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https://docs.google.com/document/d/1h38mQrcAD_eTN9iEZ3GaZaTF1ItpHE3eZXxYcFX-uEM/edit?usp=sharing

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Critical Literacy and Writing Instruction

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Critical Literacy and Writing Instruction

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In both videos, critical literacy was found by altering lessons by exploring alternative perspectives and asking critical questions. Critically literacy was achieved by having students collaborate and share their work and establishing a community where writing is meaningful. To begin the article, “Integrating Critical Literacy in the Middle School Classroom” states that, “Students must develop and reflect on their own viewpoint as well as learn “to communicate with and learn from those who hold different perspectives” (Westheimer & Kahne, 2004, p. 243). This tenet of critical literacy was shown throughout the video, “Differentiating Instruction Through Writer’s Workshop”. In Urbita Elementary, the 4th-grade students practice exploring alternative perspectives very regularly through a writer’s workshop. Krista Richardson expressed the importance of letting students talk and collaborate in this workshop process. Students work hand and hand with their peers to improve each other's writing as well as being a listener. Students get a chance to hear and see different perspectives and offer their own insight as well. At the end of the workshop when students “publish” their writing, they get a chance to read their work in front of their peers and it gives students a chance to reflect and be able to think with a more critical lens of how everyone has a different story to tell. Another way critical literacy was clearly shown was by setting a foundation of creating a community of writers where it is meaningful and incorporates asking critical questions. Ideas for this claim come from the video, “Write in the Middle: A Workshop for Middle School Teachers”. For students to start thinking critically, they need to have an environment set where they are able to feel comfortable to want to start using this higher-level thinking implemented. That is why I believe in the video that these are the first two workshops presented because it is so crucial for students to have somewhere to start. As explained in the video, when we are able to use truly authentic sources, we can find ways to connect content to our own lives and from there go a step deeper and think critically. With this, critical questions can be asked. It is said in the article that, “...teachers can give students opportunities to consider their own opinions about perspectives and interpretations of a text” (Paul, 2016, p. 3). By providing students with situations like interviews and workshops, students can begin to ponder and ask critical questions to deeper their understanding. By providing students with opportunities to unite with peers through multiple perspectives as well as establishing a community of meaningful writers, the scope of critical literacy opens up and takes learning to new heights.

In regard to revising the teaching to incorporate more critical literacy, I would want to add in the use of critical projects as well as incorporating multiple texts. The use of creating critical projects as well as providing students with multiple text resources, can deeper their understanding of critical literacy. In both videos, there were very good ideas presented on how we can help students write and ways to teach writing but there was some absence of creativity and use of critical literacy. With my first point, I think both videos could have improved the teaching at their schools if they included critical projects. This can be explained as, “Though teachers can alter lessons to teach critical literacy, they can also use projects to promote and assess critical literacy” (Paul, 2016, p. 4). To begin, in “Differentiating Instruction Through Writer’s Workshop”, a writing workshop seemed to be a very repetitive concept as Krista Richardson discussed. It is very routine with practicing it three times a week with mini-lessons provided before. Students follow a continuous cycle of writing, revising, collaborating, conferencing, and sharing. This process then repeats and I feel there is a lack of use of critical projects. I think they could turn some of their writing workshops into critical projects. Through the practice of inquiry, students could create multimodal products with research, the use of multiple perspectives, and ways to display their learning. I think this could also help them get out of the repetitive tedious cycle of constantly doing the same form of writer’s workshop by providing them a choice as well as a way to critically analyze a topic they feel passionate about. I like how the article mentioned how a critical project could be creating a skit. I think you could incorporate a writer’s workshop into molding a script that students write and turning it into a performance they can share with their peers. It is almost like applied practice where students are getting the opportunity to display their writing in a nontraditional way while also thinking about it through a critical lens. Next, in the video, “Write in the Middle- A Workshop for Teachers”, I think the teaching could be improved by incorporating more multiple texts into writing. Through the different workshops with teaching poetry, persuasive writing, and multigenre writing, I felt there was a strong need to provide students with not only multiple supplemental texts but multimodal ones as well. The benefits of this can be expressed as, “Including multiple texts can be very important in allowing students to explore differing perspectives of multiple authors as well as see the non-neutrality of texts through comparison” (Paul, 2016, p.3). I think with introducing different kinds of writing as shown in this video, it is important to provide students with multiple forms of examples through digital or physical writing on what a new writing style can look like. In this, it can teach students to analyze at a more critical level comparing and making connections between the different texts. Just showing students one example or trying to explain a concept is not enough for students to fully engage critically. I think this video did provide opportunities for students to engage in thinking from multiple perspectives, but I think adding more supplemental resources could elevate the level of thinking in those classrooms. By providing students with more opportunities to apply their thinking through inquiry projects or with the use of providing multiple and supplemental texts, it can help students show their critical literacy skills at an extraordinary level.

