teaching reading in trickytimes: critical literacy for the 21...

Teaching Reading in TrickyTimes:

Critical Literacy for the 21st

Century

P. David Pearson

UC Berkeley

Slides at

www.scienceandliteracy.org

Agenda for Today: Questions

worth pondering…

Justifying it: Why critical reading? Why

now?

Defining it: What is it? What it isn’t?

Where does it fit into our “higher order

lives? What’s it like? How is it different?

Supporting it: Where and when do we

teach it? What does it replace?

Why Critical Reading Now?

After all, isn’t that what the CCSS

were supposed to fix

Close reading

Argumentation

Writing from sources

Why Critical Literacy?

Why Now?

The performance data on schools

demand it

At every level, our achievement

profiles tell a tale of early promise and

later disappointment

California State Test: % kids

about 50th percentile

10

20

30

40

50

60

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10% above 50th percentile

Grade level -1

California Reading 2001

Overall

Lat ino

Statewide Results

% kids about 50th percentile

District Reputed to be doing well with minorities

% kids about 50th percentile

High Profile District

Why Critical Literacy Now?

Losing Ground across the years.

Losing more ground with minorities

We used to worry about the 4th Grade

Slump

But now we have the 7th Grade Cliff

The longer you stay in American schools,

the farther behind you get

Two ways to interpret these

data

Well, the reforms that are working so well

at the primary grades just have not had a

chance to kick in yet.

Well, this is the price you pay later on for

not paying as much attention to

comprehension, writing, and critical

analysis of texts as you should.

The 7th grade cliff has replaced the 4th grade

slump

Historical Comment on

Reading First

You get what you pay for.

Really emphasize the code and you’ll

get kids who can decode a little better

than if you don’t.

Why Critical Literacy? Why

now?

American commerce demands it

Global communications demands it

Global politics demands it

American business demands

it

Nothing really new

here!!!!

Global Communications

Demand it.

American Politics Demands it

Always has!

Frank Bruni.NYT. JUNE 17,

2017

An explanation of climate change from a

Nobel Prize-winning physicist looks exactly

the same on your Facebook page as the

denial of climate change by somebody on

the Koch brothers’ payroll

Barak Obama commenting on the

appearance of things on Facebook.

PDP: The internet is the ultimate

”democracy of information”

https://www.nytimes.com/column/frank-bruni

Caveat

We still have much to do…in the name

of everyday comprehension

Three big ideas in

comprehension instruction

Conceptually based vocabulary

instruction

Ambitious strategy instruction

High quality talk about text

Supportive Classroom

Instruction

Good word level instruction

Community of learners with lots of

collaborative activities

Solid writing instruction

Lots of opportunity to read things you

Can read

Want to read

Rich content area instruction

This is the message

We improve comprehension when we

teach reading well

Implement a balanced curriculum

Engage kids deeply in the reading

process

The Cognitive Engagement

part

Teaching for Cognitive

Engagement

Student support stance (coaching, modeling, scaffolding learning) not a teacher directed stance (telling or recitation)

Active (reading, writing, doing) not passive (listening to others in turn taking situations) student response mode

A clear focus on the higher, not the lower order tasks--for ALL kids.

Higher proportion of engaged time on task

That gets us to the point where we can

use reading to live our lives well

Reading for

Learning

Enjoyment

Personal insight

Personal advantage (job, class, opportunity)

Societal responsibility

– Being a competent, skeptical, critical reader

– Good citizenship entails a critical responsibility

What do I mean by critical

literacy?Be sure to require this from anyone who

talks about critical literacy. Why?

Because each of us has a slightly different take on critical literacy.

This is a good, not a bad, thing.

In fact, those who advocate for critical literacy would have it no other way

Something inherently contradictory about an official or canonical definition of critical literacy

Different meanings of critical

Critical from essential or important.What’s the key point here? What should we not miss?

Critical from critique Internal critique:

Do the writer’s conclusions follow from her premises?

Does the writer’s evidence support her claims?

Is the evidence relevant and trustworthy?

External critique:Whose interests are served by this text? This argument?

Whose lives are affected by the meaning of this text?

Why would someone make an argument like that?

What’s the difference between what the words say and what they mean?

