Life after Death:

Critical Pedagogy in an Urban Classroom

By J. Alleyne Johnson

In this article, J. Alleyne Johnson describes the evolution of her classroom into one in which the day-to-day realities of students' lives -- most significantly their encounters with death -- are acknowledged and formally addressed as being central to the work of the classroom. She explains how her understanding of her teaching has been informed and transformed by critical pedagogy. Johnson invites readers to follow her journey with her students as they move from viewing the teacher as "knowledge giver" to legitimating the students' knowledge and experiences as a basis for learning. In this example of a teacher's attempt to translate critical pedagogy into practice, she also brings home the impact of the violence and death in U.S. society of students' lives.

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