~ Critical Literacy: Connections to thinking, interpreting and reflecting ~

Through the continual studying, reading and learning I have been doing through my undergrad studies, I have come to a very important topic of educational discussion. When depicting the key elements of what comprises our curriculum today, it is beneficial to think, discuss and talk about the 21st Century Literacies and what they are defined as. As mentioned in the previous blog post, the traditionalist style of schooling has taken a rather large transition. In correlation with the advancement in technology, medias and global connections; I talked about the impact and analysis behind only a few of the key literacies, though they are vital. Media and digital literacy were of those two that have been shifting in a progressive manner (Berger et al., 2009). Yet even though the advancement of literacies may be essential to keep things relevant and updated for education, the most important literacy that ushers a complete connectedness with each and every 21st century literacy, is in fact Critical Literacy. 

Now, the composition of Critical Literacy is important... This means that curricular expectations, teachers and students should be placed on putting great emphasis on a few skills that will help students in typically all subjects and learning in a holistic sense. The skills necessary to be critically literate are fundamentally the same skills that are ranked in tiers to be considered a part of higher level thinking (Chambers & Radbourne, 2015). These higher level thinking skills (or HLT skills, for short), are a hierarchical approach to learning and applying knowledge. This tier based system based on an educational reform was developed by Anderson & Krathwohl (2001), which was later edited by Krathwohl (2002) into Bloom's revised taxonomy (as seen in the image below).

With the use of Bloom's revised taxonomy, we can actively assess students based on their performance and what kind of skills they are portraying (Krathwohl, 2002). The most fundamental component of this style of assessment, is that it needs to be holistically observed in a non-subjective manner. Also, this means that even though the students are being assessed... Work ethic will vary significantly and work should not be norm-comparative (Drake et al., 2014). I believe that building on the 'effort' a student places on work, and really allowing them to put forth their best work has the potential to increase student participation and engagement. Especially if the assessments are on relatable topics that are current. Keeping it relevant is important, although influencing them to take larger roles can also provide beneficial outcomes. Below is a video by Dylan Hyman. She understands the struggles in-class and depicts what happens when classrooms meet higher order thinking (HLT).

Being a little bit of a trouble-maker myself, I found that the most productive periods of time in elementary and secondary schooling is when I was given a challenge. This meant that by giving me work loads that teachers felt were "too much", simply based on my in-class work ethic, I would often complete the task in both implicit and explicit fashions. Because I was given something deemed "implausible", it pushed my drive to complete it that much more. This proves to be the same concept applied to children's understanding. When an adult, teacher, parent, etc says that "they wouldn't understand...", I reply quite often with explaining why they wouldn't be able to understand. We don't give enough credit to our students, and if we give them self-fulfilling prophecies of failure, how are we supposed to encourage them to learn and have faith in their intellect?

What I am trying to explain, is that students have the capacity to think, interpret and reflect on underestimated topics in present day discussions. We place a level of intelligence based on a numerical grade which is also based on their age. But if we encourage each and every student to succeed in the form of HLT skills and higher order thinking in general, than future educators such as myself and my peers are not only using Critical Literacy ourselves, but imploring its magnificent capabilities whilst allowing them to become critically literate individuals.

References:

Berger, M.J., Die, G.S., Forgette-Giroux, R. (2009). Literacy, diversity, and education: Meeting the contemporary challenge. Canadian and International Education, 38(1), 1-16.

Chambers, J. M., & Radbourne, C. L. (2015). Developing critical literacy skills through using the environment as text. Language & Literacy: A Canadian Educational E-Journal, 17(1), 1-20. 

Drake, S. M., Reid, J. L. & Kolohon, W. (2014). Interweaving curriculum and assessment: Engaging 21st Century Learners. Toronto, ON: Oxford University Press.

Krathwohl, D. R. (2002). A revision of Bloom's taxonomy: An overview.Theory into practice, 41(4), 212-218.

Images:

"WHUT?... You Don't Understand?" - http://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/topic/61102-sokkasms-journey-to-mastering-airbending/page-2

"You Don't Say..." - http://www.collegehumor.com/post/7015609/8-legitimately-great-things-ruined-by-memes

"Discouragement Valley next exit..." - http://apprehendinggrace.com/blog-series/from-discouragement-to-faith/

"Think Critical" - https://quest-critical-literacy.wikispaces.com/

Youtube:

Dylan Hyman, (2015). TED Talk: What happens when Classrooms meet Higher Order Thinking - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2X0Yuks2TE