Critical Reading

Critical Literacies

How does it relate to other

concepts with which it might

be confused? Comprehension

Literary Interpretation

Critical Thinking

My take on the differences:

Critical literacy can entail all the others, BUT its distinctive feature is that it asks the fundamental external and political questions about things, namely:

Whose interests are served by the existence of this text?

Critical perspectives worry about consequences of texts/reading and motives of those who create texts

Comprehension and Critical

Literacy Comprehension is a necessary but certainly not a

sufficient condition for critical literacy

Hard to critique a message that you don’t understand:

Comprehension: What is the main point of this story?

Critical Reading: How well does the author make and support the main point? Is that really the idea that we should support in this domain?

Critical Literacy: Why would an author write a story that makes that point? What might (s)he want us to do or believe?

Critical Literacy and Literary

Interpretation Lots of overlap, especially on questions about the

role of the author

What tools does the author employ to beguile us

as readers into believing that woman can assume

positions of political authority in our society

What do we know about the author--personal

background, education, philosophical grounding--

that might help us explain the way he portrays

women in novels?

Areas where overlap may or may not occur:

Plot

Comprehension: Who can summarize the plot?

CR: How does the plot unfold? Is the use of flashback effective?

Why would an author write a story with this particular plot? What is he trying to make us think about the characters in the story?

Comp and CR assume a neutral or autonomous text, CL assumes an “interested” text


Interpretation

Areas where overlap may or may not occur:

Theme

Comp: Let’s see if we can unpack the theme of this story

CR: Compared to XXX, how does this theme play out

CL: Stories with themes like this one--what are they supposed to make us think about the environment?

All three: (not sure): How does this theme fit into the general pattern of story themes we have discovered this semester?


Interpretation

Alyssa getting happier

Critique entails comparison

Critical Thinking and Critical

Literacy This is the contrast for which there is the greatest

potential confusion.

Critical Thinking comes out of Liberal Humanist Tradition of Rhetoric and Argumentation:

look at assumptions and validity of argument

Critical Literacy comes out of one or another of several post-modern traditions:

all of which begin with the assumption that language is inherently political, never neutral, laden with purpose, intention, and action.


LiteracyCritical thinking tends to look inside an

utterance at the structure of the argument to determine flaws and fallacies

Claim—>Warrant<—Evidence

Critical literacy tends to look outside, at the context in which an utterance occurs to examine how the utterance impacts and is impacted by the context and the players.


LiteracyEighth graders reading a political tract:

CR:

l How has the author organized the basic argument in this essay?

l What is wrong with this argument?

l How good is the evidence

CLl What does the way the author has organized the arguments

in this essay tell you about her politics?

l How would a conservative politician have framed this same argument?

Deconstructing Critical

Literacy from the readings I

have provided:Janks

Lewison et al

Cervetti et al

Hilary Janks: All about the legitimate

and illegitimate uses of power

Domination: Language tends to maintain and

reproduce relations of power

Access: Access paradox: How do we help students

gain access to the discourses of power without

marginalizing the non-dominant discourses

Diversity: It’s the key to creativity and

transformation

Design: The tools of reform: Select from the

diverse array of tools and recombine

No one of these forces can dominate: productive

tension

Lewison et al

Disrupting the commonplace

Interrogating multiple viewpoints

Sociopolitical focus

Acting on behalf of social justice

Area Critical Reading Critical Literacy

Knowledge

(epistemology)

Knowledge is gained through sensory

experience in the world or through

rational thought; a separation

between facts, inferences, and reader

judgments is assumed.

What counts as knowledge is not natural

or neutral; knowledge is always based

on the discursive rules of a particular

community, and is thus ideological.

Reality (ontology)

Reality is directly knowable and can,

therefore, serve as a referent for

interpretation.

Reality cannot be known definitively, and

cannot be captured by language;

decisions about truth, therefore, cannot

be based on a theory of correspondence

with reality, but must instead be made

locally.

Authorship

Detecting the author’s intentions is

the basis for higher levels of textual

interpretation.

Textual meaning is always multiple,

contested, culturally and historically

situated, and constructed within

differential relations of power.

Instructional goals

Development of higher level skills of

comprehension, interpretation, and

internal critique

Development of critical consciousness

and commitment to social justice

Cervetti et al: Comparing Liberal Humanist Critical Reading

with Post Structuralist, Sociocultural Critical Literacy

Cervetti et al

Let’s try an historical approach

Text

Reader

Context

Reading

Comprehension

Most models of reading have tried to explain how

reader factors, text factors and context factors

interact when readers make meaning.

