Some Final Thoughts

Well, this critical literacy class is over and this is my last post for this class. I have been doing a lot of thinking about what is critical literacy and how I can apply it to my classroom. After listening to a lot of clip podcast and the different issues combined with my own hobbies and passions I think I know what I can do.
Critical literacy is all about questioning. I was watching the Disney channel the other day, and they had an advert that was all about questioning. The message to the kids watching was question everything: a message that I personally believe in. Question everything. If my future classes question what they learn, hear, read, and see than history comes alive and interesting. But how do we get them to question and therefore open the door to critical literacy discussions in a high school classroom. This is where my hobbies meet technology. By using Hollywood movies about history ( The Patriot, Gangs of New York, Newsies, Wind Talkers, etc) kids become interested. These movies are very Hollywood. By watching them in class, I can start pointing out where fact meet fiction.
This would also lead to them reading interesting texts such as Howard Zinn and Ronald Takaki. These scholars and others are paving a new road in history by writing on the minority voice or just digging more into the dead white man's version of history. This also leads into the avenue of music both contemporary and primary source and any covers. Kids love music. If you can incorporate music into the classroom, it will get them involved, especially if they are the ones to bring in the music.
Critical literacy is about taking the everyday and examining it from the inside out and vice versa. If students are given the chance to help direct some of the classroom materials, I believe that critical literacy will flourish with the students.
In addition to all this I truly want to incorporate pod casting into the class. 100% Kids shows us that students are capable and become actively involved in a project like this. If my class starts to question everything from primary source documents to secondary source texts, they can begin to pod cast about the changes they see, questions they have, or just relate everything to how we see it today. How history affects us in the twenty-first century.
This is not easy, but I think that by involving texts that the students know and enjoy than critical literacy will start becoming second nature to them. From that we can move into primary source documents and start using critical literacy to examine what is going on and how we see it today both manifested in society and/or what the intent was at the time.
I am filled with a huge sense of optimism for the future. I think critical literacy and pod casting and blogging have a place in the classroom. In fact, after the students get over the novelty and their shyness, it could blossom into something bigger than anyone would have ever expected.

"Nothing is Significant unless You Give it Significance

The article "Our Way" by Vivian Vasquez was an interesting and thought provoking article. As I read through the article, first I totally related because I used to be obsessed with Power Rangers when I was younger. As I am older now, I can push the different symbols of the t.v. show further than I could as a child. But as an adult, it is always good to remember that students view TV, movies, and music in a different light than we as an older generation do.
One of the hardest things with critical literacy is when to push. Vasquez has a difficult time interacting with the t.v. show. First she is fed up and stops forbids discussion or drawings. Then she attempts to discuss the show but on her terms, not theirs. THIS is my problem! I hear things in my classroom. And I see things in my classroom and somewhere in the back of my head, I realize that this would be a great opportunity for a critical discussion. Then the "buts' come in. But I am so far behind and I can't take the time. But I would have no idea what to say to them and I have no idea what I would want them to gleam from this discussion on a modern critical issue. I feel Vasquez had it slightly easier but children are often more open with adults than teenagers. My eleventh graders are often secretive and therefore the opening to discuss certain topics never happens for me.
But I think that the quote I put as the title is extremely important. "Nothing is significant unless you give it significance." My students will never understand the importance of what they are saying or dig deeper into texts or their own worlds unless I show them. The only problem now is how do I do that. It is hard as a young teacher, I am very close to my students' ages, it is hard to see the line. As a young, new teacher the students are testing my boundaries and not often paying attention to what I have to say. Once I develop that skill, I'm set for phase two: digging the tunnels of critical literacy.

Sticks and Stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me??

