew it would be possible to help the students understand that there

were hurricane victims but she wanted to raise the childrens awareness of
the bigger issues of racism and poverty, an understanding of which would
support actions toward social justice. At times, M wondered if this was even
appropriate for first graders to think about, but she was willing to move
forward, believing as we all do in the power of the students to guide
the way. By following the students lead, we discovered that they were,
indeed, capable of engaging in meaningful critical learning, using all the
multimodal tools available to them as resources.
The Hurricane Group gets started through inquiry

Ms district social studies curriculum for first grade included a study of
families, neighborhoods, citizenship, rights and responsibilities, and needs
and wants. It also included African American history (with a focus on
Dr Martin Luther King, Jr). The language arts curriculum emphasized beginning reading and writing skills, along with guided reading using the district
reading program books. M also supplemented the reading program with fiction and non-fiction books from the library and her own personal collection.
She used teacher read-alouds and thematically related multimodal resources
(e.g. picture books, magazines, websites, tapes of newscasts, digital photographs, drama, and music) to support the students inquiries.
M knew she wanted to make the traditional curriculum more critically
focused, but she had an obligation to honor the required content being
taught by her grade-level team, mandated by the district, and aligned with
state standards. She also recognized the importance of curricular integration
and looked for ways to add authentic experiences to the required content.
M worked to design opportunities that would provide choices for the children
to explore topics of interest to them. Involving the students in inquiry groups
focused on units of instruction helped M begin to create a classroom
community of practice (Wenger, 1998), where children were engaged in
Silvers et al.
389
learning to read through meaningful work, while at the same time, achieving
the district curricular expectations.
Ms morning consisted of two-and-a-half hours of language arts instruction. This block of time included reading and writing workshop as well as
guided reading with small groups and whole-class instruction about specific
topics of interest or need (e.g. spelling, grammar, comprehension strategies,
etc.). During this time, M also set up opportunities for the students to engage
in learning centers where small groups of students could participate in various
language arts activities such as dramatizing stories, illustrating their writing,
partner reading, or working on the computer. Students could also choose to
read and write together about topics of mutual interest. These groups
provided a way for the children to begin to take responsibility for their learning from the start, exploring and developing expertise in subjects which
would then be shared with the class.
Early in the school year, the entire class became interested in Hurricane
Katrina as the extensive media coverage provided an authentic opportunity to
use multiliteracies to gather information from many resources (e.g. Internet,
pictures, news stories, books, personal stories, magazines, videos). While
everyone wanted to learn more about hurricanes, one particular group of
three girls and two boys actually took ownership of the subject and called
themselves the Hurricane Group. The extended example that follows occurred
in October 2005, early in the school year. It shows how the teachers critical
framing provided opportunities for instruction that encouraged this small
group of students to examine multiple perspectives and begin to ask questions
related to power and privilege. It demonstrates ways that Ms critical framing
supported her students emerging understanding and led to social action over
time. It also illustrates how a critical literacy perspective made it possible to
add a new dimension to the districts existing language arts and social studies
curriculum, expanding the potential for student learning (Table 1).
In this dialogue, the children are gathered around a circular table in the
middle of the room having a discussion, led by their teacher, M, along with P,
the university researcher. This segment occurs toward the end of the discussion (teacher and researcher comments are in italics to more easily differentiate them from the students responses):
Andy [drawing a picture]: I want to show the water coming in so fast the
people couldnt go in or out this will be in my hurricane book.
Carrie: They couldnt get any food or water to drink. What about dry clothes?
390
Table 1. First grade curriculum connections

First grade curriculum
Critical connections
Families and communities
Hurricane Katrina: homelessness

What happened to many families?
Needs and wants
What do people need to survive?

Consumerism: resisting some wants
Citizenship: being a good citizen in Equal rights: being a good citizen

Timeline of African American history
my classroom; community
What can we do to help?
Rights and responsibilities
Martin Luther King
Habitats
Hurricane Katrina: environmental concerns; Wetlands; zoo

animals; food, materials, and supplies for building
Weather
Storms: tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis;

impact on peoples lives
Reading and writing:

fiction, non-fiction
Reading and writing for social justice purposes: research

and inquiry; finding a school in New Orleans
Communication: letter to parents; e-mailing; writing stories
and letters
Ronna: They could go out to the stores.

