Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Critical Literacy: And that means? . . .
Before taking any education classes, I never knew what critical literacy was. Now I understand that it is too complex and too deep to be defined in just one sentence. (So I will use a couple.) Critical literacy is using reading, writing, speaking, and listening in many different forms to become informed of the world around them to and to aware of their position in it. It is also having the access to these sources so that you can be informed and then using that information to make a change. One of the most important things that I can do as an educator is to teach my students to be critically literate. Too many times in education, students take what they are given and they never question it. Or if they do question it, they are not given answers or are told that they shouldn't be questioning. The only view given in education is the white higher socioeconomic perspective. Students not of that group are usually marginalized, not validated in their own history and experience. As a teacher of history, I especially can be an influencer for good when helping students develop critical literacy, teaching students to become critical (not necessarily critiques) of the world around them. As students are given access and taught how to access and question the world around them, their histories and lives become validated. They are given the tools they need to make change, which is one of the biggest aspects of critical literacy. Becoming an agent of change is the ultimate goal of critical literacy--look at the world critically, see something wrong, and then use the skills they have been taught to change it. And hopefully I am helping cultivate these agents of change.
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I really agree with your point of having students become questioners. That is something that was totally left out from my education till college and for a while I wanted to be a professor because I felt college is where I was finally allowed to question and discuss things whether they were controversial or not. Especially in the social sciences students need to be taught that there is a whole lot more grey out there than they think and that they need to be given the abilities and confidence to question what they see, hear, read,...etc. And to do it not in a negative, conspiracy theory way, but in a productive manner.
ReplyDeleteYou have good definitions of critical literacy and I’m able to see your growing understanding of the continuum of theory and its application in your teaching. Understanding the power of the theoretical tools and lenses available to us can help us as teachers to move our teaching from narrow task based skills to more complex empowering forms of these skills that promote critical literacy and a commitment to more inclusive classrooms that promote social justice and an individual value in our students. I hope you’ll continue to reflect on and understand the theories that inform your teaching so you can be deliberate and intentional in your instructional choices
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