I feel that as part of a critical literacy study, words and labels are extremely important. I do not just mean what words we use to define critical literacy, but words we supply our students with to describe things. Critical literacy is all about how we view documents, but also how we view the world. As a history teacher, as I have mentioned, it is important that we teach our students how to view and analyze what we see and hear. Using critical literacy in the classroom and our everyday lives has two main prongs. The first prong involves the baggage and attitudes we bring when we view a document. The second prong involves how that document shapes our attitudes and our views of the world and us. As I listened to some of Vivian Vasquez’s clip pod casts I began to think about language and how we use language to define who we are and how we think. I had been listening to several pod casts about feminism and how we define sexuality and the terminology associated with it. I did not connect these issues to my in class experience until this weekend.
I find that my students use words carelessly. The call each other names which I do not think they really understand. They make jokes about each other: skin tone, nationality, gender, ect. They joke about be “retarded” or about be a “gay”. These terms may seem almost innocent enough, my students are still young and raw when it comes to political correctness, but when should they learn. These jokes and name calling are offensive. I realize they live in a sheltered world, but when/who will teach them that what they say and how they say it matters. Now the students on the other end of the jokes proclaim they are not offended. Is this because they are so used to these jokes that they do not care, or is it because they just don’t care. I am offended by the language these children throw around. Then it hit me: this is critical literacy in their everyday lives.
Comedians jokes about these things. Their parents probably mention these terms, throw them about carelessly. I have even heard teachers say inappropriate things to students and around students. All of these things add to students’ critical literacy baggage. They heard it on TV, the radio, in the movies, and from people all around them. I believe it is important when addressing critical literacy and the responsibility of becoming functional and analytical adults that teachers should address the language that is used in the classroom. The words these students use have a historical background: one that is derogatory and painful to those on the receiving end. I realize while I am teaching my students to look closer and examine what they read and hear that my students need to be taught to question everything. The words people use can have an adverse affect on someone. That jokes are not always funny. It is high time someone step up to the plate and tell these kids that what they are saying is not right. They need to learn to weigh their words; to understand what they are saying.
I am not sure how to do this. But I suppose it will be one day at a time.

Teaching to the Fourth

Teaching to the Fourth Power offers intriguing insight on how to make teaching matter. This personalization of teaching is both on the part of the teacher and of the student. Teachers need to realize that they are not puppets or actors reciting a script. There needs to be creativity and challenges by the teacher for the students. Teachers are always students at hearts. We are constantly learning new things in order to improve on our tool kit. The bigger, more creative, and well researched the tool kit the better the teacher. We are empowered to think critically and that skill needs to be passed down onto our students. We need to be aware of culture, according to the article. That the local culture often clashes with the dominant culture the learning environment. As part of our tool kit, teachers must force this clash of the cultures in the classrooms. Especially in history, the clashing of cultures shapes destinies and made us who are we today. It is important that we teacher students to look at historical events, primary source documents, and popular culture in a critical light. In my own classroom, I know I neglect certain cultures in favor of the dominant. But the textbook and the state tests do not reflect these cultures, only the main, dominant ones. It is a dilemma I am not sure how to approach.
Teaching to the Fourth Power also discusses the students’ involvement in learning. A student must become actively involved in the content; class must be a personal experience in order to impact the lives of students. Students need to posses the tools of critical analysis. They must realize and accept that sometimes their culture or personality is ignored in the mainstream of education. There is where it is important for teachers to teach their students to understand dominant culture and set out to change it. Connecting life outside the classroom to the life inside the classroom is vital. America is still a country of immigrants, a melting pot. Students can make a difference in changing how America views its past and perhaps even its present. The article mentions Paulo Freire’s work on social action in the community. In a history class, there is a lot of room for social change and activism. Teachers must remember that they are shaping the future. We should instill in them they change we want to see in the world.
There are many things that teachers can do to influence and educate their students on things outside the classroom. It is our responsibility to teacher students to honor who they are and where they come from. Critical analysis is an excellent way to do this. By understanding the main, dominant culture pervasive in schools; these students may have the chance to change that. They could change how history is written. An intriguing thought: history not written by the victor but the forgotten.

Negotiating Literacy Pt.2

The second half of Negotiating Cultural Literacy is just as enthusiastic but elusive as the first part. Although one thing must be said right up front. I heart Raffi. When I was little we had a Raffi tap and my sisters and I definitely sang along to Baby Beluga. That section of the book brought back fond memories. Moving on. When I read the second part of the book, I took notes and the rest of the blog will be me randomly commenting on the second part of the book.
I do not understand how Vasquez built this community in her classroom and I have no idea how to build that sort of community in my own room. She addresses issues such as social justice, her students involved the community in their works, and the parents were informed and participated in the classroom. I am not sure if it is because the students are so young that this worked or maybe Vasquez is a miracle worker, but I am in awe. Her 3-5 yr old students are writing letters about vegetarians and changing school policies concerning vegetarians is incredible. The students took a simple comment by a fellow classmate and turned it into a social justice project all the while having a higher order level thinking discussion on the entire issue of vegetarians.
The one thing I think about when I read Vasquez's book is my cooperating teacher. He teaches a course called Applied History. The first half of the course the students read about public history and discuss/debate what is going on in the field. The second part of the year the students are at internships at various sites over VA/DC. They practice what they have read. They are actively involved in history by role playing or collecting evidence from primary source documents. It is a hands-on learning experience for these students who get to read about history and then do it. It seems like a college course, which anyone who has been to college can recognize this style of teaching, but it is unheard of in a high school. The teacher provides the materials for the students, but they take it where they want to go. Just like Vasquez does with her students, they guide but do not blindly lead. I think that is a major part of critical literacy. The students need to go on the journey alone with only guidance from the teacher. It is the discoveries they make on their own that are the most rewarding to everyone.
Finally, I think Vasquez makes two excellent points in her book. 1) Everything is socially constructed. 2) When paired with other texts, students can see alternate views. As a history teacher these two points ring loud and clear. With the textbook debates raging in history education classes, it is important to realize that everything in print has an agenda and if paired with another source - the meaning can change dramatically. In history it is imperative that students learn that there are multiple layers of truths and half truths at any given time. It is the job of the teacher and eventually the students to peel back those layers and analyze each one to get some meaning. By situating every document in its socially constructed meaning, analyzing that meaning, read about the document in other sources, analyze the new information compared to the old information, and sit back and digest. This is what historians do and this is what our kids should be doing. This peeling back cycle is important for their everyday lives when confronted by propaganda and biased writing/photos/movies/speeches/etc. Critical literacy is a vital part of our lives and we need to teach the next generation how to "see" the world.