Andy: But they had no money and the stores were probably closed.
Bobby: Or flooded.
M: Youve been working really hard on making hurricane books. You all have different ideas. And
there are many issues or problems that are connected with this disaster. Bobby, you are really
interested in science you even brought some books from home to help write a book about
hurricanes.
Bobby: Yeah, the eye of the storm could look like an eyeball.
M: The eye is the quiet spot and the storm is swirling all around it.
Bobby: Yeah the safe spot like it says in my book. [shows pictures to the
group]
Becky: Why didnt they know where to go right away or call someone to help
them? Maybe we can make a book about how to be safe during a storm.
Silvers et al.
391
Then people will learn to be safe and what to do to prepare for a hurricane.
They can tell others.
Carrie: I bet it was dangerous to walk in the flooded streets they have snakes
there.
Ronna [walking around the room imitating how carefully people had to move
in the flood]: And watch out for alligators.
Andy: What about the dogs and cats?
Bobby: A lot of them drowned.
P: So who are the people who are the victims of the hurricane? Why do you think some got out
and others couldnt?
Carrie: The poor people stayed behind because they didnt have cars or couldnt
afford the gas.
P: Who were these poor people?
Becky [ignoring Ps question]: I bet they were hot inside with no air
conditioning.
P: What could have been done for them? Their houses were all gone or flooded. I have good friends
who live in New Orleans. They had to pack up whatever would fit into their car and drive out of the
city to a safe place away from the hurricane. They could get out. But some people couldnt, and
actually, some people wouldnt. Take a look at this picture on the cover of the magazine
[Newsweek, September 12, 2005]. What do you notice? Whats going on here?
Carrie: Its a mother with two children shes carrying two babies and running
from the flooding. I think she needs milk to feed them.
Ronna: She looks really scared.
Becky: Look, see the water in the street and shes running with the kids.
Why didnt she just drive out of town like your friends before the hurricane
came?
P: Good question. She sure didnt get out. Why do you think that happened? Do you notice anything
about her?
392
Carrie: Yeah, shes mad or scared, and probably wondering how shes going to
take care of the babies with no diapers, no milk, not even water to drink.
M: You are really doing a great job of reading the pictures. What words would you use as you read
the pictures? What words would describe this picture? Can you write them down around the picture?
These words will tell a story, too.
[The children write the following words on a piece of paper: mad, worried,
scared, hungry, tired, fainting, disastrously, devastated, hell (not a bad word),
and help. Then they decide to write what they think would be safe things or
things that the woman could use to be safe: blankets, water, food, clothes, a way
to get out (Figure 1).]
P [looking closely at the picture with the children]: Do you notice that she is African
American? Many of the poor people who couldnt get out of N.O. were poor and African American.
M: How do you feel about the people who couldnt get out? Do you think thats fair? Do you think
that others should have been helping more? Weve been talking about citizens. Citizens have rights
and responsibilities. Do we, as citizens, have the right to be helped when we are in need? Do we have
the responsibility to help others? What could people do to help? Do you think we should do
something?
Ronna: On Nickelodeon [TV show] they are doing a backpack project. Id like to do
a project.
Lets read the pichrs

The lady in the pichr looks
like a mom. She looks:
Scared
Worried
Fritined
Devastated
Mad
Disaster
Hell Not A BAD word.
(It looks like this).
Thay need safe things like
Blankts, watr, food, a saf
place to go.
Figure 1. Read the Pictures.
Silvers et al.
393
Carrie: Lets look up the hurricane information online. There may be some ideas
about what we can do to help.
Bobby: And I can find more pictures. We can print them and add them to our
book.
Andy: I want to draw some pictures about what it looked like in the
Superzone.
Becky: I want to work on my safety book.
M: Great ideas. Before you work on your projects, Id like to take one more look at this picture.
I think it is important that we try to understand how hard it was for the people in New Orleans,
especially the poor and the African American. Lets see if we can act out what is going on here. Based
on what you know about New Orleans and the hurricane, what characters would be in our drama
story? Who wants to be the mother [Carrie]; the young child [Ronna]; the baby [Becky]; rescue
worker [Andy]; the store owner [Bobby].
[The children proceed to act out their interpretation of running for safety to the
Superdome (a huge, covered sports stadium used as a shelter during the
hurricane) as the flood waters rushed into the city.]
Analysis of the dialogue

Ms students were accustomed to finding information on the Internet; drawing
their interpretations of stories; writing in their reflective journals; and deepening comprehension by dancing, singing, and acting out events in stories
read or heard during read-aloud time. In this dialogue, the childrens comments reflect their emerging understanding of the dangers of being caught in
a hurricane and the flooding that followed. They showed their learning in
various multimodal ways, unique to their own interests and abilities. For
example, Bobby focused on the illustrations and text in his science book to
inform the group about the eye of the hurricane. Becky was more comfortable
writing an informational piece to inform others about how to be safe, and
Andy drew his interpretation of the hurricane and described being trapped in
what he called the Superzone (Superdome, Figure 2). Ronna preferred to
dramatize her understanding and Carrie responded to Ms cue and began to
read the pictures, initiating the group writing of words to describe their
interpretation of the cover of Newsweek magazine. Carrie was also the one to
suggest using technology to find more information online about ways to help.
394
In the weeks to come, Carrie began sending e-mail messages to P to keep her
informed about what was occurring on the days she was not in their classroom. She suggested websites with information about the hurricane, and by
the end of the year Carrie was the student who helped move the group into
taking social action.
These students were using multimodal tools to construct and share their
learning as they explored a critical issue of great national importance. In the
process they were expanding their awareness of what it means to be a good
citizen and what their responsibilities were as citizens to help others. The
questions M and P asked were part of the process of critical framing, positioning the students to begin to recognize that there are racial and cultural
inequities in the country, and that taking some kind of social action to make a
difference is important and possible, even at their young ages.
Orchestrating this dialogue, M worked to create a learning community that
valued each others contributions by explicitly verbalizing her observations of
the different ways in which the students were constructing meaning about the
hurricane. This also provided an opportunity to reinforce the concept that
reading encompasses more than print and that the students were
Figure 2. Andys drawing of the Superdome.

