Critical Literacy in English Literature

Authors Pamar and Krinsky (secondary education, Brooklyn College-CUNY) provide secondary teachers with suggestions for alternative texts and classroom activities for teaching English literature from a critical perspective. The book begins with an overview of critical literacy and pedagogy and a biographical sketch of Paulo Freire. An entire chapter is devoted to the importance of understanding and using popular culture, media, and digital texts in lessons. The rest of the book presents four unit plans that pair traditional and alterative texts to explore issues of class, race, gender, and power. For example, the unit on class pairs Lord of the Flies with the book Push. Each text is accompanied with pre- and post-reading activities, discussion topics, and review questions, along with ideas on differentiating instruction and extending lessons. An appendix offers many reproducible handouts that encourage critical thinking and analysis; some of the handouts are open-ended, while others are geared to specific works, such as House on Mango Street, Maus, and Fahrenheit 451. Annotation c2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Priya Parmar, PhD, is Associate Professor of Secondary Education and Program Head of English Education at Brooklyn College – CUNY. Her most recently published scholarly works include Knowledge Reigns Supreme: The Critical Pedagogy of Hip Hop Artist KRS-ONE and ?Towards New Epistemological Possibilities: The Critical Complex Epistemology of Hip Hop Culture? in Teaching Joe Kincheloe.
Hindi Krinsky, EdD, is a former secondary English Language Arts teacher and current college instructor of Secondary Education at Brooklyn College – CUNY. Her most recently published scholarly works include contributions to The Internet and Higher Education, Sequential Art Narrative Journal, and the forthcoming books Plants and Literature: Essays in Critical Plant Studies and More Pie: Essays on Entering Academia.