Paying Attention to Procedural Texts: Critically Reading School Routines as Embodied Achievement

Abstract

In this article, we look closely at the way power circulates through school routines with ordinary texts in everyday moments. We address texts that support different types of achievement and how critical literacy helps us redefine achievement and examine what we’re doing with texts and students in classrooms. We interrogate the notion of achievement outside the realm of traditional markers of school success (i.e. tests, academic content knowledge, etc.). We argue that more inclusive interpretations of achievement requires critical reading of texts all around us, in the language that constructs our worlds, from the products we buy to the most mundane routines. Using three elementary teaching vignettes: a teacher shopping for pencil boxes and back-to-school supplies, a first grader posting a complaint to call a class meeting, and a fifth grade class responding to a memo about a new school policy, we examine power relations in texts and routines that highlight achievement. The article includes critical routines with potential for empowering and diversifying opportunities for success.