Some people had money and could buy things and get out when the hurricane happened but
the poor people were poor and couldnt buy things and couldnt survive and went to the
Superzone (Superdome) to be safe but they werent.
Silvers et al.
395
constructing meaning as they used multimodal tools to engage in critical

inquiry. Within the Hurricane Group, we saw that the complexity of their
learning exceeded the district curricular goals for their grade and age. They
were beginning to assume a critical literacy stance and think more broadly,
beyond the traditional curricular focus on local communities and neighborhoods. These students were using knowledge from their own families and
from their shared learning to try to understand the impact of having to leave
ones home and possessions. M and P encouraged the students to consider the
people left behind who became victims of the hurricane, and to take some
kind of social action to make a difference.
Taking her lead from Vasquez et al. (2004), M asked her Hurricane Group
students questions about the victims of the hurricane. Who was left behind?
Why do you think this is so? What do you think could be done about it?
Through these questions, M hoped to raise the students awareness of the
racial issues that were so visible to us in all the newscasts, articles, and
photographs of the victims of the hurricane. She knew it was important to
go beyond just feeling sorry and begin to see who the victims really were.
The Hurricane Group students still did not see that the people left behind were
primarily African Americans who had lived in New Orleans for many generations, and were part of the fabric and culture of this diverse city. We wanted
them to not only recognize the racial issues that existed in New Orleans, but
also begin to deconstruct and understand the social issues in their own neighborhood, communities, and even the classroom.
We did not want the children to merely try to make a difference although
that would have been sufficient and already more than the mandated curricular objectives. We wanted them to see their roles as caring citizens who could
make choices about the way they lived their lives; to be discerning consumers
of information; meaning makers who understood the power of language to
position others unfairly; critical thinkers who recognized that there are political, economic, and social issues guiding most decisions; and that important
questions needed to be asked that revealed various perspectives. In short, we
wanted them to become critically literate right from the beginning of their
schooling, and to learn to read the world while they were learning to read and
reading to learn.
Connecting and expanding the curriculum

In the weeks following this early dialogue, the students in the Hurricane
Group continued to take control of their learning as they immersed
396
themselves in hurricane information from the news, television programs,

