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Scaffolding Critical Questions: Learning to Read the World in a Middle School Civics Class in Mexico
Author(s) -
Gibson Melissa Leigh
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of adolescent and adult literacy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.73
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1936-2706
pISSN - 1081-3004
DOI - 10.1002/jaal.735
Subject(s) - civics , foregrounding , pedagogy , social justice , social studies , sociology , critical literacy , literacy , citizenship , critical pedagogy , democracy , class (philosophy) , critical thinking , mathematics education , psychology , social science , political science , epistemology , law , politics , linguistics , philosophy
Abstract This article shares the case of a student‐driven investigation into social issues from an eighth‐grade civics class at an American school in Mexico. Through vignettes about the teaching and learning process, the author argues that a focus on students’ inquiry into their social contexts rather than on specific social justice content is a key practice when teaching for critical democratic literacy, especially when teachers and students come from different social contexts. This article offers a concrete example of how foregrounding students’ critical questions can help move students toward social justice–oriented citizenship.