Critical literacy (CL) is a response to injustice and the production of illiteracy in which students and teachers work together to give meaning to what students are learning. This is achieved through providing students with the choice to either accept or decline any academic information given them based on how significant they find a subject to be. Further, critical literacy challenges students to think for themselves and not blindly accept and regurgitate all academic information that is thrown at them.
Of all the writers we’ve covered this term, renowned critical literacy theorist Paulo Freire best breaks down the characteristics of (CL) in his seminal work Pedagogy of the Oppressed. In it, he writes that critical theory works to end the cycle of the “banking approach” to education, one in which students are considered nothing more than blank and empty receptacles who contribute nothing to the classroom and need only to be filled with the expert knowledge of the instructor. In this pedagogical model, “knowledge is a gift bestowed by those who consider themselves knowledgeable upon those whom they consider to know nothing. Projecting an absolute ignorance onto others, a characteristic of the ideology of oppression, negates education and knowledge as processes of inquiry” (Freire, 1997, pg. 53).
PART II
Throughout the duration of this class, many of the readings spoke to me, some far more positively than others. Since one of the foci of our learning has centered on the idea that literacy involves far more than just mastery of reading and writing, I wanted to take the opportunity in this next to last blog to present in a format that is not heavily writing based. In the words of James Gee, “literacy is more than reading and writing…Once we see this multiplicity of literacy (that we read and write different sorts of texts in different ways), we realize that when we think about reading and writing, we have to think beyond print” (Gee, 2003, pg. 28). As so, this week, I present a media centered blog, one that explores languages, their value, the way in which they are learned, and honoring the diversity of learners.
In the book No Kinda Sense, Michael Stubbs begins the early part of his chapter by stating “It is difficult to overestimate the importance of people’s attitudes and beliefs about language.” He further drives home his point by stating that linguists, as part of their professions, “accept that no language or dialect is inherently superior or inferior to any other, and that all languages and dialects are suited to the needs of the community they serve” (Stubbs, 2002, Kindle Edition). After reading these words, and particularly after viewing the A.M. Baggs video in the first week of class, I began seriously thinking about the true meaning of language and some of the forms of it we see everyday. Generally speaking, on a daily basis, each of us sees various forms of language in any number of different arenas, including film, print, and television. How much is the depth and diversity of language truly appreciated on a societal level? Aside from the beauty of different “official” languages that are spoken around the world, such as French, Italian, Spanish, German, Chinese, Japanese and Russian (to name just a few), prior to taking this course, I had given little thought to the sheer variety of language that I am exposed to each and everyday. How much are various forms of communication truly valued among educators, rather than dismissed? I now present examples of individuals who are literally learning language right before our very eyes. You will most likely be quite familiar with the language learner in the first clip!
http://youtu.be/T_NQp4VghX4
This second clip is not famous, with the exception of a viral following on the internet. That being said, pay close attention to the way in which genuine communication is taking place between these two boys. In the case of both clips, language ability is writ large, as it is in the cases of most students who enter the American school system and an American classroom setting. The question, then, is how can language ability in schools be honored, honed, and built upon, rather than crushed, misused, and dismissed? In her chapter “Learning From Diverse Learners,” Catherine Luna presents the U.S. as a culture “in the grips of deficit thinking,” a circumstance that limits the diversity of learning abilities and backgrounds that can be found in any number of student bodies” (Luna, 2002, pg. 597).
http://youtu.be/T_NQp4VghX4
Meanwhile, we also explored ways in which being taught in an unwelcoming, non-progressive, and culturally limited academic environment can have an adverse effect on a student’s learning. In chapter 3 of No Kinda Sense, Lisa Delpit concludes that if schools are going to be successful at teaching children, their curriculums must in some way reflect the children, their lives, and the worlds that interest them. Though Delpit was referring to the academic needs of many African American students for the purposes of her article, in truth, her sentiment is applicable to all students of all races. If publicly schooled children are generally taught through “workbooks and textbooks that make no reference to their lived experiences” and they see little connection to their “cultural lives and personal interests,” why should learning be considered compelling (Delpit, 2002, Kindle Edition)?
In one installment of Calvin & Hobbes, one of my most treasured and adored cartoon strips, Calvin, the main character, shows his prowess in figuring out exactly what is expected of him when writing in an academic setting. Under normal circumstances, Calvin, who is extremely bright, fails to do well in school because he finds it extremely uninteresting. Though he generates any number of innovative ideas and activities in the hours he spends outside of the classroom, in the classroom he is another person entirely. As Delpit would say, Calvin finds no reference to his personal interests or cultural life when he sets foot in a classroom. Calvin’s schoolteacher is a prime example of a transmissionist, banking approach educator who has little interest in the true identities and interests of her pupils.
However, in the strip below, Calvin has astutely (and hilariously) cracked the code of what type of writing goes far in a scholarly arena.
Figure 1. Calvin & Hobbes by Bill Watterson, 1993
Finally, in April of this year, The New York Times reported on a worse case scenario incident in which the cultural background, communication methods, and literacy practices of a professor were not appreciated or recognized, and this came at an extraordinarily high and tragic price. Since April, the story of Antonio Calvo has garnered widespread and national attention.
For the duration of this summer term we have been studying the repercussions of teachers not teaching to the needs of students, teachers not understanding or appreciating the cultural identity, language, and mores of students, and teachers all but dismissing the talents and knowledge that children bring to the classroom. What happens when these very trespasses are done to a teacher of another culture? The story of Princeton professor provides a significant amount of food for thought. A link to the story can be found here:
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