magazine pictures, and Internet websites. Rather than being assigned a role
by the teacher, their participation evolved as they each found a meaningful
inquiry opportunity within the larger study of hurricanes. They were designing and redesigning their investigation and assuming agentive identities and
stances. They understood that information came from a range of sources in a
variety of modalities, and they involved their parents and community connections to help them gather information.
The Hurricane Group wanted to share their learning with the rest of the
class and M provided time for them to meet and work on their projects during
language arts. At the same time, M added her own social justice component to
the districts mandated language arts and social studies curriculum to include
the whole class in a deeper exploration of African American history, literature,
culture, music, and art. This intentional critical design provided ways to make
diversity and difference more visible to all the children and helped them begin
to ask critical questions about the world, examine their own assumptions and
beliefs, and start to take on new identities that would support social action
(Leland and Harste, 2004).
M used critical framing as she designed activities that allowed the entire
class to find critical potential across the curriculum. As she read aloud to the
whole class, M used think-alouds (verbally analyzing her thinking about a
story for the students to demonstrate how she was processing information).
She also encouraged the use of art, drama, and music to more deeply examine
and reflect on topics of interest that were being studied. M felt it was important for all of the students to understand that the arts, as well as language,
could be used to position people in positive or negative ways and could be
interpreted from different perspectives for different purposes.
For example, the class listened to M read the story of Ruby Bridges, the
young six-year-old girl who became the first African American student to
attend an all-white school in New Orleans in 1960. Several students
researched the incident on the Internet, writing down information to share,
and the class discussed what Ruby must have been feeling as the white adults
and children shouted at her when she entered the school. The whole class
tried to understand the story from different perspectives as they discussed
why the white people were so angry, and wondered why Ruby did not yell
back at them. M encouraged the class to act out the story events, and after
choosing different roles, students showed by their words, gestures, and facial
expressions, the kinds of feelings represented by their characters. They
listened to jazz music, wrote and illustrated their ideas about the story, and
Silvers et al.
397
discussed how they felt the event might have been resolved differently. While
drama, music, art, and writing are common activities in primary classrooms,
M used these multimodal means to help students construct a deeper understanding of a complex racial issue, and to gain greater insight about perspectives and points of view.
To document all the students learning about important social issues and to
provide a visible representation of artifacts reflecting their work, a visual audit
trail, or learning wall (Vasquez, 2003) (Figure 3), was created on the bulletin
board outside the classroom. The word resist was prominently featured
in the center of the board, reflecting the students emerging awareness
of the power of words and the potential for change when taking a critical
literacy stance. Along the bottom of the board was a timeline of African
American history in the USA, which the children illustrated with cut-out
figures and thought bubbles that conveyed a significant comment relevant
to each character. There were also student-authored stories, reports, illustrations, and personal reflections about the social issues they had studied
throughout the year. Whenever possible, the students proudly took
Figure 3. The Audit Trail.
398
turns guiding visitors (other classrooms as well as adults) through the chronicle of their learning represented by the audit trail artifacts on the board
outside their classroom.
The Hurricane Group remained a tightly knit group throughout the year,
continuing to research and meet together whenever they had a break in the
day or choice-time opportunities. They continued to be interested in the
hurricane as a weather phenomenon and followed the news online, but it
was not until the group shared their artifacts and their research with the entire
class that we saw evidence of how these five children were changing and being
transformed. This group of children, with the help of the technology teacher,
put together a slide show of their learning and their enthusiasm spilled over
into the whole classroom, challenging the rest of the class to join them and
find a way to help the hurricane victims.
Following the groups lead, M offered opportunities for the other students
to join the Hurricane Group in figuring out how to make a difference for
those affected by Hurricane Katrina. With Ms guidance, each member of
the Hurricane Group joined other newly formed groups within the class as
they divided up the work to find out more about families affected by the
hurricane, environmental issues related to flooding, how animals were
affected (pets, zoo animals), and what happened to the schools. As all the
children in the class read (books, encyclopedias, newspapers, magazines),
viewed (pictures, websites, Internet sources), listened (to podcasts, music),
discussed, and dramatized situations (improvisation, readers theater), our
transcriptions showed evidence that certain students were taking on the
language of critical literacy and working toward social justice. The data
also showed that in addition to the Hurricane Group, other children were
also asking critical questions posted in the room, using words like resist
(visible on the audit trail board) and talking about the need to do something to show that they cared about the victims. Throughout all this learning, M kept reminding the class that it was important to live their beliefs,
and encouraged them to do something to demonstrate their commitment to
help. Always in the lead, the Hurricane Group took on Ms challenge, as
shown in the following segment of the groups discussion during the last
month of school:
Carrie: We started out being sad and now were mad.
M: What do you mean?
Silvers et al.
399
Carrie: Well, we were sad because people lost their homes and couldnt go to
school. The poor people were left behind and they were not helped by the rich
people who left and they werent helped enough by the government.
Bobby: Yea, it wasnt fair.
M: What do you mean?
Bobby: It wasnt fair that a lot of the black people couldnt leave because they
had no money.
Ronna: I wonder if they played jazz and blues in the Superdome because that
music showed their feelings and made them feel better.
Andy: They had to learn to resist and be powerful so they could get out if it
happened again.
P: Resist what?
Andy: Resist living in a house that could fall apart in a storm; resist people
telling them they cant leave; or find a way to get out before the storm to ask
for help.
Becky: Yeah, like when Ruby Bridges went into the school even though the
white kids didnt want her to. She didnt let them tell her she couldnt go.
M: Why dont you all turn and talk to a partner and discuss what that must have been like.
M [after a few minutes of students talking to each other]: So, what did you all talk
about?
Carrie: We were thinking that since there were no other kids, Ruby could have
her choice of reading any book in the school. But then we wondered if the
books in some schools got ruined in the hurricane.
P: Actually, as you know, I was a teacher in the same school Ruby Bridges attended and I know that
school flooded badly. So what do you think we can we do to show we care and to help? I heard that a
lot of schools have no books or very few.
Carrie: We could bring in some of our own or have a book sale to raise money.
Bobby: I could bring some of my books from home to send to them.
400
Ronna: Maybe we could sell cookies.

