Integrative Social Studies for Urban Middle Schools: A Case for Multiple Literacies

Abstract

In this article the authors argue that the integration of mainstream, standard or “school” literacy into social studies instruction is necessary to ensure that students in urban middle school classrooms learn social studies content. Then the authors ask even more from social educators—arguing for social studies instruction from perspectives of feminist praxis that include multiple literacies—or standard, community, and personal literacies—to validate and engage disinterested students. The argument for multiple literacies develops around an analysis of instructional differences in two personal classroom vignettes that reveal cognitive, sociocultural, and critical theories of literacy proficiency. Following the discourse model established by Lugones and Spelman (1983), they also critically examine their own attempts to apply those theoretical perspectives in an urban junior high school. Without presupposing unity of expression, this article, then, is a collection of the authors' interpretive experiences.