Interversity.Org

For my SCRI MG class, I decided to research critical literacy as a way to engage readers. I have a particularly apathetic bunch of readers. Nothing means anything to them; they complain often that they "can't get into the reading," whatever that means. I often wonder how much of "I can't get into" really means, "I didn't read the assignment beyond the first sentence.

My journey toward critical stances in the classroom began several years ago--I guess when my son John was in fifth grade (he's a junior now). I had a particularly "mean" class of seniors. They didn't mind hurting anyone's feelings for no reason whatsoever other than it gave them power over other people. They were "bullies," even the girls in that class. After the trip to Washington with the fifth graders and a trip to the Holocaust Memorial Museum, I realized how important it was to teach them something about the Holocaust in the hopes that they would become more sensitive to the way they themselves thought about "others" who were not part of their group.

I suppose in part, I put that journey aside for awhile. I continued to teach HOlocaust literature, but I didn't emphasize the "otherness" of the people involved. I did talk about stereotyping and naming and the indignity of being stripped not only of property (which defines many people) but also of identify through personal names. I think we can live without property, but somehow, our names not only identify us as unique individuals, but also give us our identity. I am Olivia Irene Summer Fulmer--granddaughter of Georgia Olivia Wessinger and Maggie Irene Summer, daughter of Floyd Lester Summer and Marjorie Wessinger Summer, and wife of Grady Monroe Fulmer. These issues have been downplayed so much that I almost forgot them

Then, this summer, I attended the "roll out" of the Framing Best Practice English 2 Curriculum developed with Janet Allen (you know it's got to be good!) for South Carolina. One thing that Janet said in one of her sessions resonated with me: she commented that the three units developed thus far are all values-laden, and she would not apologize for it. That comment brought home the need to teach from a critical literacy stance. I also had a book, whose title escapes me at the moment about critical literacy. So in August when I returned to school and the book!, I began my reading.

This is not an easy thing to do. It's hard to get students to think beyond their lives and the moment. It's hard to get them to see that there are issues in the world that affect them. We are working on the concept of justice and injustice, using Lay That Trumpet in Our Hands as a core text. I have asked students to think about the ideas of equality, prejudice, and racism in several ways, but I am not satisfied that they are taking the concepts to heart. When I ask for real world examples of justice/injustice, they rely on cliches--O. J. Simpson, R Kelly, Michael Jackson, Kobe Bryant. . . . When asked if they have ever faced situations of justice or injustice, they cannot identify anything that remotely comes close. We have a long way to go.

I don't know that I am going to reach the point where we take critical literacy stances to the final step of translating our thinking into social action, but I'd like to think that I am beginning to plant some seeds.

I think I need to stop writing and do some more pondering. I'm trying to attach the flash sheet to summarize critical literacy below. We'll see if this post works.