Text

Reader

Context

Reading

The bottom up cognitive models of the 60s were

very text centric, as was the “new criticism” model

of literary interpretation (I.A. Richards)

Reading

Comprehension

Text-Centric Models: Molded from

Perceptually driven cognitive models and

New Criticism in literary theory

43

Pedagogy for Text-centric

Since the meaning is in the text, we need to go dig it out…

Make sure you say it accurately Read it fluently Get ALL the ideas Leads to Questions that

Interrogate the facts of the text

Get to the “right” interpretation The Outcome: Textual readings:

What’s in there and how can I get it out for closer examinatoin?

44

The Pedagogical Legacy of Text-

Centric Era

Close reading (ala Great Books or Socratic

Seminar)

Aligned with New Criticism from the 20s/30s

Literal comprehension as a pre-requisite to

interpretive or critical activities

Remember Durkin’s work in the 1970s

Replicated in the 80s, 90s, and 00s

http://www.scienceandliteracy.org/research/pdavidpearson45

http://www.scienceandliteracy.org/research/pdavidpearson

Text

Reader

Context

Reading

The bottom up cognitive models of the 60s were very

text centric, as was the “new criticism” model of

literature from the 40s and 50s (I.A. Richards)

Reading

Comprehension

Bottom up and New Criticism: Text-centric

Pedagogy for Bottom up and New Criticism:

Text-centric

Since the meaning is in the text, we need to go dig it out…

Leads to Questions that

Interrogate the facts of the text

Get to the “right” interpretation

Right there kinds of questions

Writerly readings or textual readings

Text

Reader

Context

The schema based cognitive models of the 70s and the

reader response models (Rosenblatt) of the 80s focused

more on reader factors--knowledge or interpretation

mattered most

Reading

Comprehension

Schema and Reader Response: Reader-centric

Pedagogy for reader centric

• Since the meaning is largely in the reader, we need

to go dig it out…

• Spend a lot of time on

• Building background knowledge

• Focus on inferences needed to build a coherent

model of meaning

• Privilege readers’ impressions, expressions,

unbridled response

• The outcome: Readerly readings

• The Open Mind in CLAS

49

50

Initial Response to a

piece: Now that you

have read the

selection, jot down

any impressions,

insights, questions, or

even disagreements

you might have with

the text and its author.

Record your thoughts

in the “Open Mind to

the right...

California Learning Assessment

Systems, circa 1994

Typical Theoretical Accounts

Langer’s Envisionment TheoryInto

Through and

Beyond the textPearson & Tierney’s Composing Model of

Reading: The thoughtful readerThoughtful to the Text

Thoughtful to the Reader

Thoughtful to the Author

51

The Pedagogical Legacy of

Reader-Centric Era

Constructivist pedagogical routines

Reciprocal Teaching

QAR

KWL

Literature-based reading

Writer’s workshop

Integrated pedagogy

Project- and Problem-based learning

52

Text

Reader

Context: social

and cultural

Reading

The sociocultural models of the 80s focused on the

contextual surround in which understanding occurred

Reading

Comprehension

Context centric models: cycle 1: Molded by

Situated cognition, sociocultural perspectives,

and the re-emergence of Vygotdky

53

• Since the meaning is largely in the context, we need to go

dig it out…

• Understand the role of the interpretive community in which

reading occurs

• Reading is not done till we talk about the text

• Leads to “interested” and “purposeful” readings…

• Strong interest in tone, style, and author craft (word choice,

rhetorical structures, genre choices).

• What do authors do to try to achieve their purposes for

particular audiences?

Pedagogy of Sociocultural models

54

Text

Reader

Context: add political,

economic, and ideological

to the social and cultural

Reading

The critical literacy models of the 90s focused on an

expanded role of context (representation, privilege,

interest, exclusion, ideology)

Reading

Comprehension

Context-centric, Cycle 2: Molded by Situated

Cognition, Embodied Cognition, and Critical

Theoretical Literary perspectives.

55

• Since the meaning is largely in the context, we need to go

dig it out…

• Questions that get at the political, economic, even

epistemological underbelly of the text

• Whose interests are served by this text?

• Who is excluded from representation?

• What is the underlying purpose of the text (what is the

author trying to get us to do)?

• Between these two pieces, which one would most

likely favor X? Y?

