What Does Critical Literacy Mean to Me?

Well over the course of this semester I've really had to question a lot of things. I've especially had to question my own motives and my own prejudices that I've had about literacy. I think that once I realized what kind of stance I was taking on certain literature I was better able to tackle the big giant elephant in the room. 

What I mean is that in my classroom this year, literacy/language arts/reading has been something that I HAD to do but not something that I particularly enjoyed. I am very much a Math person, meaning I have a complex love affair with math and everything dealing with Math. In that sense I always felt like I gave my students the short end of the stick when it came to reading/language arts. Through understanding  the role that critical literacy can take in your own life and your classroom, I am now better able to integrate reading/language arts into my daily routine. 

I also feel that critical literacy has really helped me balance my daily routine because I am better able to break through important issues using literature and text. Critical Literacy to me is a way to think about something old and bring in a fresh new perspective. It is the ability to transform a tired old tale like "The Three Little Pigs" and make into "The Tres Pequeños Pigs." It is a way to talk about important social issues through the lens of a story or an author's point of view. It is then taking that lens and analyzing to help understand our own stance. 

Bookstore and Library Research

The library I went to visit for my research was the Mt. Pleasant Library in NW. This task was very interesting to me because I decided to go to a library in rapidly gentrifying area of the city but also has very deep historical ties to immigrants and working-class people. I grew up going to this library and so that was interesting to go back after a long hiatus.

What I immediately noticed was the plethora of books and stories about people like me. In other words there wasn't a dearth of books on Hispanic-Americans. I was indeed relieved to see such a sight. It was almost overwhelming to be able to walk into a public library and see a branch embrace diversity such as the Mt. Pleasant library did.

There was a huge section of bilingual books. That is, there were books that were written in both English and Spanish. There was Me llamo Celia / My name is Celia by Monica Brown. This book is a sort of biography of Celia Cruz the "Queen of Salsa." There was also In My Family / En Mi Familia by Carmen Lomas Garza. This book is about a girl growing in a border town in Texas. It shows the various incarnations of what a family is. In this way, the book celebrates the family unit which is very important in Latino culture. I felt the books were culturally appropriate but they were also very fun and interesting to read. Although I would caution to lump all Latinos into one mold because the new generation of American-born children tends to follow a non-Spanish speaking style. In that sense, there wasn't as much diversity. The books assumed that all Latino children can read in Spanish, which is not the case. 

There were also books about Asian-Americans spread around. I figured they were gearing up for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month which is in May. I didn't think to ask but it was an assumption I made. I saw one book that really caught my eye, which was " A Kids Guide to Asian American History" by Valerie Petrillo. I thought it was interesting because I think there is an assumption by many children and even some adults that all Asians speak "Chinese." This book cover depicted the beauty of various cultures from Asia. I think in that way, it represented Asian culture as beautiful, multi-faceted and varied. Asian culture is not just about martial arts, karate and "chinese food" from the corner carryout. The books were very accessible to all including young children. The children's area upstairs was also as diverse if not more so. 

Overall I was thoroughly impressed by the diversity of the books and the types of books available. There were novels and biographies, fiction, poetry, activity books. The different types of book add to the plethora of subject matter available to students and to parents or evennew  people who may live in the community.

The bookstore that I went to research at was a medium-sized bookstore that's not a chain store. It is Kramerbooks in Dupont Circle and the reason I chose this bookstore is because it is widely known around Washington, and in some ways it is a DC institution.

What I first noticed about this bookstore is that they had tons of books available to all walks of life. Dupont Circle is a magnet for different people from different backgrounds and as such this bookstore caters to the people that are in this neighborhood and those who come to visit this neighborhood. All the decisions about book marketing and shelving is made on-site and not in some corporate office. 

Like I mentioned earlier the books vary by topic, type, authors, and reader's interest. What I did notice was that most of the books available were catering to young, hip, "cool" educated yuppie-type liberals. There is nothing wrong with that because like I said, the books marketed cater to their surroundings. In that sense there wasn't too much diversity. Also there were tons of non-fiction and memoirs which is very popular especially the political kind. DC is a very political town and it was only appropriate that this bookstore fall into line with what is going on in politics now. Sen. Obama's book was prominently on display and to a lesser degree, Sen. Clinton and former President Clinton's books were also available to browse. 

Children's Literature Web Sites

There are tons of interesting websites out there that are of interest for this class especially. I decided that in order to be more useful I wanted to focus on a particular segment of children's literature. I decided that I wanted to focus on Multicultural Children's Literature and in doing so, I was able to find resources that have to deal with this topic particularly.

The first website I found was the Multicultural Children's Literature.
It was really helpful because there was a plethora of resources such as other websites, bibliographies, articles and other books about multicultural issues in children's literature. It's really helpful if you work in a diverse school setting such as mine.

