Reading Response #2 by Jane GB

Challanges with Incorporating Critical Literacy

janegb05 — 2025-10-01 14:02:17 UTC

Incorporating critical literacy into the classroom is extremely important for a multitude of reasons. However, problems can arise when trying to do so. An article titled A Place for Critical Literacy states that "realistically, not all students' voices are created equal; some students are simply more articulate than others, and yet others are persuasive for reasons relating to age, gender, class, race, or ethnicity" (Beck, 2005, pg. 394). One key aspect of incorporating critical literacy in the classroom is the ability for student-centered discussion of their own ideas and opinions. With this quote from Beck in mind, it becomes apparent how achieving this student-led discussion dynamic could be challenging. How can we a teachers promote student-led discussion while mitigating these issues?

Making Critical Literacy Approachable

janegb05 — 2025-10-01 14:15:11 UTC

As discussed in the Beck article, incorporating critical literacy into the classroom can sometimes be daunting, and often comes with a wide array of challenges. However, in an article titled Critical Literacy: Going Beyond the Demands of Common Core, authors Aimee Papola-Ellis and Teddi L. Eberly share ways to incorporate critical literacy that make it more accessible and approachable. They argue that critical literacy should be incorporated daily into many different subjects. They said that some ways to do this include questioning text, analyzing language, and close reading (Papola-Ellis & Eberly, 2015, pg. 11). All of the ways they listed encourage students to ask questions and form their own ideas and opinions about texts they're studying.

Critical Literacy in Reading Instruction

janegb05 — 2025-10-01 14:20:38 UTC

One thing the Papola-Ellis and Eberly article mentioned was that one way teachers incorporate critical literacy into their reading instruction is by doing character analysis. For example, they could analyze the words an author uses to describe a character and think about the intent behind those words (Papola-Ellis & Eberly, 2015, pg. 13). I think the music-adjacent version of this would be score study / part analysis. We can examine certain choices the composer made in their writing and disucss what we think they meant by them or what the composer had in mind as the end goal.

What does critical literacy in the music classroom mean?

janegb05 — 2025-10-01 14:32:19 UTC

Critical education in a music classroom means understanding and analyzing the influences and biases of the music we play. For every major historical, political, and social event, there is music written around that time or influenced by it. We as educators should choose the music we teach intentionally, and ensure that we make selections with a variety of historical contexts, influences, and perspectives.

Ways to Incorporate Critical Literacy in the Music Classroom

janegb05 — 2025-10-01 14:37:53 UTC

There are multiple ways in which we can engage in critical literacy in the music classroom, such as making purposful music selections, using open ended questions, empowering students' voices, and connecting music to students' lives (Beach, 2018, pg. 45). Other things, such as participating in whole and small group discussion, listening activities, and creative response tasks, such as writing a report or making a presentation are also ways we can incorporate critical literacy. It is important to not only discuss the social and political issues and how they impacted the music when it was written, but also how those contexts impact how we perform it in the present day.

Nature vs. Nurture in Adolescence

janegb05 — 2025-10-02 17:21:34 UTC

Often, there are many negative adjectives assicoated with adolescence. Words such as moody, impulsive, irrational all come to mind as things people associate with adolescence. While some of this is due to physical, biological, and emotional changes occuring during this time, what is typically described as the 'normal' experience of adolescense as a troubled time typically only applies to 20% of youth (Sarigianides et. al., 2015, pg. 2). The assumptions that people make about adolescense often leave little room for the nurture component of this time. How do both nature and nurture play a part in shaping adolescense?

Rethinking Adolescence

janegb05 — 2025-10-02 17:31:42 UTC

An article titled "Rethinking the "adolescent" in Adolescent Literacy" makes the point that adolescence is more of a social construct than people originally think it is. "Social factors like class, race, social events like war and trauma, geography, religion, family practices, and a host of other socioeconomical factors are often denied relevence when it comes to young people (Sarigianides et. al., 2017, pg. 5). However, in reality, all of these factors have a large impact on adolescense. How can we as teachers look past the social stereotypes and expectations surrounding adolescense in our classrooms?