• Leads to ideological readings.

Pedagogy for Critical Literacy models

56

Pedagogical Legacy of the

Context-dominant Era

Examining Form-Function RelationsQuestioning the Author

Genre-based practicesExamining the assumptions and

consequences of textInterestedness: no neutral texts

Intentionality

How external forces shape production and interpretation

57

Ideological

Sociocultural

Knowledge

Text

Sentence

Symbol

58

Ever expanding notions of what counts as context

that might influence reading comprehension

Context operates “inside” text

alsoText

Sentence

Word

Letter

59

Word superiority effect

Contextual effects on

word reading

Intersentential

disambiguation

Is there a way to put all of these

perspectives into a single

framework?

My candidate for a framework:

Freebody and Luke’s Four Resources Model

from the early 90s

Code Breaker

Meaning Maker

Text User

Text Critic

Text Centric

Reader Centric

Context Centric

61

Cycle 1 of

ContextCycle 2 of

Context

My candidate for a pedagogical

model we could live with

Code breaker, who cracks the code or cipher that maps spellings to sounds and vice versa

Meaning-maker, who focuses on the message of the text, including the knowledge required to

understand it Text user, who focuses on the pragmatics of

use—what function a text serves in the social contexts in which reading occurs) Text critic, who takes a critical stance, unpacking

the social, economic, and political assumptions behind and consequences of using a text

62

The Power of Four Resources

Balance 63

More affordances of Four

Resources

It would allow for a sensible stance

toward Close Reading

Text as an evidentiary resource for

determining what the text says, means and

does, l And how it works.

64

What difference might Four

Resources make?

Complete readers

Nimble readers

Thoughtful readers

Evidence as important as the answer

What do you think? What makes you

think so?

65

Context

Critical

Literacy

Reading

Comprehension

Literary

Interpretation

Critical Thinking

Writing

Social, historical, political, economic

Where can we look for guidance

in promoting critical xxxxx? What

can we learn from….

Rich talk about text? (Maren!!!!)

CCSS?

Vocabulary?

Argumentation?

Close reading?

TALK ABOUT TEXT:

Important meta-analysis

Murphy, P. K., Wilkinson, I. A. G.,

Soter, A. O., Hennessey, M. N. &

Alexander, J. F. (2009). Examining the

effects of classroom discussion on

students’ high-level comprehension

of text: A meta-analysis. Journal of

Educational Psychology.

We have pretty good models

and research on this score

•Instructional Conversations•Questioning the Author•Junior Great Books

•Book Club •Literature Circle•Grand Conversations

•Collaborative Reasoning•Paidea Seminar•Philosophy for Children

Efferent

Critical Analytic

Aesthetic-Expressive

What the text

SAYS

What the text DOES

and HOW does it

work?

What the text

MEANS

Reader as Decoder

Reader as

Meaning Maker

Reader as Text

User or Critic

Murphy et al Meta-analysis

What’s the underlying theory of all of

these interventions?

Change talk:

focus and

distribution

Change

understanding

of text at hand

Change

comprehension

repertoire

Summary findings

Pre-post effects are

more impressive

than comparative

effects.

• Most things work to

a degree

• Kids get better with

direct help…but

maybe without it

Summary findings

Effects are more

impressive on

researcher

designed than

distal measures.

• Transfer is hard

• or

• Standardized tests

are insensitive.

Summary findings

Stronger effects

on talk than

comprehension.

• Changes in

participation are a

necessary but not a

sufficient condition

for comprehension

Summary findings

Some evidence

of you get what

you pay for,

especially for

critical thinking.

• Probably means you

have to do it all…

• Literal

• Inferential

• Critical

Decoder

Meaning maker

User and critic

Summary findings

Seems to be

more important

for average and

low achievers

• Ironically, most of us

spend more

discussion time with

the high achievers

• Beware self-delusion

Summary findings

Time matters:

longer is better

• Stay the course

• Ironically, we tend to

discard things

rapidly

Upcoming videoContext

NYC

ELL—monolingual Spanish in Grade 1

Watch the teacher

Watch the kids enter the conversation

See how the text gets used

A great example from NYC

Watch the teacher; watch the kid to kid talk

Observations

Teacher role

What has happened before this taping?

