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Teaching Difficult Subjects with "When We Were Alone"

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I always knew from that moment, from the time I found myself at home in that little segregated library in the South, all the way up until I walked up the steps of the New York City library, I always felt, in any town, if I can get to a library, I’ll be OK.  It really helped me as a child, and that never left me.
-Maya Angelou

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Strategies to Benefit Students and Communities

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There are frequent stories in the news about an individual or group fighting injustice through violent means. It is important to help students recognize inequality in the world, but critical literacy also teaches them how to respond to injustice with positive action that promotes a better future.

Teaching critical literacy encourages students to respond to inequality and advocate for change

In order to be considered critically literate, students must first be able to recognize existing power structures and how different groups are privileged within these structures. Critical literacy teachers give students the necessary tools to respond to these issues in both verbal and written formats.

Critical literacy in middle school: Texts with multiple perspectives

Teachers can introduce critical literacy to middle school students by having them read and analyze literature that reflects multiple perspectives. In an article for the University of Northern Carolina, educator Heather Coffey suggests examining racism through the lenses of "To Kill a Mockingbird," "Wolf Whistle," "A Lesson Before Dying," and "A Raisin in the Sun."

Critical literacy teaching strategies

Critical literacy activities for students in middle school include:

Read a text as a "resistant reader," challenging common conceptions and suggesting new interpretations

Note plot developments or passages that illustrate racism or social responses to racism

Write a report that recognizes and represents issues of inequality from the text

Create an advocacy poster or art project that promotes social change or justice for the inequality demonstrated in the book

Teachers can display critical literacy projects with short, student-written descriptions that detail the issue of inequality they learned about and what kind of change needs to happen to correct it.

Reading stories with similar themes by authors of different genders, races and socioeconomic status allows students to witness how different backgrounds and advantages affect the portrayal of power struggles between characters. Teachers can promote this understanding by asking students do research projects on issues they recognize as supporting inequality or contributing to injustice.

Critical literacy for high school students: Service learning

Once students have the knowledge to recognize and examine these issues, teachers can have them respond with service learning projects that combine critical literacy, academic knowledge and community service. High school teachers in many subjects - English, social sciences, and math, to name a few - can give students projects that fit both community needs and their skill sets.

Components of a service learning project include:

Students choose an approved organization or non-profit to work with on a volunteer basis. For instance, a student could participate in an after-school tutoring program for underprivileged children to help them develop literacy or math skills and give them a head start in education.

Service learning can take place over the course of a semester or a year, depending on the class and teacher or school preference

Students will maintain a journal during their service learning project. They will note what they did each day and changes they see.

Service learning project results

At the end of a service learning project, students turn in a portfolio that includes:

A report on inequality or injustice in the field they are volunteering (for instance, low literacy rates in an underserved community)

Their daily or weekly journal

A final reflection on what they learned and what the community gained as a result of their work

Through projects such as service learning, teachers can give students hands-on critical literacy experience. If students can read into the dominant discourse in order to understand where issues exist, they can go forward and make changes to promote a more peaceful, equitable future.

Caitrin Blake has a B.A. in English and Sociology from the University of Vermont and a master's degree in English literature from the University of Colorado Denver. She teaches composition at Arapahoe Community College.

Tags: Literacy: Reading and Writing and Speaking

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literacy: reading and writing and speaking

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Critical Literacy Teaching Strategies for All Levels

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There are frequent stories in the news about an individual or group fighting injustice through violent means. It is important to help students recognize inequality in the world, but critical literacy also teaches them how to respond to injustice with positive action that promotes a better future.

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Why Students Should Understand the Power of Language

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The horrific events that took place in Ferguson, Missouri, New York City, Miami Gardens, Florida and many other locations over the last few years have re-directed the national conversation about race, power and justice in the United States. In order to function productively as a nation, students need the proper tools to participate in this dialogue.

Critical literacy defined

The ability to think critically about power imbalances between populations is commonly called critical literacy. Students with this skill are better equipped to recognize and respond to racism, sexism and other forms of social injustice.

According to the Ontario Ministry of Education English Curriculum, critical literacy focuses on equality, social justice and fair treatment. Students who have achieved this are able to look at texts to determine how the world is represented in such texts and whether or not that representation is acceptable.

Why critical literacy is important

Students who achieve critical literacy are able to do more than take texts at face value; they are able to evaluate them for how the authors - often those in positions of power - influence events and outcomes. Once students consider how inequality impacts society, they can better understand their place within the power structure, articulate criticism of unfair situations, and work toward change.

Required skills and knowledge for critical literacy

Critical literacy asks students to deconstruct power dynamics and disparities regarding race, socioeconomic status, gender, class or sexual orientation inherent in literature, media and other written or oral texts. Students who have achieved critical literacy are able to do the following.

Interpret messages through a critical lens

Students examine media texts and view them with critical theories in mind. Students might view messages on clothing to determine how this represents culture in a way that is positive or negative.

Challenge power structures that are represented in texts

When practicing critical literacy, students can do more than recognize power structures. They are also able to vocalize their issues and concerns related to those structures.

Recognize problematic power imbalances within a variety of social institutions

Students can understand the reasons why Native Americans and their allies object to the continued use of Indian sports mascots and team names such as "Braves" or "Redskins."

Understand divisive social issues

Students recognize societal issues such as the fight to remove the Confederate flag from government and other buildings.

The role of language in politics

Recognize the role language plays in the construction of race, class and power structures. For example, students understand the different viewpoints represented by the terms "undocumented" and "illegal" immigrant.

Read reflectively and critically

Students actively engage in their reading in order to make connections to other texts or to determine how texts challenge or enforce bias or stereotypes.

Promoting critical literacy in the classroom

Edward Behrman encourages promoting critical literacy through lessons that include:

Reading supplementary texts

Reading multiple texts

Reading from a resistant perspective

Producing counter-texts

Research

Promoting social action

Evaluating critical literacy

Critical literacy can be difficult to measure. Because it often asks students to articulate their opinion of an issue, teachers may find it difficult to recognize a student's interpretation as wrong or right. Instead, teachers can measure how well a student backs up his or her claims with evidence.

For instance, if a student is claiming that a song illustrates racist sentiments, the teacher can evaluate the examples the student gives to back his or her argument. The teacher will need to review the lyrics the student identifies as racist as well as the student's analysis of how the lyrics convey racist thoughts. However, since another component of critical literacy involves participating in social action, teachers can also evaluate a student's completion of activities as well as their personal reflection on them.

Teaching students to interpret media and other messages through a critical lens encourages students to think critically in real-world settings. This enables students to understand the power of language - and how to use it to promote change.

Caitrin Blake has a B.A. in English and Sociology from the University of Vermont and a master's degree in English literature from the University of Colorado Denver. She teaches composition at Arapahoe Community College.

Tags: Literacy: Reading and Writing and Speaking

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literacy: reading and writing and speaking

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Defining Critical Literacy in the Classroom

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The horrific events that took place in Ferguson, Missouri, New York City, Miami Gardens, Florida and many other locations over the last few years have re-directed the national conversation about race, power and justice in the United States. In order to function productively as a nation, students need the proper tools to participate in this dialogue.