Reading Knee-Deep

Freire told his audience at a seminar at the University of Massachusetts, “You need to read knee-deep in texts, for deeper than surface meanings, and you need to know the words to be able to do it” (quoted in Cleary, 2003 Cleary, L. M. . Reading knee deep: Working with struggling secondary readers beyond scripted programs and into text complexities: The imperative of classroom conversations. The National Conference of Teachers of English. San Francisco, CA. November, [Google Scholar]). In a children's literature class, fifteen teachers and I traveled along a path that moved us toward reading knee-deep as we peered beneath the surface of the words on the page and into our personal responses to examine the worlds they each described. To help us along this path, we took two theoretical perspectives, transactional literary theory and critical literacy theory. While many of the students were familiar with transactional literary theory, few were familiar with critical literacy theory. It was not surprising, based on their experience with it, that students readily transacted with children's literature, living through the story worlds and making personal connections. However, they were hesitant, critical readers of children's literature and resisted critique, uncomfortable with discussing issues of social justice and equity. I wondered what I could do as a teacher educator to help them redefine their personal responses to include critical responses, to read knee-deep. This question became a persistent one and led me to ask, “As a teacher educator, how can I support students in using transactional literary theory and critical literacy theory as lenses for children's literature?”