In this article, authors describe an original framework aimed to acquaint pre-service English teachers with concepts related to social justice to facilitate their critical literacies related to eight components: positionality, race, orientation, gender, relationships, environment, social class, and stereotypes (PROGRESS). Authors then illustrate this text-based approach through an application of the paradigm to the young adult text "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" with the hope that this model will be both useful for helping pre-service teachers participate in critical conversations on literature and social issues as well for assisting those candidates in finding starting points for similar work with their future students. Possibilities for implementing the paradigm in classroom practice are offered, which embrace examining intersectionalities and recognizing silences in the myriad texts to which the framework can be adapted.