I think I just made a break through in my own critical literacy definition. YAY!!!

Negotiating Literacy Pt1

For the next two blogs I will be discussing Negotiating Critical Literacy by Vivian Vasquez. This book centers around Dr. Vasquez's work with preschoolers and kindergartners. I have read the first half of the book and it is amazing what these 5yrs old can do. At an early age these kids hypothesize and formulate responses to their own questions. Now as adults we would say that these kids are just asking questions and we are just helping them answer them. But in reality these kids are creating hypothesis, researching, and postulating a response. Vasquez indicates that the children's questions are not juvenile. They ask questions pertaining to the destruction of the rain forest and gender issues. People assume critical literacy pertains only people above a certain age level or comprehension level. But Vasquez clearly puts the rumor to rest. When these tiny tots are addresses issues through a critical lens, it becomes clear that these students are capable of thinking critically. It also shows that critical literacy should be a staple in every classroom starting when those 3/4yrs old that are only in the classroom for a half a day.
Another interesting activity Vasquez incorporated into her room were morning class meetings. The students would bring topics into class that they wanted to discuss that day. The students would write or draw out their topic on a piece of paper and the rest of the class would discuss that topic. This activity is very much like a think tank. These students are bringing their ideas and their questions to a body of their peers to sort out and investigate their thoughts. Critical literacy and higher order thinking are essential to this type of activity. It is amazing how undervalued these students really are.
But as I read the first part of Vasquez's book, I realized how lucky she was to be dealing with such a young group of kids. I teach high school. By the time the reach 11th grade, the students already have a set behavioral pattern and thought process down pack. It takes a lot more to push these students to think outside the box. I feel with the pre-k and kindergartners there is a certain amount of freedom because the students are experiencing everything for the first time. They are a clean slate. They still have their enthusiasm for learning. By the time the students reach high school, where they are able to think on a higher level, they simply are exhausted from all their years of school and the end is near. I feel the question is how to apply Vasquez's technique's to the upper levels. The excitement of Vasquez's students feel for learning would be a nice change to see in a 17 yr old.

Critical Literacy . . . What?

Over this past week, I have been contemplating the definition of critical literacy? What is it exactly and what am I suppose to do with it? As a historian, I have to apply this concept to the field, but also to the view point of a teacher. What does that mean? I am not so sure. But what I do know is that this term applies to my classroom and my kids in an important way. People have speculated over the years about the definition of critical literacy, but to no avail. It is an every changing definition. Professor Vasquez assumes that this is a good thing. When a definition becomes concrete and unchanging, we loose the ability to really look, understand, and apply that concept.
As I see it in my small world view, critical literacy is when you are reading, listening, or watching a object and you step back for a second and reevaluate everything you know and understand about that object. When reading a primary source document, the words are there, but the emotions, events, and thoughts that are behind that document are often forgotten by the reader. At that point, one must take a step back and consider all the outside factors that went into the creation of this document. It is my responsibility as a teacher to do this with everything I pass out to my students, but also bring my students along on the journey. By having the students take a step back and reevaluate will hopefully bring a new perspective to the document. It is not simply words, these primary source documents were a part of someone and their life and it is important for us all to realize that their lives were as complicated as ours.
There are theories out there in the world of critical literacy that can be used inside the classroom. Theories such as the four model method that breaks down the types of encoding of texts. On one hand I feel these definitions are excellent. They give a practical name to a seemingly undefinable concept. On the other hand, in my own personal opinion, the definitions are too vague. It seems like I try to get close enough to the answers I am searching for the slip through my fingers. I understand most of these concepts, I read about them in a practical application, and yet I cannot make the leap from paper to my classroom.
I understand what critical literacy is, but I have yet to find a way to put it into words or properly apply it to the classroom. Hopefully I will soon.