摘要：Elementary teachers and their students often find themselves using curricular frameworks with prescribed outcomes that closely align with current testing regimes and standards (Au, 2011; Botzakis, Burns, &Hall, 2014; Williams, 2007). Such learning rarely includes opportunities to problematize and consider multiple points of view about topics such as race and class. This article examines the written and visual responses of children as they read and discussed issues related to civil rights and migrant workers. Theories that guide this study include sociocultural and critical theories, specifically writing is a social practice, writing is a tool for thinking, and writing from a critical perspective contributesto developing globally minded and socially just students. Findingsfrom a constant comparative approach to data analysis (Strauss &Corbin, 1994) suggest that children's oral responses to the texts focused on the many injustices experienced during the time period. Topics such as friendship, violence, language learning, movement/solidarity, and healthcare were also apparent in published pieces and informal writing samples. Students utilized a range of sign systems through writing, language, and drawing to further their own understandings of the social, historical, and political events of days past, as well as current day happenings.
关键词：critical literacy; English Learners; transmediation; writing instruction