Andy: Well I have books to bring in too, but I have to ask my mom.
M: Thats a great plan. Lets write letters to our parents to tell them that we want to send books to a
school in New Orleans since their books were lost in the hurricane.
Carrie: But no torn books or dog-chewed books. These have to be nice.
M: OK. Gently used books in good condition letter to the parents anything else?
Carrie: Yes, we need to find a school we can send them to Ill look online
for one.
P: Ill work on that with you, too.
Becky: Ill write an e-mail to the school custodian for some boxes.
Carrie: And Ill organize the class to pack up the books and tape the boxes.
Andy: Ill make a poster for the hall.
Ronna: And maybe the student council could announce it to the whole school.
M: Thats a great idea. Good for you! It could be something that other classes might like to take on.
Definitely talk about it at the student council meeting. So you think we, as citizens, have a
responsibility to help others? What are we learning here?
Carrie: Well, we learned about the victims of the hurricane as well as what a
hurricane is. We also learned that it was mostly poor and black people who
couldnt get out and we can do something to help.
Analysis
In this dialogue segment, M continued to urge the Hurricane Group members
to articulate their thinking and make their ideas and beliefs visible for further
discussion. Their comments show an expanded depth of understanding about
African American history and culture, and active use of a more critical vocabulary in their everyday language (e.g. fair, resist). They were making connections between important African American people (Ruby Bridges), and taking
on a social justice identity, exemplified by Carries passionate discussion about
Silvers et al.
401
fairness and resistance to oppression. They were eager to share their plans to
help the hurricane victims with other classrooms, and were articulate in
answering Ms reflective question about what they were learning. Their
conversation reveals significant shifts in their understanding about the devastation of hurricanes and greater understanding of prejudice and poverty.
Carrie set the tone of the dialogue, comparing her feeling of first being sad
and then being mad. She expressed the idea that it was sad that people lost
their homes and were not helped by rich people or the government, and that
she was now mad that even weeks after the hurricane, so little help was made
available. Bobby followed up with his comment about lack of fairness and
Andy suggested that they should have learned to resist and become powerful
enough to get the resources they needed to get out of New Orleans or get help
to start rebuilding. Always pushing the students to think about taking social
action, M and P suggested that they think about what could be done to help,
which led to the book collection project. M reinforced their understanding by
helping the students reflect on the purpose of the book collection as a
culmination of what they had learned during the year.
When opportunities are provided for students to engage in dialogue, there is
the potential to take a particular position or talk about new ways of being in the
world. In this example, M helped the students think about social issues, to take
action, and to consider how their behaviors could make a difference. In turn,
the students, under Carries leadership, positioned themselves through talk and
shared experiences to take on the final book project. Through their actions, they
were beginning to recognize the power they had individually and collectively to
take charge of their learning, and to make decisions about accomplishing their
goals, and completing their work in a productive, engaging way.
To get this project underway, the class decided to bring in gently used
books from home to send to a school in New Orleans. M wrote a letter to
the parents (Appendix 1) and each child also wrote a letter to their parent(s)
explaining what they wanted to do and why (Appendix 2). As dozens of books
came pouring in, the Hurricane Group organized the collection and packed
them up in cartons. Through the Internet, M found a first grade classroom in
New Orleans that was happy to receive the books from her classroom. On the
last day of school, all the children addressed the boxes, included a class picture,
and wrote individual letters with words of encouragement to the recipients, and
M sent the boxes off to New Orleans. As M wrote in her journal,
Starting with the Hurricane Group and spilling over into the whole class, the
childrens commitment to take action and make a difference, to write letters to
402
their families explaining their project, and to engage in such a massive

book collection project, were testimonials to the students learning and
emerging understanding of their rights and responsibilities as compassionate
citizens.
Transformed practice
The Hurricane Group became a critical community of practice in the classroom (Brennan, 2006; Crafton et al., 2007). This community began with a
small group of enthusiastic first graders, inquiring into a timely, important
topic. Over the course of the year it grew to involve the entire class and their
parents, as not only the students, but we researchers, the teacher, and also the
curriculum were transformed. The important work done by the Hurricane
Group resulted in more than feeling a sense of accomplishment about doing
something about a social problem. This work helped students begin to take on
the identities of thoughtful, caring citizens, providing them with an opportunity to think from multiple perspectives and to consider difference as an
invitation to grow beyond themselves (Vasquez et al., 2004). It helped us to
recognize the potential for multiliteracies and critical literacy to support,
challenge, and expand learning in todays world.
During the year of research about Hurricane Katrina, our data showed us
that the students in the Hurricane Group were taking on critical identities as
they became involved in social action through their classroom inquiry. They
also learned that working together while engaging in social action was a
personally meaningful endeavor and that it was what people do in a socially
just world. By the end of the school year 2005/06, these five students had
learned about researching, using technology to help solve problems and
answer inquiry questions, working together, supporting each other, feeling
empathy for people in the world, and recognizing that they had an obligation
to reach out to others and do what they could to help those in need. They
knew how to ask and answer important questions, to use technology as a
significant literacy, and to read beyond the word, picture, gesture, or symbol,
as they read the world (Freire, 1998).
While this experience was transformational for the Hurricane Group, our
data showed that the excitement about learning and doing really important
work (student reflection) affected all the children in Ms room. We could
also see how assuming the leadership in this unit of study gave the
Hurricane Group a sense of importance about what they were learning and
provided the impetus and purpose for studying something meaningful
Silvers et al.
403
from a global perspective. Two years after Katrina, the students in the
Hurricane Group still considered themselves an inquiry community and
had not forgotten the lessons learned in their first full year of school.
We wished that M had been able to keep her students for more than one
year, to sustain the momentum toward critical inquiry. But from taped
conversations with the students during the lunchtime reunion in Ms room,
and formal and informal conversations with the current teachers of these
students, we recognize that at least three of the five Hurricane Group
members have internalized and continue to develop a strong sense of social
activism. They see themselves as capable, worthwhile citizens, armed with a
commitment to honor differences and consider various perspectives as they
live their lives.
As a powerful example of transformed practice, Carrie, now a third grader,
became a student council representative and continually suggested meaningful
service projects. For example, she wanted the districts make a difference day
to consist of more than ethnic costumes, posters, and special food. She wanted
every day to make a difference in her classroom and befriended two nonEnglish-speaking children, recruiting friends to play with them and join her in
reading to them in English during recess and lunch. Carrie also suggested a
peace table to negotiate conflicts, and helped her teacher set it up. We believe
this connection with social justice was due, at least in part, to her learning in
Ms first grade classroom and her involvement in the important work of her
community of practice, the Hurricane Group. To this day, she keeps in touch
with P and M by e-mail and is always eager to meet with us to talk about her
life and her accomplishments, or meet with the Hurricane Group and relive
their exciting learning experiences.
What we have learned so far

