#criticallyliterate

Critical Literacy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xf8mjbVRqao

Critical Literacy can be defined as “the capacity for a particular type of critical thinking that involves looking beyond the literal meaning of texts to observe what is present and what is missing, in order to analyse and evaluate the text’s complete meaning and the author’s intent. Critical literacy goes beyond conventional critical thinking in focusing on issues related to fairness, equity, and social justice. Critically literate students adopt a critical stance, asking what view of the world the text advances and whether they find this view acceptable” (The Ontario curriculum grades 1-8: Language, 2006). 

To be critically literate is a very important skill to have as a citizen living in today’s 21st century society. The attached video makes a very important point when it comes to the pollution of our daily news and media of “fake, or alternative facts,” and that students are not well enough equipped to be able to sift through this information knowing what is actually accurate or reliable. 

Growing up with more traditional pedagogical approaches to being taught, I truly only began to know what being critically literate means when I was in a double-credit grade 12 university-preparation English class. Furthermore, my brief understanding was built upon and solidified as my university years went on. Looking back, I feel I was at a disadvantage by my unfamiliarity with what is truth, bias, staged, or falsely constructed information when navigating through various forms of media and print, and have fallen into traps such as online contests, media articles and press headlines out of context because I was lacking fluency in the form of critical literacy. This may have been because the greater use of digital technology has mainly occurred within the past decade or so, therefore the push for educating on these literacies is rising with the continued and increased exposure to ideas posted in all facets of the internet and other forms of media. Without the monitoring, editing, or transparency of information being posted on the free web, for example, the flow of information is unreliable and as such, it is up to the consumer to have the necessary tools for navigating and finding useful and accurate information. 

Therefore, it is up to us, the educators to be the driving factor in teaching students what it means and the importance of being critically literate in today’s world. The attached video is a useful one for aspiring educators to engage in the importance of teaching critical literacy and applying it within pedagogical methods or curricular activities to prepare students with the essential skill of being critically literate in a digital 21st century society. 

Other interesting activities I have seen being used to promote critical literacy in the classroom include online Padlets (collaborative online sharing tool) of personal interpretations to collectively define what being critically literate means, and using magazine or newspaper clippings to practice analyzing underlying messages or intentions using prompting questions. 

References:

Spencer, J. (2016). The problem with fake news (And how our students can solve it). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xf8mjbVRqao