Critical Consciousness

Resource
Connection to Case Study
Hubbard, Scott. (2013).
My case study was interested in
Education for Empowerment:
reading a lot of science fiction,
The Link between Multiple
historical fiction, and other modes of
Literacies and Critical
young adult literature. One medium
Consciousness. The English
of literature that she frequently
Journal, 102(4), 98-101.
brought to our sessions was various
Retrieved 15 September 2015.
graphic novels, usually featuring
This article discusses the possibilities Marvel or D.C comic superheroes.
that various literary practices have
Shelly and I both knew a lot about
for developing critical consciousness
batman, as did the neighboring
in young adults. Hubbard discusses
mentor and mentee who sat at the
the advantages of using culturally
same table as us. Because of this
relevant texts in the classroom.
common ground, we were able to
Specifically, he discusses the use of
have discussions about popular
pop culture texts in the classroom.
superheroes, which were the most
He asserts that, when the prior
powerful, and most importantly,
knowledge and experiences of
which were the most politically
learners are used as launchpads and
significant and had the most
reference points in the daily activities meaningful causes.
of the English classroom, there is a
By bringing in currently relevant
confluence of worlds and identities,
ideas and historical context, Shelly
making school a natural extension of was exposed to an understanding of
students lives rather than an alien,
the world different from her previous
unwelcoming appendage.
one. More importantly, she saw
By combining traditional texts with
comic book superheroes as
modern young-adult literary
significant figures in the world of
practices, students are able to
justice.
broaden their perspective and
ultimately become more self-aware,
with the ability to assess their current
position in the broader world-culture
and have a better understanding of
the world. Students are able to learn
and share various perspectives and
view the world in a more critical way.
Cultural Competence
Resource
Connection to Case Study
Bennett, M. (2008).
Working with Shelly was
Understanding The Students We
uncomfortable and challenging at
Teach: Poverty In The
first, because I knew very little about
Classroom. The Clearing
her life and the daily situations she
House, 81(6), 251-256.
faced every day. Because she was
Retrieved November 14,
shy, and at first showed very little

2014, from EBSCO.

This article discusses the effect
of a study on poverty on a class of
Georgia Southern University
preservice teachers. High drop-out
rates in schools, in addition to a
transient and ever-shifting population
makes responsiveness to low poverty
students an important quality for
Georgia teachers. Yet, as most of
Georgias public school teachers,
most of the preservice teachers
involved in this study were middle to
upper class white females.
Furthermore, Bennett acknowledges
that, even in college coursework that
focuses on multicultural education,
low-income students are often
overlooked. Many of the preservice
teachers in Bennetts class expressed
shock, discomfort and concern in
working with students from low
socioeconomic backgrounds. Dr.
Bennett attributes her students
increase of awareness in
socioeconomic differences, empathy
and caring attitudes, and
development of culturally responsive
teaching methods and philosophies
to an assigned comprehensive study
on lower class students. This
conclusion is derived from the
preservice teachers reported
responses to class discussion, field
placements, a community driving
tour, and additional class materials
and readings. These responses were
captured in two major projects: a
paper specifically written to record
reactions to the community driving
tour, and posters created during
discussions to make connections
between data and field experiences.

interest in talking to me, I had no

way of learning about her. It was from
Miller Mentoring coordinators and
past mentors that I learned she came
from a low-income, single parent
household. It was not until I managed
to develop a certain degree of mutual
trust with Shelly that I was able to
hear about her life experiences firsthand. This allowed me to gain a
clearer idea of what her day-to-day
life was actually like. Without
knowing these details about her
background, I would not have been
able to continue developing this
relationship because I would not have
known to interact in a responsive
way.
Simply understanding the obstacles
that Shelly faced, along with the
strengths that she had gained during
her lifetime, made it much easier for
me to help Shelly simply complete
her homework. Validating her
strengths also encouraged her to try
harder in school. Without an
awareness of her background,
including the poverty of her family, I
would not have been able to develop
this understanding relationship.

Gorski, Paul C. Building a

Pedagogy of Engagement for

Expressing high expectations by

demanding higher-order thinking

Students in Poverty. Phi Delta

Kappan 95.1 (2013). 48-52.
Online.
In this article, Paul Gorski stresses
the importance of using effective
strategies in the classroom while
working with students in poverty. He
makes it clear that education alone is
not a cure-all for poverty. Still, as
guidelines for teachers, he offers
several different classroom strategies
to engage impoverished students
such as expressing high expectations
through higher-order, engaging
pedagogies, and focusing intently on
student and family strengths.

proved effective while working with

Shelly. Treating her as a scholar
more so than a middle school student
while talking over the discussion
topics in her homework was effective.
Sometimes this involved asking
questions that required a higher level
of thinking than the ones that were
actually in her homework.
Focusing intently on student and
family strengths also changed the
way I interacted with Shelly. I had
already learned a lot about Shellys
family from what shed told me. I
knew she had a positive relationship
with her mother, and often made art
projects and crafts especially for her.
She also saw herself as a caretaker of
her little brothers. When I finally met
her mother and her younger
brothers, I got a much clearer picture
as to what her family dynamic was
like. Her mother clearly valued
reading and learning, and I learned
from Shelly and one of her younger
brothers that they had designated
time for reading each night. Shellys
seven-year-old brother was excited to
tell me everything he knew about the
Titanic, and some of the things he
was learning at his STEM elementary
school. Shelly and her younger
brother both had a similar affinity for
knowledge, reading, and bizarre
facts. All of these things were clearly
indicators of a learning-centered
household.

