“I Had a Deep‐Down Stereotype”: Pairing Critical Literacy Practices to Examine Explicit and Implicit Gender Stereotypes with Elementary Students

Abstract

Connecting literacy to social issues such as gender stereotypes supports reading and writing achievement while also allowing students to think critically and in justice‐focused ways. Such practices allow students to critique gender stereotypes in texts while also examining and even challenging their own implicit perceptions of gender. However, teachers are often not provided support in challenging stereotypical portrayals of gender and are often provided curricula that actively reinforces gender stereotypes. In this article, I explain how to use critical literacy practices to help students examine stereotypical portrayals of gender and their own thinking about gender. I describe a framework for using these practices and provide a specific lesson and its impact on second‐ to third‐grade students.