Kids role in conversation

School wide practicel Accountable talk

l Discourse moves

Toughest Problem: Promoting higher level

talk about text

In our CIERA work, the good news is

that when we saw it, it improved learning

and achievement, but…

The bad news is that we didn’t see it

very much

Supporting talk about text: After O’Connor and

Michaels workConversational Move Definition Example (Student talk) Scaffolds (Teacher talk)

Restating Repeating a previous contribution Linda said that the fish was sad,

because he was lonely.

Can someone say that in a different way?

Inviting Inviting a participant to contribute I’d like to hear what George thinks. Do you want to invite anyone else to add to what you

said?

Acknowledging or

validating

Recognizing a response without

agreeing or disagreeing

I can see why you said that.

I get what you’re saying.

I hadn’t thought of that.

Do you get what Juan is trying to say here?

Focusing/refocusing Making a metacomment about the

course of the conversation

We were talking about the reasons that

Frank ran away from home.

I think I’ve lost track of the question we were trying to

answer. Can anyone help me here?

Agreeing I agree, because…

Yeah.

That’s right, because…

Does anyone agree with Juan? (agreeing)

Disagreeing I see what you’re saying, but…

But what about…?

I disagree, because…

Does anyone want to disagree?

Does anyone see it another way?

Do you all see this the same way as Juan?

Elaborating Extending one’s own or another’s

assertion

I agree with Juan that the fish was

lonely, and I think that he...

Also…

Does anyone want to say something more about that?

Who can think of another solution or another reason?

Requesting clarification

or elaboration

What do you mean? Can you say more

about that? What makes you think that?

Does anyone want to raise any questions about the point

that Juan is trying to make?

Anyone find anything confusing in this part of the story?

Providing an example Providing an example from inside

of the text or outside to support

one’s own or another’s assertion.

Examples can be explanatory or

evidentiary

For example…

It’s like when…

Can you give an example of … from the story?

Has anything like this ever happened to you or someone

you know?

Can you think of an example from another story by this

author?

Signaling a change Changing the direction of the

conversation

I want to talk about the mother. Does anyone want to change the subject?

Are you ready to move on?

Does anyone want to ask a different question?

Providing evidence Supporting one’s own or

another’s assertions with evidence

I agree with Julie that the fish was sad.

You can see his sad face in the picture

on page 3.

Why do you think that?

Anything in the story to support that idea?

Can you point to something in the text that makes you

think that?

Posing a question to the

group

Does anyone think…? Do you have a question for the group?

www.scienceandliteracy.org

Same teacher--more

scaffolding

What can we learn from the

CCSS?

Argumentation

Vocabulary

Close Reading

Close Reading: Concern #1 We will operationally define text dependent as literal,

factual questions Forgetting that LOTS of other questions/tasks are also

text-reliant Compare

What were two reasons pioneers moved west?

What does the author believe about the causes of westward expansion in the United States?

How valid is the claim that author X writes from an ideology of manifest destiny?

YOU DON’T NEED A LITERAL FACTUAL QUESTION TO PROMOTE CLOSE READING…

Fundamental misunderstanding about reading theory:Every action—critical, inferential, or literal—requires the

use of prior knowledge to carry it out…

intepretive

literal

critical

Develop some routines that serve

different close reading purposes

Textual ReadingsWhat can I learn about a new topic or

phenomenon?

What is the author’s basic argument, line of reasoning, or point?

How does the author craft his or her text to achieve the basic purpose—to entertain us, persuade us, or inform us?

What can I learn about the effective use of metaphor (or any language tool) to paint a portrait of a character?



Comparative Readings:

How is this “thing” similar to or

different from another “thing”

I read about in the previous paragraph

I read about yesterday

I read about last week

I knew about from 3rd grade



Critical ReadingWhat do the author’s ideas tell me about his or her

familiarity with the issues of ecological balance?

How solid is the evidence he or she brings forward to support the basic argument?

Utilitarian (exploitive) Reading:How can I exploit this text to help me with my essay on the

rise and fall of the Roman Empire?

Let me find a good example of how to Use loaded rather than neutral verbs to convey a stance toward a character?

Even with vocabulary

What words does the author use in

paragraph 5 to make us feel

sympathetic to Henry? Does it work?

How could you change the effect of

this paragraph on the reader? What

words would you replace to make

readers feel more hostile to Henry?

An example from

composing…

The man walked through the mall.