Another website I thoroughly enjoyed was the Celebrating Cultural Diversity through Children's Literature website. In the same vain, this website also provided tons of online resources such as other websites. They also listed loads of children's literature that were categorized by certain ethnic groups and age group. This website was more of a tool to help categorize all the books but it can certainly be useful if you plan to use culturally sensitive books in your classroom.

The third website comes from Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland. They have set up a website for teachers to cross reference various books on multiculturalism and the various themes set within a certain book. This website was set up because teachers felt there was a disconnect between trade books and themes about multiculturalism.

This fourth website I found was really interesting. It is the International Children's Digital Library.
I really liked this website because it allows children to open an account and digitally download books from all over the world. It's sort of a library of books from most places in the world.

Interview with a Classroom Teacher

The teacher I interviewed for this project is a first-year teacher from South Florida. She had never taught in an inner-city school but what she has done and accomplished with her first graders is nothing short of amazing. She has such in-depth knowledge of the content and that translates into well-planned and organized lessons. I truly believe that she is well on her way to becoming an amazing teacher.

What role does literature play in the classroom curriculum?

Seury: I believe literature plays a huge role in all classroom instruction. Books can be used to access prior knowledge before any type of lesson. There are fictional books that can introduce any subject and help get the students exciting to learn more. There are also nonfiction books that can be used as supplements to the actual lesson and even teach students new things.


What kinds of books are chosen? Why and how?

Seury: As a first grade teacher, I first and foremost choose books that I know will keep the attention of my students. Large, bright, and colorful pictures or photos are very important. I also look for books that are cross curricular. During our literacy block I often use books that supplement what we are also doing in science and social studies. Since I have a large amount of ESL students, I also try to find books that are written on their level, without the use of English conventions.


Who decides on what books are used in the classroom?

Seury: As far as textbooks go, the District adopts which programs and books we can use to teach. However, I have my own personal collection of children’s literature that I pull from to supplement and enhance my children’s learning. I don’t believe that one book is enough material to stimulate their interest or open their eyes to a topic. I do my best to find and utilize more resources that will allow the children multiple exposures to a story or topic.


What is your theoretical perspective on teaching or specifically on using children’s literature in the curriculum?

Seury: I believe children’s literature should be an essential learning tool in every classroom environment. As an introduction, it allows the student to be pulled into a fictional world and activate any prior knowledge they may have. It also grasps their attention before any learning has even taken place, stimulating their interest in the topic. As a supplemental teaching instrument, books can give a new and exciting perspective on an old, possibly boring subject. It can expose students to already information that has already been learned, which helps reinforce what is being taught. Last, children’s books can be a fun way to close any kind of lesson. Instead of taking tests and drowning our students in worksheets, you can bring a topic to life by turning piece of literature into a reader’s theater.

Self as Informant

Well honestly I can't remember the first encounter with a book. In all honesty I don't recall reading that much as a child. I think this is because my parents were immigrants from El Salvador and they had little to no education. They could barely print their own names let a lone read a book to me. I do remember that my grandfather would read from this book of fables from El Salvador. He wasn't very educated either but these simple fables were taught to children as life lessons and were used as phonics lessons. It sounds absurd to think that a story like "The tortoise and the Hare" could be used to teach phonics but Spanish is a very phonemic language. Sorry, I forgot to mention that we were reading in Spanish. I didn't have any contact with English language books or writing until I reached kindergarten. In any case this book of fables and tales was so important because I remember thinking that I could learn how to read using this little book and behold I did learn how to read and write in Spanish. I think those building blocks were the strong base that helped me learn how to read and write in English. 

One of the most important books that I have read was probably a book about self-discovery. The book is called "The Alchemist" by Paolo Cohelo and initially I was drawn to the book because he talked about a personal journey that we must all follow in order to find ourselves. It sounds kind of spacey but when you are in college, your full-time job is to study and find out who you are. In any case this book really helped me understand things in ways that I never would have thought of. I find books like this interesting because I like looking at situations in different ways. I like to discover interesting ways to figure out problems. I like looking at a situation from a different perspective. I like to be very cognizant of all possible outcomes so that I can expect everything at anytime. I think that's why I am so excited about this class because I hope to open my view of text and literature to a whole new world.

Initial Ideas on Text Set

Well as I've been thinking more and more about my text set, I realize that I may want to do something on the issue of immigration. It's a huge issue in the community that I work in. I work in a very diverse neighborhood of Washington, DC and a lot of the students here are children of immigrant parents. Often the parents are here illegally and their immigration status often is a hot-button issue to the children. We've been discussing the election process in our class and my children are really interested in the issues of education and immigration. I think it would be powerful if we could do images of our neighborhood so that we could really see the diverse neighborhood we live in. It would also be very powerful if we could put a face to those people directly affected by immigration laws and policies.

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.