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Strand C: Professional Learning
I. Examining and Implementing Change
A.
In the Fall of 2013, I began a Master’s Program at the University of New Mexico in
Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies (LLSS) with the focus in Literacy. Throughout the
program I have learned many things that have influenced my teaching. In the beginning of this
program, I took a course that covered a variety of issues that the LLSS program covers. In this
course, I was introduced to the idea of critical literacy. Critical literacy is the ability to read texts
in an active, reflective manner in order to better understand power, inequality, and injustice in
human relationships (Coffey 2008). I was very intrigued by critical literacy and though we
discussed it in this course, I knew I needed to know more about it and how I could use it in my
kindergarten classroom. The following semester I enrolled in a class that was dedicated to
critical literacy. This class was an in depth look at critical literacy and the various aspects of it.
We spent a significant amount of time looking at the different components of critical literacy, as
well as exploring critical literacy in our own lives, for me it was to use it in my classroom. After
learning more about critical literacy, I knew that I needed to incorporate it into my classroom.
During this course I was encouraged to begin to used critical literacy in my classroom
My goal during and after taking this class was to incorporate critical literacy into my
everyday practices. As I play more with critical literacy in my classroom…
B.
Through my journey with critical literacy, I learned that sometimes you just have to try
things out in your classroom and figure it out while doing it to be able to learn from what you did
and how it went. That is what I had to do with critical literacy. I just had to dive in head first and
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figure it out as I went. I was very nervous to try it in my classroom at first, but my advisor told
me that it can be as simple as asking the question, ‘what do you think?’(Illustration ) And that’s
exactly what I did, I started from that question and then through that I was able to inquire more
with the students based on their answers from that very simple question.
After reading the article, Using Read-Alouds with Critical Literacy, Literature in K-3
Classrooms (Resource 1), I learned that it is important to be conscious of the books that you
bring into the classroom. Teachers need to choose books that explore differences, gives voice to
those who are traditionally silenced, explore social issues, and books that explore dominant
systems of meaning. This article was helpful for me to read because it gave me some good ideas
on how to structure a read-aloud. It is definitely helpful to be prepared with a list of questions
that you want to ask the students, but then also to be flexible enough to change up the
conversation if the students are going in a different direction. It is very important to understand
that the students are the most important part of critical literacy.
C.
My practice has change in a variety of ways since being introduced to critical literacy. I
have brought in different books that I hadn’t read before in my classroom (Illustration 1), books
that start discussions about a variety of topics. If I notice a topic that I would like to discuss in
my classroom, I try to seek out books that relate to that issue. For example, in my previous year’s
class, I noticed that there was a lot of discussions that I overheard that related to gender norms. I
then wanted to bring in books into my classroom that went against gender norms and discuss
these topics with my students. Another part of my practice that has changed is the types of
questions that I ask the students when I read a book. I don’t just ask surface level questions, I ask
questions that make students reflect and think about what is going on in the book.
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Teachers who use critical literacy can be divided into three categories, newcomer, novice,
and expert (Lewison, Flint & Van Sluys 2002). I consider myself to be a novice of critical
literacy, having been exploring it for the past two years in both my classroom and in my studies.
I still feel that even though I consider myself a novice and have been able to incorporate critical
literacy into my classroom, I still see a lot of room for growth to become an expert. Critical
literacy can also be looked at through four dimensions which include: 1) disrupting the
commonplace; 2) interrogating multiple viewpoints; 3) focusing on sociopolitical issues; and 4)
taking action and promoting social justice (Lewison, Flint & Van Sluys 2002). The fourth
dimension of critical literacy is one component of critical literacy that I feel I still need to grow
and implement better in my classroom. It is something that I am trying to make sure that I
incorporate into my use of critical literacy in my classroom, but as of right now I haven't figured
out a way to negotiate myself and my students through this dimension. I plan to continue looking
at a variety of ways other teachers use social justice in their classrooms, as well as diving into it
myself in my classroom based on the issues that come up in the years to come.
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D. Illustrations of Change
Illustration 1:
Examples of books that I have brought into my classroom.
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Illustration 2:
Example of field notes taken during critical literacy discussion
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
William’s Doll by Charlotte Zolotow
The book, William’s Doll, is about a boy who wants a doll as a toy despite the disapproval of his father. I first
hold up the front cover and then ask the kids what they think he is doing. Playing basketball and jumping is what most
respond. I then read the title and ask if the picture and title match. Comments made(B-boy, G-girl):
“He’s got a doll on the back cover.” -B
“Maybe the boy is a doll.” -G
“He’s doing a boy thing, but he really doesn’t want that, he wants to be like are girl.” -B
I start to read the story and it gets to a part where his friends are coming over and I ask if they saw him playing with a doll
what would they think. Comments made:
“They might think he’s weird.” -B
“They would probably laugh.” -B
“They don’t want to see him doing it, they wouldn’t believe their eyes.” -B
“They would think he’s like girl or something, they wouldn’t know what to think.” -B
We read on to the part where the dad does not want to get William a doll as a present. I the kids why they think the dad
doesn’t want to buy him a doll. Comments made:
“The dad doesn’t want to get him a doll.” -B
“Maybe the dad thinks that dolls are only for girls.” -G
At the end of the story William’s grandmother gets him a doll and I ask the students what they think about it. Comments
made:
“You don’t have to be a girl to have a doll.” -B
“Maybe she gave it to him because she’s a girl and its okay for her to give it to him.” -G
“There’s boys dolls too.” -B
After the last comment I ask what kind of boys dolls there are. The boys started naming them out loud: Woody
doll, Buzz doll, Spider Man, Batman, Iron Man, Hulk doll, legos. After they say these dolls a girl responds, “Hey, you
guys have a lot more dolls than we have. That’s not fair!” I ask if girls could play with those dolls too. The class all agreed
that they could. It is time for the students to go to their pull-out for the day so the conversation comes to an end.
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Illustration 3:
Example of critical literacy questions that I use to help me guide discussions
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E. Resources
Coffey, H. (2013). Critical Literacy. K-12 Teach and Learning from the UNC School Of
Education. Retrieved from: http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/4437?ref=search
Lewison, M., Flint, A. S., & Van, S. K. (May 01, 2002). Taking on Critical Literacy: The
Journey of Newcomers and Novices. Language Arts, 79, 5, 382-92.
Meller, W. B., Richardson, D., & Hatch, J. A. (November 01, 2009). Using Read-Alouds with
Critical Literacy. Literature in K-3 Classrooms. Young Children, 64, 6, 76-78.
Patel, S. L., & Bean, T. W. (2007). Chapter 2: Why we need critical literacy. Critical literacy:
Context, research, and practice in the K-12 classroom. Thousand Oaks: Sage
Publications need for critical literacy
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Strand C: Professional Learning
II. Collaboration
A. Ideas- PLCs- Leadership- Essential Standards
1. goals- To review CCSS in kindergarten and choose 12-15 standards that we feel need to be …
were to meet district wide, my school site wanted to make sure that we had our essential set
before we meet with other kindergarten teachers, took initiative
2. Interaction with others to achieve goals- Meet in weekly PLCs
3. Outcomes- Created a set of essential standards for both reading and math to take with us to
district wide meeting and created CFAs to go along with each of the essential standards
B. Illustrations of Change (4)
*PLC notes
*Final Essential Standards
*CFAs
*
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