The "active, reflective" manner of critical literacy is essential for all readers and teachers. Educators must teach students how to engage in texts and reflect on what they are reading in order to foster learning. Students are not only encouraged to comprehend literature, but to also question the message, ideas, and bias of the material. While it is important to critically evaluate literature, a text should not solely be analyzed based on "power, inequality, and injustice." One way to look at power and injustice is to use specific lenses to view literature. But, looking at literature through one narrow lens limits the richness of a text. If we are doing critical literacy and only looking through, for example, an archetypal lens, we may be ignoring a discussion on gender or passing over an opportunity to discuss the literature's social, political, and economic context.
Then, what does critical literacy concretely look like in the classroom? Edward H. Behrman in "Teaching About Language, Power, and Text: A Review of Classroom Practices that Support Critical Literacy," found that there are six educational practices that teachers use in support of critical literacy. They are: reading supplementary texts, reading multiple texts, reading from a resistant perspective, producing counter-texts, conducting student-choice research projects, and taking social action (492). Based on these strategies that teachers use to try and implement critical literacy, it sounds like critical literacy is, well, being a good teacher. For example, Karen Spector and Stephanie Jones' "Constructing Anne Frank: Critical Literacy and the Holocaust in Eighth Grade English" shows how critical literacy means demystifying the happy play version of Anne Frank's life by using other texts and historical information.
So, while critical literacy in practice resembles good teaching techniques, such as using other texts, being aware of different critical approaches or lenses, and allowing student choice, critical literacy is ultimately only one aspect of the ELA classroom. Similarly, a critical literacy lens should not stifle the book, but the lenses, such as gender, class, race, and authority, are valuable concepts to consider when teaching a text. I am wondering, Is it reasonable and practical to teach multiple "lenses" with one book? And, how do I teach students to read and critically evaluate without overwhelming them? While I challenge my own noggin to discover these answers, I can help my students stretch their brains and question their ideologies through some aspects of critical literacy.
To address the question you asked in the last paragraph, I think it is reasonable and practical to teach multiple reader "lenses" with one book. Students will encounter this in college, and I believe if a teacher shapes the book analysis to be attainable for students then one book can be used to illustrate multiple critical literacy "lenses."
ReplyDeleteYou ask good questions in your last paragraph. I didn't really consider how overwhelming it can be to ask students to read and critque the writing at the same time, because even good readers can only do so much at once. I think it is a skill that can only be put to its best use through repeated practice for years and years.
ReplyDeleteDear Amy,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your thoughtful and insightful post. You brought very valuable ideas to my attention and posed some very interesting questions to consider at the end.
First, I appreciate your insight that teaching through multiple lenses is important because looking at a text from solely one perspective limits the richness of the text. This was something I had not thought about consciously before and neglected to consider in my own post.
However, I think certain texts are geared more towards one lens than another and you are right to question the overwhelming emotions of students if they are asked to look at a text from more than one lens. When first beginning to teach critical literacy, it is important to take small steps and perhaps only choose one lens from which to look at a text. As their critical literacy skills develop and grow, they are capable of looking at it from more than one lens or perhaps choosing for themselves which lens they would like to look through when reading the book. I think it simply takes time to develop these complex critical literacy skills and it is important to be patient and provide tasks that are meaningful, appropriate, and at the intellectual level of the students. As you get to know your students, you will learn what they are ready for and what they may not be able to understand yet.
I am not sure if I did, but I hope I answered your questions and provided helpful comments. Thank you again for your wonderful post!
Courtney B.
Amy:
ReplyDeleteYour last questions really sunk in to me. I was thinking something very similar. I understand that teaching critical literacy is going to be difficult. After reading the three assigned article I asked myself the question, "How am I going to teach critical literacy so children still remain respectful, yet honest?" Like you, I have challenged my own noggin with this question. As future classroom teachers, I think we should know at least one thing. We should take things slow and not assume students are going to understand critical literacy the first day.
As all of you mentioned in some way, critical literacy skills are not acquired over night. Thanks for pointing out that they take practice, time, and scaffolding.
ReplyDeleteCourtney, I think you make a great point when you suggest that teachers should begin using critical literacy with one lens. I like the idea of having students choose their own lenses in the future. Ben, I would like to get to the point in my English classes where we can critically analyze a text from multiple lenses, but, for now, I think it may be more important to grasp the concept and be able to apply the basic ideas of critical literacy to texts.