Critically Literate Citizenship: Moments and Movements in Second Grade

With renewed emphasis on civic education in K–12 schools, educators and politicians call for young people to engage in civic action. Worth considering are the kinds of ideas taken up, the performances deemed critical enough, and actions recognized in schools as civic engagement. Drawing from a case study of second graders in New York City (NYC), I move away from hypervisible expressions of civic participation to show how children take up critical literacy and civic action through everyday, ordinary moments. Beyond public displays of social action, how do we build up critically literate citizens who question, disrupt, and engage civically in their daily lives? Highlighted throughout this article are children’s questions, inquiries, and tensions around diverse identities and practices (e.g., religion, race, gender, politics). In centering children’s political agendas, I argue that the production of civic engagement is lived out in the curricular, conversational, and playful moments leading up to social movements.