Analysis of our wealth of data indicates that young children bring foundational knowledge of multiple literacies when they come to school and they are
already using them in multimodal ways; that social learning engagements
provided through communities of practice can support developing knowledge
that is authentic and meaningful; that young children are capable of critical
inquiries, especially when these inquiries move from the local (classroom) to
the global; and that these critical inquiries can enhance and deepen the
traditional curriculum, providing opportunities to use multiliteracies in
significant ways to accomplish social justice goals.
404
Through the two examples of the Hurricane Group discussions, we illustrate our findings of the various ways multimodal tools are used for authentic
learning. As the Hurricane Group students interacted together within their
community of practice, they worked toward accomplishing a shared endeavor,
using multiple literacies interchangeably to accomplish particular tasks needed
to fulfill the shared goals and objectives of their learning community.
Together, they found the means and support to develop a plan for taking
significant social action, moving from passive learning to agency. We knew
from theory and confirmed through experience that agentive learning best
occurs in the process of actually accomplishing a valued task or participating
in a valued activity . . . . there must be an expectation that literate activity can
meaningfully accomplish something and through choices of various forms of
representing, authors construct not mere reflections of reality, but selective
versions of it from particular points of view (Dozier et al., 2006, p. 17).
During our data analysis, it became apparent that there is the need to
reposition critical literacy from being just one of the multiliteracies, to an
overarching presence as a significant, integral part of all literacy engagements.
While the large, extended units of learning that lead to big events and
significant action are very important in the learning process, we saw that
the small, everyday engagements were also significant in the students transformation to caring, critically involved individuals. Our analyses of taped
interactions, student artifacts, field notes, reflections, and writing, demonstrated that talking is social action. When we interact with children through
language, we are involved in the structuring of their intellect and their developing identities (Dozier et al., 2006, p. 22). M intentionally presented critical
questions and used critical vocabulary as she read to the class and reflected on
alternative meanings; assumed different perspectives; wondered aloud about
representation, fairness, and responsibility; and gently invited all the students
to take action to make a difference. Through her instructional modeling, we
saw the children begin to follow her lead, first in the Hurricane Group and
then the entire class, as they worked to find a way to help the victims.
We learned that teaching for social justice and critical literacy can become
an integral part of most curricula, even in the earliest grades, and that
mandated instructional agendas do not always mesh with the needs or interests of the children. It is important to reframe the required curriculum to
connect with student and teacher areas of interest and expertise, as well as
those unexpectedly occurring critical incidents that can be catalytic in creating
teachable moments of great significance (Crafton, 1991). Through critical
framing, the teacher can open up space in the curriculum for supporting
Silvers et al.
405
and designing critical connections to everyday life, student experiences, and

the world beyond the classroom. We believe there is a need to resist and
modify mandated curricula that position students merely
as consumers rather than participants in their education. In a consumer
model of education, students never get a chance to think, reason, and act like
a mathematician, a historian, a psychologist, a geographer. They simply
memorize what others have already found out. (Lewison et al., 2008, p. 17)
A more productive solution is to enable the students to engage in inquiry

opportunities to investigate the big ideas available in the curriculum, and also
those questions that emerge through the inquiry process that can be even
more meaningful and transformational to the students.
Conclusion
The hurricane inquiry illustrates the ability of a small group of primary
students to work together collaboratively, using a range of multimodal
resources, supporting each others endeavors, and taking on a social justice
identity. As this group learned more about the hurricane and gained an understanding of the circumstances surrounding the victims of this disaster, it was
possible to expand the existing curriculum so that all the students could
participate in a deeper exploration of African American history, including
the suffering and racial prejudice, as well as the many contributions to
American culture over the last century. By the end of the year, motivated by
the leadership assumed by the Hurricane Group, the entire class enthusiastically became involved in a collective social action experience to help make
a difference.
All learners, regardless of age, need the opportunity to access tools and
explore identities that will help them as they design their social futures. What
we need are new tools for thinking with, new frames in which to place things,
in which to see the old and the new, and see them both newly (Kress, 2003,
p. 8). There is a need for additional research in early childhood classrooms to
better understand ways of expanding narrow views of literacy to include
digital technologies, the arts, and other multimodal means of constructing
meaning. Teachers need to be able to provide curricular engagements that
encourage even young students to take on social justice issues and to
engage in more complex forms of assessment that help teachers and the
students themselves understand that their actions and behaviors reflect who
406
they are in the world. We also need longitudinal data that follow students
through the elementary grades to provide greater insight into the impact of
multiliteracies classrooms on student learning, and increased support for a
multiliteracies curriculum that also includes critical literacy. The ultimate test
of learning is in its lasting impact on students lives.
We believe that our work with multiliteracies as an expanded view of
literacy practices brings new insights, and impacts education in positive,
powerful ways that enhance a basic reading curriculum. Our research has
shown the importance of engaging primary students in authentic, critically
focused learning experiences, using multiple semiotic systems to support
personal inquiries in meaningful ways. Through a multiliteracies curriculum,
there is greater potential for helping young children become critical readers,
to be aware of the need to care about the world, to envision possibilities of
freedom, and to have the knowledge and courage to take action to make a
difference. As Bomer and Bomer wrote, We want children to carry with them
into the world the image of how to make peace, how to reject racism, how to
help someone who is in trouble, and how to guard the earth (Bomer and
Bomer, 2001, p. 58). We believe these lessons should be a visible component
of all curricular engagements that start from the beginning of a childs
education and never end.
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by a grant from the Spencer Foundation.
Notes
1. All student names have been changed to protect their privacy.

