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.