Scholarly Research Analysis Protocol

Torres, Myriam N. (2017). Prospective Teachers Learning to Engage Reluctant Writers: the power of experiential critical literacy pedagogies, The Journal of Teacher Action Research, 101-113.

What makes this an academic article?

• Article starts with an abstract: This is a structural feature that defines academic writing, especially writing featured in peer-reviewed journals. Popular culture articles contain no such wordstuffs.
• The overall content of the article, geared towards those who are interested in esoteric concepts such as critical literacy pedagogies. Popular culture cares naught for literacy.
• Reputable sources, cited regularly throughout. Imagine reading an article in a popular culture publication that bothers to explain where the information comes from.
• A complete lack of glossy photographs, illustrations, embedded video clips, or clever memes. Pop culture publications typically spruce up their content with visuals to draw in fickle readers. Dr. Torres’ intended audience need not be teased into reading her work.
• Words. Big words. The overall diction of the article is clearly not intended for the general public. Dr. Torres writes in an elevated style, heavy on teaching jargon, that would turn away any reader who gets their news from Buzzfeed.

Identify the specialized vocabulary:

• pedagogy - the overall philosophy and methodology of teaching
• educational-industrial complex - “The System” of all the tests, policies, financial regulations, and hoops to jump through that has been established and maintained by bureaucrats who are typically not educators themselves
• critical literacy - the ability to read a text closely, unpacking the various implications and deeper meanings within the text
• NCLB,ESSA, RTTT - education policies, subject to change at any moment, that teachers are expected to obey
• top-down standards - Reaganomics applied to education
• living language workshop - organic writing instruction that draws in student writers by tasking them to write about what matters to them

Argument Statement:

“We need to implement critical literacy pedagogies that: a) integrate social justice issues as the substance of reading, writing, and speaking - the basic components of the language arts curriculum; b) place students’ lives at the center of the curriculum; c) use the newly acquired knowledge about policies and skills (e.g. writing letters) for social justice activism; and d) build socially responsive curricula from the bottom up.” (Torres, 2017, p. 104)

Statements of Support:

1. “At last, critical educators have been able to ‘connect the dots’ to reveal who is behind the disastrous educational policies and the growth of the educational-industrial complex (standardized tests, textbooks, teaching materials, commercialization of schools, tutoring, teacher training, online courses, alternative certification programs, school closings, forprofit charter schools, and so on).” (Torres, 2017, p. 101)
2. “[T]he ‘popularity effect’ of critical literacy has led many good teachers to claim they are “doing” critical literacy, even though they are not examining systems of oppression with their students [...], and taking action upon those issues at school or local levels.” (Torres, 2017, p. 102)
3. “[Writing] is mainly assigned but not taught; and when it does occur, writing is almost always solely for writing’s sake. Consequently, writing becomes an unpleasant experience[.]” (Torres, 2017, p. 103)
4. “Poor, and mostly minority, students are ‘tracked’ at lower levels, which harms them not only academically but psychologically; and it is a commonplace that the poor and minority schooling experience is that of unchallenging curricula, prescriptive programs, less experienced and qualified teachers, more irrational practices, and more pressure to raise scores in standardized testing.” (Torres, 2017, p. 104)
5. “A common practice in teaching writing at schools is to emphasize grammatical correctness at the expense of purpose, meaning, and creativity.” (Torres, 2017, p. 104)
6. “[Students should be asking]: Is this fair? Is this right? Does this hurt anyone? Who benefits and who suffers? Whose voices are suppressed?” (Torres, 2017, p. 105)

Value Statements:

1. Writing (and all aspects of education) should be an experiential activity. Students should be able to connect their educational experiences to their personal experience. If content matters to them, they will be more likely to have substantial learning experiences.
2. The educational-industrial complex is failing our students. The way the system is designed is flawed in that it only perpetuates historical inequalities.
3. Teachers, especially pre-service teachers, are susceptible to maintaining the status quo by teaching the way they were taught. We’ve all had influential teachers who inspired us to get into teaching. We’ve all also had less skilled and less passionate teachers shape our educational experience. Unfortunately, some of their bad habits (pedagogies not aligned with best practice) rub off on the next generation of teachers. Through reflective practice, we can exorcise those demons.