References
Anstey M and Bull G (2006) Teaching and Learning Multiliteracies. Newark, DE:
International Reading Association.
Bomer R and Bomer K (2001) Reading and Writing for Social Action. Portsmouth, NH:
Heinemann.
Brennan M (2006) Social justice in a first-grade community of practice. School Talk
12(1): 56.
Cazden C, Cope B, Fairclough N, Gee J, Kalantzis M, Kress G, et al. (1996) A
pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. Harvard Educational Review
66(1): 6093.
Silvers et al.
407
Clandinin DJ and Connelly FM (2000) Narrative Inquiry: Experience and Story in Qualitative
Research. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Comber B (2003) Critical literacy: What does it look like in the early years? In: Hall
N, Larson J and Marsh J (eds) Handbook of Early Childhood Literacy Thousand Oaks,
CA: Sage.
Cope B and Kalantzis M (2000) Multiliteracies: Literacy Learning and the Design of Social Futures.
New York, NY: Routledge.
Crafton L (1991) Whole Language: Getting Started, Moving Forward. New York, NY: Richard
C. Owen.
Crafton L, Brennan M and Silvers P (2007) Critical inquiry and multiliteracies in a
first-grade classroom. Language Arts 8(6): 510518.
Dewey J (1938) Experience and Education. New York, NY: Collier Books.
Dewey J (1939) Freedom and culture. In: Boydoson JA (ed.) Dewey: The Later Works.
Carbondale, IL: Southern University Press.
Dozier C, Johnston P and Rogers R (2006) Critical Literacy/Critical Teaching. New York,
NY: Teachers College Press.
Freire P (1998) Teachers as Cultural Workers: Letters to Those Who Dare Teach. Boulder, CO:
Westview Press.
Gee J (1999) An Introduction to Discourse Analysis: Theory and Method. New York, NY:
Routledge.
Gee J (2000) Discourse and sociocultural studies in reading. In: Kamil ML, Pearson
PD and Barr R (eds) Handbook of Reading Research (Volume III). Mahwah: NJ: Erlbaum.
Glesne C and Peshkin A (1992) Becoming Qualitative Researchers. New York, NY: Longman.
Halliday M (1975) Learning How to Mean. New York, NY: Elsevier North-Holland.
Harste J (2007) Foreword. In: Albers P (ed.) Finding the Artist Within. Newark, DE:
International Reading Association.
Kress G (2003) Literacy in the New Media Age. New York, NY: Routledge.
Kucer S (2008) What we know about the nature of reading. In: Kucer SB (ed.) What
Research Really Says about Teaching and Learning to Read. Urbana, IL: NCTE.
Leland C and Harste J (2004) Critical literacy: Enlarging the space of the possible.
In: Vasquez V, Egawa K, Harste J and Thompson R (eds) Literacy as Social Practice.
Urbana: IL: NCTE.
Lewison M, Flint A and Van Sluys K (2002) Taking on critical literacy: The journey of
newcomers and novices. Language Arts 79(5): 382392.
Lewison M, Leland C and Harste J (2008) Creating Critical Classrooms. New York, NY:
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Luke A and Freebody P (1999) Further notes on the four resoures model, Reading
Online, http://www.readingonline.org/research/lukefreebody.html (consulted
September 2010).
408
New London Group (2000) A pedagogy of multiliteracies. In: Cope B and Kalantzis M
(eds) Multiliteracies: Literacy Learning and the Design of Social Futures. New York: NY:
Routledge.
Siegel M, Kontovourki S, Schmier S and Enriquez G (2008) Literacy in motion: A
case study of a shape-shifting kindergartner. Language Arts 86(2): 8998.
Vasquez V (2003) Getting Beyond I Like the Book: Creating Space for Critical Literacy in K-6
Classrooms. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
Vasquez V, Egawa K, Harste J and Thompson R (eds) (2004) Literacy as Social Practice.
Urbana, IL: NCTE.
Vygotsky L (1978) Mind in Society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Wenger E (1998) Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning and Identity. New York, NY:
Cambridge University Press.
Wink J (2005) Critical Pedagogy: Notes from the Real World. Boston, MA: Pearson Education.
Appendix 1. Parent letter from teacher

