Greeting subscribers:
I am so happy you have subscribed to my blog. Even though you may have to for class, I hope you see this as an opportunity to "enrich your knowledge base of education."
You all probably know the blogging prompt for this week (if not, here is the link). The emphasis of this prompt deals with critical literacy. Before taking this course, I really had no idea what critical literacy dealt with. Because I have done a little research, I now feel comfortable explaining my thoughts and opinions.
Like myself, you have probably wondered, "What exactly is critical literacy? Why is it at all important?" I was able to figure out that critical literacy deals primarily with the relationship between readers and the reading process. Critical literacy encourages readers to look past the author's view, often times challenging and questioning such ideas. This philosophy encourages readers to actively engage themselves in the reading.
As a future classroom teacher, I see teaching and utilizing critical literacy essential in the classroom. Because of today's ever-changing society, more and more pieces of research and information is being placed on television, the internet, and the general media. By teaching the uses of critical literacy, teachers are educating students on how to choose the right information. Just because something is on the internet does not mean it is credible and legitimate. Educators need to show children how to question and speculate certain issues to combat this very problem.
I understand in the necessity of teaching critical literacy, but I see such a feat as being quite challenging. How do we teach children to question power and the author in a respectful way? Will children ultimately question everything we do? Is that what we really want? Plus, I can imagine some administrative systems to not want children to question authority figures too much. There is a line to draw. Where exactly and how do we draw that line?
I like the idea of critical literacy, but I think it will be difficult to effectively teach it. If we do master such a lesson, we just add to our "bag of tricks" as teachers. I am happy (hopefully you are too) that we are exposed to such a philosophy because I believe children have the right to think.
Carpe Diem.
Tony, I think you bring up a great point when you ask if our students will begin questioning our authority if we encourage them to challenge power relations. In questioning an author's authority, we will be exploring the writer's context, including the motive for writing and the publishing pressures on the person, and won't necessarily be discounting the author as an un-authoritative figure. Similarly, when students do challenge our authority, we will clearly draw the line. I don't think all students will mutiny simply because we are encouraging them to question what they read.
ReplyDeleteDear Tony,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your thoughtful post. You brought up some very good points and posed some very intriguing questions.
First, I would like to express my agreement with your statements surrounding the importance of education. I agree that critical literacy is a necessary facet of education and I also agree that teaching students to be successful critical analyzers of text is a challenging task.
In response to your question, I agree that it is important to challenge and question the authors of text in a respectful manner. Echoing Amy's comment, I think critical literacy asks readers to explore the author's background, intentions, and biases. In this exploration, critical analyzers are merely recognizing that the author comes from a certain point of view that influences what they write about and how they write it; critical literacy does not necessarily mean delegitimizing an author's work but rather recognizing that there are multiple points of view for every subject. Critical literacy does not ask readers to deem a work invalid because of its biases or ask readers to discount the author's opinions. If this were the case, every text would be considered invalid and every author would be discounted.
I hope you find this an appropriate response to your question.
Thank you again for a wonderful post!
Courtney B.