Week 1 Readings: Critical Literacy

The most important concept I got out of these readings is that literacy is changing. It is no longer acceptable to give students worksheets and textbooks and expect them to learn to their fullest potential. In order for students to be well rounded they need to be given texts that are challenging and that they can make personal connections to. The two articles that I found most interesting were the Leland article and the Tompkins chapter. Both of these articles focused on how literacy is changing and how teachers can get the most out of their students by presenting them with critical texts.

The Leland article was interesting to me because it showed me that you could introduce challenging texts at a young grade. I am in a kindergarten classroom for my placement and I see no critical texts read in my classroom. I thought this might be because in kindergarten and first grade the students are not mature enough to relate to books like The Lady in the Box or Fly Away Home. From reading the article I realized that I underestimated students in younger grades. In Kim Huber’s first grade class you can see that her students became more aware of social issues and began to ask critical questions and relate these situations to their own lives. I think this is such an important skill that should be introduced to students early on in their academic careers. I also found it interesting that when Huber read critical texts her students were treating each other better than classes she had taught in the past. This article convinced me that younger children can make connections to critical texts. For my lesson plan I would like to try and introduce a book that introduces social issues and see how my kindergarteners react.

The second article that I found useful was the Tompkins chapter because of the eight principles that were introduced throughout. I know that reading and writing are important aspects of literacy, however this article opened my eyes to how many aspects there are to successfully teach reading and writing. Some main points that I found interesting were that students create their own knowledge and should be using inquiry to ask questions and work together to find the answers. If a student is interested in the topic they are learning about they will be motivated to learn. I also liked the classroom management techniques addressed in this article. Principle number 3 says that effective teachers create a community of learners. I think it is important for teacher’s to set up an environment that is safe and respectful to all learning styles. If students feel safe they are more likely to take risks in their learning. The last principle that stuck out to me was principle number 8: effective teachers become partners with parents. This principle is so important to me because I have seen the affects of parents who work on reading and writing with their students at home. These students are usually more advanced and are more interested in learning. Some techniques that this article suggested that I had never heard of before were traveling book bags, family book clubs, family journals, and family reading and writing nights. I think all of these activities hold the parents accountable and engage the students in literacy in school and at home. I hope that I can introduce many of these principles in my future classroom.