Academic Achievement
Walkey, Frank H., McClure,
John, Meyer, Luanna, and
Kirsty F. Weir. Low
expectations equal no
expectations: Aspirations,
Motivation, and

This low expectations equal no

expectations phenomenon clearly
applied to Shelly. Shelly had very
little desire to continue education. As
an 8th grader, she was not excited to
enter high school and was certainly

Achievement in Secondary
School. Contemporary
Educational Psychology 38
(2013). 306-315. Online.
This article discusses the results of a
study conducted of over 5000
samples including year 10 and 11
students at 19 different secondary
schools in New Zealand. Data was
collected from each student on
individual demographic factors, selfreported aspirations, motivational
factors, attributions, and
interpersonal affiliations. It was
discovered that students with
moderate aspirations (the I will do
just enough to get by attitude) did
not perform any better than students
with little or no aspirations.
Aspirations were also significantly
linked to demographic factors and
motivation patterns. These results
suggest medium to low self-reported
aspirations actually reinforce low selfexpectations and result in lower
performance. Lowering expectations
for students results in even lower
aspirations, and even lower academic
performance. In conclusion, schools
should continue to set high
expectations for students to
encourage higher aspirations.

not considering college. Part of this

was because she did not believe she
was smart enough, and as a result,
did not hold high expectations for
herself.
Shelly was smart though. She had an
aptitude for strange scientific facts,
found mathematics to be an easy
subject, and was an avid reader.
Many of these personal habits are
qualities of a high-achieving college
bound student. The key to helping
her improve her performance in
school was convincing her that she
was capable of doing so.
I began by bringing up the possibility
of entering into honors level classes.
She often complained about her
homework being boring because it
was not challenging enough, so I
convinced her that if she put her best
effort into her homework, she would
probably be able to impress her
teachers.
I also discussed with her the
possibilities of eventually going to
college. Simply reminding her of this
potential was praise enough for her
to think of herself as a collegecapable individual.

Pink, Daniel H. Drive: The

Surprising Truth About
What Motivates Us. New
York, NY: Riverhead Books,
2009. Print.
In this book, Daniel Pink explores the
psychology behind motivation. He
addresses many of the longstanding
issues of using carrots and sticks as
motivation. He cites a study where
two groups of people were given
tasks, and offered monetary rewards
for completing the tasks. One group

Finding motivation for Shelly was

difficult, because she disliked school
and there was very little extrinsic
motivation that could possibly
encourage her to do better. Grades
were unimportant, none of the
activities she participated in required
a certain GPA, and she was not
offered any monetary awards from
her parents for grades. As a result,
poor grades didnt bother her, and
she was not punished for them in any
direct way. By considering Pinks

was given simple, repetitive, and

medial tasks. Their rate of
productivity improved compared to
those who did not receive monetary
rewards. Upon the discovery that
offering monetary rewards as
incentive to workers charged with
tasks that required productivity and
creativity, Pink came up with an
explanation. In order to produce
quality work, people must be given
three elements. The first is
autonomy, or the freedom to make
independent decisions. The second is
mastery, or the desire to become
better at something. The third
element is purpose, or a sense or
desire to accomplish something
larger than the individual.

three elementsautonomy, mastery,

and purpose, it became easier to find
ways to motivate Shelly to do her
homework.
Simply asking her to view writing
responses to prompts for her
Language Arts homework was
effective. By having her view herself
as a professional writer exploring
literary questions, she was happy to
take more time to complete her
homework. Helping her view herself
as an individual with potential to do
real, meaningful work gave her
autonomy, mastery, and purpose.

Otten, Amanda C. (2003).

Defining the Moment:
Teaching Vocabulary to
Unmotivated Students The
English Journal, 92(6), 7578. Retrieved March 26,
2015, from JSTOR.
In this article, Otten addresses the
issue of teaching vocabulary to
disinterested students. She argues
that the best way to expand student
vocabulary is not to rely on constant
drills, such as looking up and copying
definitions, but to first instill an
enthusiasm for reading to give
students more opportunities to
explore new vocabulary. She also
encourages teaching students to use
more natural methods, such as using
contextual clues, to understand
vocabulary. Although she claims that
these steps are key to expanding
student vocabulary, she does not
advocate dismissing drilling exercises
altogether to ensure that students
still develop the skill of using

The negative impact of constant

vocabulary drilling was very apparent
in the case of Shellya large portion
of her homework was comprised of
lists of new words to define. The
exercise required the typical
dictionary-lookup process. Shelly
already knew most of the words that
were in her homework, but she still
wouldnt write definitions for them
because she found it too boring and
monotonous. It certainly did not
prompt her to practice using a
dictionary. In this case, her teacher
could have considered differentiating
the exercise by including more
challenging words, even as bonus
questions. She also could have
extended the exercise to include
more natural exercises that involve
using contextual information, such as
writing sample sentences including
the word.

dictionaries and other references to

find definitions for unfamiliar words.
In conclusion, this article argues that
constant drilling will only make
disinterested students even less
motivated, and that instilling interest
for reading is the best way to
intrinsically motivate students to
read and develop vocabulary.