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There is a need and importance to celebrate differences and provide students with opportunities to be curious when they learn. In the article, Everybody Have Their Own Way of Talking, the author expresses the urgency to honor linguistic diversity. By providing students with a learning style rooted in constructivism as well as letting students code-mesh, students can have more freedom to express themselves and gain a love for writing and reading. Starting with constructivism, it is stated that it, “... posits that students learn best when allowed to interact with ideas and materials and then develop their own conclusions (Dewey, 1944; Wersch, 1997) Negotiation, student inquiry, and community building are key concepts of how I create this classroom” (Behizadeh, 2017, p. 56). Being able to have a classroom set up where students are self-inquiring and learning for themselves is something that needs to be seen more in the classroom. In my own personal experience, I was not fortunate enough to be taught through a constructivist lens. My teachers seemed to all use behaviorism pedagogies where they were the ones in charge and instruction was centered around lecture and direct instruction. With this, I did not feel I was learning to my fullest potential because there was no room for inquiry or being able to figure out the answers to my own questions. It was very much so the same routine every day and I did not gain much from it. Now being able to learn at Miami as well as in field, I am seeing how I can start to think like a transformative teacher to inspire and best prepare students for the future. Moving forward, another way to increase celebrating differences is through a method called code-meshing. With this, it is explained as, “... students integrate multiple languages into one written composition when code-meshing (Canagarajah, 2013) while code-switching generally entails using one language for one audience” (Behizadeh, 2017, p. 56). With code-meshing, it provides students with the opportunity to express who they are not only as a writer but as an individual as well. So many times students are told to only write one way and are held to high grading standards. With code-meshing, it allows students to show their personalities as well as give insight into their backgrounds. Code-meshing most likely is not appropriate for every single time a student writes, but still needs to be practiced in the classroom. In my field placement, students practice code-meshing once a week through the form of freewriting and they get to express themselves in any way they choose in writing. Students seem to like the option of choice as well as knowing they can write however they want. When we incorporate constructivism as well as code-meshing in the classroom, we are providing students with a richer understanding to get to know themselves as well as their peers. Being able to share writing with each other provides students with the chance to get to know their peers on a deeper level as well as their points of view. With this, it can broaden ideas and perspectives that students have to continue to grow. Students are able to wonder and pose questions to their peers and work together to find answers. In conclusion, it is pivotal to implement linguistic diversity in the classroom using techniques such as constructivism pedagogy and code-meshing.

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Thinking back, a lot of my language arts classes were structured the same. The curriculum that we followed was reading novels and doing guided activities and quizzes pertaining to that specific book. My teachers would read aloud chapters to our class, guide and lead lessons, and provide feedback. Throughout the year mini units would be included like grammar or vocabulary lessons, and nearing state testing we would practice every week with passages and practice questions. A lot of the pedagogy my teachers would use would be collaborative with having us work in groups a lot of the time or through reflective thoughts with explaining our ideas when reading or doing an activity. My most memorable year of language arts that made an impactful impression on me was my sophomore year of high school in Honors English 10. It was the first time that I had taken an honors course and I really feel I gained the most out of it. We would do activities like collaborative book videos where we would act out and film parts of the book we were reading and explain why they were important. We would also do timed writings which I liked because it was a chance for me to express myself and what I was reading. We had engaging activities and projects that made us excited to go to class. We connected every book we read to watching the movie version and got to reflect on it after. We still did basic things like reading checks and vocabulary quizzes but I found myself preparing more and gaining more information with these quizzes. I think a classroom structure that hindered learning was in my 9th grade English class. We had aids in the class to help some students out and our teacher would tell us what to read for class but we never collaborated as a class. Everything was independent work and I do not think I gained much because everyone was working at a different pace and we never got to discuss what we were learning. People would leave to work in the hallways, get pulled out with the aids, or have other assignments to do, so it was just a cluster of a class period where no real knowledge was gained. My senior year english class did a good job at supporting student learning by always giving us a feedback quiz at the end of class on the progress we made, questions we had, how we could be supported better, and ideas for activities. I think this gave opportunities for our voices to be heard and for our teacher to individually know how each of us were doing. Overall, my experience did not let me fully think critically or express creativity, but there were some moments of it like my 10th grade class which made me feel passionate about language arts.