We also want those in the mainstream to develop the kinds of skills that will allow them to critique the very basis of their privilege and advantage
-Gloria Ladson-Billings
Assignments that encourage reflective action
The social justice approach focuses on social action. This approach is more about the pedagogy, learning with students and creating a democratic environment that encourages praxis, Freire’s term for reflective action. The class periods were 80 minutes long and each class started with five minute journal reflections. Sometimes students had prompts related to the unit, at other times, students used the reflection time to decompress or write about personal issues. Every Friday, students had the opportunity to read aloud a section from their journals. I intentionally created a space where all voices were heard as an attempt to establish a communal classroom culture.
Critical literacy empowers us to recognize that equating a eurocentric curriculum with the highest level courses emphasizes the cultural hegemony that plagues our schools. Schools and educators prioritize knowledge and thus, knowledge becomes political when it shapes our line of thinking and notions of humanity. As long as the curriculum/textbook developers, and teachers are not multiculturally competent and continue to pursue a eurocentric stance, eurocentric ideals will maintain their status as the knowledge worth knowing. Our formal education primes us to support institutional racism while validating mistreatment of those we consider to be the “minority”. Without critical literacy, education can contribute to metaphysical empires. The classroom and therefore society can be decolonized, and can become a place for cooperative relations.
By asserting critical literacy into the curriculum in these elite spaces, we can interrupt the normalization of eurocentric curriculum by raising awareness of students in dominant groups. These students may be uninformed or blind to their power and the experiences of those on the margins. As Peggy McIntosh implies, critical literacy can promote an active citizenry and create more inclusive and representative spaces for learning.
As an educator, I think the role of school is to encourage and facilitate critical consciousness. Critical thinking promotes citizenship and progresses society. We can teach our students to critically engage in a manner that promotes inclusion and social justice, freedom for all. Schools are where we condition constituents. If our curriculum and notions of knowledge prioritize white values, so will our society and policy. The educational system partially normalizes the dominant culture that enables the killing of black people. Critical education seeks the construction of reflective democratic citizens. As a teacher of history, I constantly ask myself how the material I explore with my students informs how we interpret and understand events today.
Shor (1999), also writes that critical literacy involves questioning knowledge that is received and challenging all forms of inequality. He argues that questioning and challenging develop an activist citizenry. In this sense, critical literacy in schools is a necessity for promoting democracy and social justice in society. Critical literacy, associated with experience and mutuality is about teachers and students developing their perspectives and constructing understandings together.
The Columbus Day Assignment directed students to reflect on how the day should be commemorated and then make an argument using some of the primary sources we examined in the class. The assignment was not an essay, but rather a letter to a local representative.
I wish I was able to take advantage of the local community more so that students could engage more communities in their work.
Critical literacy empowers us to recognize that equating a eurocentric curriculum with the highest level courses emphasizes the cultural hegemony that plagues our schools. Schools and educators prioritize knowledge and thus, knowledge becomes political when it shapes our line of thinking and notions of humanity. As long as the curriculum/textbook developers, and teachers are not multiculturally competent and continue to pursue a eurocentric stance, eurocentric ideals will maintain their status as the knowledge worth knowing. Our formal education primes us to support institutional racism while validating mistreatment of those we consider to be the “minority”. Without critical literacy, education can contribute to metaphysical empires. The classroom and therefore society can be decolonized, and can become a place for cooperative relations.
By asserting critical literacy into the curriculum in these elite spaces, we can interrupt the normalization of eurocentric curriculum by raising awareness of students in dominant groups. These students may be uninformed or blind to their power and the experiences of those on the margins. As Peggy McIntosh implies, critical literacy can promote an active citizenry and create more inclusive and representative spaces for learning.
As an educator, I think the role of school is to encourage and facilitate critical consciousness. Critical thinking promotes citizenship and progresses society. We can teach our students to critically engage in a manner that promotes inclusion and social justice, freedom for all. Schools are where we condition constituents. If our curriculum and notions of knowledge prioritize white values, so will our society and policy. The educational system partially normalizes the dominant culture that enables the killing of black people. Critical education seeks the construction of reflective democratic citizens. As a teacher of history, I constantly ask myself how the material I explore with my students informs how we interpret and understand events today.
Shor (1999), also writes that critical literacy involves questioning knowledge that is received and challenging all forms of inequality. He argues that questioning and challenging develop an activist citizenry. In this sense, critical literacy in schools is a necessity for promoting democracy and social justice in society. Critical literacy, associated with experience and mutuality is about teachers and students developing their perspectives and constructing understandings together.
The Columbus Day Assignment directed students to reflect on how the day should be commemorated and then make an argument using some of the primary sources we examined in the class. The assignment was not an essay, but rather a letter to a local representative.
I wish I was able to take advantage of the local community more so that students could engage more communities in their work.