YPAR: Exploring New Literacies and Critical Literacy Pedagogy in a Virtual Teaching and Learning Environment

Abstract

This dissertation illuminates a particular kind of school-embedded Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) project that adds to the collective understanding of what facilitates and challenges YPAR work in particular field settings. This dissertation contributes to the ongoing discussion about urban children and the use of digital literacies for justice aims with the ultimate goal of conscientization. Through using new literacies around a critical literacy pedagogy, the critical consciousness is achieved through youth taking action against the challenging elements in their life.

Focusing on 8 seventh-grade literacy students at East Lower School in the Rochester City School District (RCSD), during a virtual learning environment during the 2020-2021 school year, this work synthesizes the literacy practices of students using YPAR approaches supported by digital tools. Participants leveraged the affordances of digital platforms like social media to take part in civic and political life by accessing and circulating information about issues that matter to them, are a community concern, and influence peers and elected officials to take action.