Dear Parent,
Your child is bringing home a letter requesting that s/he donate a special
book to a school in New Orleans. This book will go directly to a first grade
student and will include a special message from your child. The boys and girls
are selecting a book that they have read and that has special meaning for them.
You do not need to buy a new book. The idea is to give something of
ourselves.
Tragically, Hurricane Katrina happened at about the same time that our
school year began. The children were interested in hurricanes as natural disasters and understood that its victims needed help. A small inquiry group of
interested students formed back in September and began learning about
hurricanes.
The questions this group posed, What is a hurricane? How can we be safe
in a hurricane? How can we help its victims? became a starting place for
deeper learning connected to this years social studies curriculum including
economic topics such as needs and wants and learning about rights and
responsibilities as we explored what it means to be a citizen and live in a
democracy.
I used this year to build capacity: to help our young learners see that many
of the victims of the hurricane were poor and African American. From our
work with Dr Martin Luther King, Ruby Bridges and others, we learned that
historically, groups of people have had to fight for their rights.We have learned
Silvers et al.
409
that we have both rights and responsibilities. Students explored what it means
to care and the power of words like freedom, courage, and love.
The small group that began this inquiry has expanded to include all the members of our class as we are now connecting this event with environmental issues
and a continued focus on civil rights and social justice. Your wonderful children
are amazing and we are learning so much about each other everyday. Thank you
for supporting our learning and helping us to make a difference in the world.
Sincerely,
Mrs B.
Appendix 2. Parent letter from child

Silvers Et Al. (Narrative)

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Silvers Et Al. (Narrative)

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Silvers Et Al. (Narrative)

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Journal of Early

Critical literacy in a primary multiliteracies classroom: The Hurricane Group

Downloaded from ecl.sagepub.com by Villy Tsakona on July 25, 2011

Journal of Early Childhood Literacy

Downloaded from ecl.sagepub.com by Villy Tsakona on July 25, 2011

Journal of Early Childhood Literacy 10(4)

Downloaded from ecl.sagepub.com by Villy Tsakona on July 25, 2011

Literature and theories informing the work

Downloaded from ecl.sagepub.com by Villy Tsakona on July 25, 2011

Journal of Early Childhood Literacy 10(4)

increased cultural diversity and new ways of communicating (Cazden et al.,

Downloaded from ecl.sagepub.com by Villy Tsakona on July 25, 2011

identity and learning serve each other in a series of transformative experiences

Downloaded from ecl.sagepub.com by Villy Tsakona on July 25, 2011

Journal of Early Childhood Literacy 10(4)

Downloaded from ecl.sagepub.com by Villy Tsakona on July 25, 2011

understanding of the teaching, curriculum, and students as learners. L visited

Downloaded from ecl.sagepub.com by Villy Tsakona on July 25, 2011

Journal of Early Childhood Literacy 10(4)

including the sociocultural dimension of learning; and critical literacy, which

Downloaded from ecl.sagepub.com by Villy Tsakona on July 25, 2011

to change old ways of behaving, leading to identity transformation

Multiliteracies in the primary classroom

Downloaded from ecl.sagepub.com by Villy Tsakona on July 25, 2011

Journal of Early Childhood Literacy 10(4)

Whose voices are heard? Whose voices are absent?

M knew it would be possible to help the students understand that there

The Hurricane Group gets started through inquiry

Downloaded from ecl.sagepub.com by Villy Tsakona on July 25, 2011

Downloaded from ecl.sagepub.com by Villy Tsakona on July 25, 2011

Journal of Early Childhood Literacy 10(4)

Table 1. First grade curriculum connections

Families and communities

Hurricane Katrina: homelessness

Needs and wants

What do people need to survive?

Citizenship: being a good citizen in Equal rights: being a good citizen

Hurricane Katrina: environmental concerns; Wetlands; zoo

Storms: tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis;

Reading and writing:

Reading and writing for social justice purposes: research

Ronna: They could go out to the stores.

Downloaded from ecl.sagepub.com by Villy Tsakona on July 25, 2011

Downloaded from ecl.sagepub.com by Villy Tsakona on July 25, 2011

Journal of Early Childhood Literacy 10(4)

Lets read the pichrs

Figure 1. Read the Pictures.

Downloaded from ecl.sagepub.com by Villy Tsakona on July 25, 2011

Analysis of the dialogue

Downloaded from ecl.sagepub.com by Villy Tsakona on July 25, 2011

Journal of Early Childhood Literacy 10(4)

Figure 2. Andys drawing of the Superdome.

Downloaded from ecl.sagepub.com by Villy Tsakona on July 25, 2011

constructing meaning as they used multimodal tools to engage in critical

Connecting and expanding the curriculum

Downloaded from ecl.sagepub.com by Villy Tsakona on July 25, 2011

Journal of Early Childhood Literacy 10(4)

themselves in hurricane information from the news, television programs,

Downloaded from ecl.sagepub.com by Villy Tsakona on July 25, 2011