Critical Literacy and Children's Books

When I first thought about what is critical literacy and what it really means to me as a teacher, I could have sworn up and down that involved the teacher as the sole or main player in disseminating the information to the students in a more thoughtful way. As I read upon what is really meant by critical literacy I have come to realize that the teacher is not the only player albeit an important one but there are other stake holders. What about the children who need to engage in the literature? The authors whose meanings we need to crack in order to engage our students are also players. Then there are the administrators, policy makers, support staff and so many others that make decisions about children's literature and its place in the classroom. I felt overwhelmed by what I had to understand and digest, so I broke it down so that I could better serve my children.

In the four-resources model article online the author talks about the roles a student can play in terms of their interactions with the text. I never really thought that a student could have a role but only that of a student. In that way I was forced to really look at how I see my students. Are they code-breakers or meaning makers or text users or text critics? I don't really know because I never really asked myself or them for that matter? Then there exists the different stances that a teacher can take. As I do read-alouds or select readings for my class what am I trying to portray? What are the students' stances? What about the author, what kind of stance is he/she taking? All of these questions swirled in my head, even right now because I was never forced to think about it. I just hope that throughout the course of this class I am able to be more metacognitive of my teaching practices because once I know what stance or what role I'm playing, then I can do something. It is then that I can move forward and make meaningful interaction between the text, my students and myself.