Use words or details to

Make him aggressive…

Make him carefree…

Make him timid

Make him confident

Argumentation

Claim-Evidence linked by warrant or

reasoning

Very much of a Critical Reading

Relevance

Validity

Strength of Justification

Insider critique

A somewhat random

collection of approaches and

thoughts about CR/CL

But I like them!!

Another way to think about

critical literacy

Why things are the way they are?

What consequences do they have?

What functions (for good or ill) do

different forms serve?

It is all about form-function or structure-

purpose relationships.

What difference does it make? Is it

trying to make?

Some sure fire activities for

critical literacy

Questions about author intentions

Why would an author write a piece like

this? What could she possibly want us to

think?

What is the author trying to do here?

Questions about author’s craft in relation

to intentions

What does the author do or say to try to get

us to like this character?

Chris van Allsberg

My sure fire Close Reading Strategy

What do you think?

What makes you think so?

All about warranting claims about what the text

says, means, or does...

From Mary Uboldi, my sophomore and senior

English teacher at Healdsburg High School

Mr. Martin bought a pack of Camels on Monday

night in the most crowded cigar store on

Broadway. It was theatre time and seven or ten

men were buying cigarettes. The clerk didn’t

even glance at Mr. Martin, who put the pack in

his overcoat pocket and went out. If any of the

staff at F&S had seen him buy cigarettes, they

would have been astonished, for it was generally

known that Mr. Martin did not smoke, and never

had. No one saw him.

What you think you

knowWhat in the text

makes you think so?

Sure fire, cont

Comparing two texts on some dimensions

Which version of The Three Little Pigs is

kindest to the wolf? Why do you suppose that

author tried to get us to like the wolf?

Which author uses adjectives to make the

characters come alive? Which one uses verbs?

Which is most effective in creating a vision of

characters?

Sure fire…

Examining biases and assumptions

What solution to the global warming

problem does this author favor? How can

you tell?

(Comparing two texts…) Which author is

most sympathetic to the

environmentalists? To the energy

producers? How can you tell?

All of the old stuff on propaganda

techniques is as relevant as ever

Name Calling: Demogogue not a statesman

Glittering Generalities: A great American!

Transfer: 9 out of 10 dentists recommend..

Testimonial: Any. NIKE ad

Plain folks: Colonel Sanders, Jimmy Dean

sausage, local auto ads

Card stacking: Barrage on talk radio

Band wagon: Everybody’s doin’ it

From Mass State Standards

10.5 Compare and contrast the presentation of a theme or

topic across genres to explain how the selection of genre

shapes the message.

For example, students compare and contrast three reactions

to Lincoln’s death: Walt Whitman’s poem, “O Captain,

My Captain,” Frederick Douglass’s eulogy, and the report

in the New York Times on April 12, 1865. They make

specific contrasts between the impersonal newspaper

report and the personal poem and eulogy and between the

two personal genres.

Of all places…

Even in California…

Moreover, students should become text

users in that they should learn to

"compare and contrast the ways in

which media genres (e.g., televised

news, news magazines, documentaries,

online information) cover the same

event" (Grades Nine and Ten Standard

1.2).

More in California

By graduation students should be able to "critique

the power, validity, and truthfulness of arguments

set forth in public documents; their appeal to both

friendly and hostile audiences; and the extent to

which the arguments anticipate and address reader

concerns and counterclaims (e.g., appeal to reason,

to authority, to pathos and emotion)" (Grade

Eleven and Twelve, Standard

Alas!…the tests don’t reflect the standards…

Sure fire

Encouraging kids to compare texts to

their lives

Ashanti

Reading the world…

Or using the world to

read texts…

Some closing thoughts about

Critical Xxxxxx

Why is it so hard to get these

elements into the curriculum? Simple view of reading

RC=LC*Decoding

Teach the decoding and the language will lead to

understanding

First among equals problem: Yes, all of that is

important, but…first things first. Once the basics

are in place, we can get to these things.

(what I call the basic skills “conspiracy of good

intentions”)

The tests don’t reflect the standards, and when

push comes to shove…

What I hope for

Find a way to make all of these other curricular areas a part of the daily routines we use in classrooms.

Critical literacy questions can, and should, be a part of every conversation about text.

Texts do, after all, have authors, all of whom have intentions.

The sooner kids understand that, the better they can learn to judge authorial intentions and importance for themselves

That is the first requirement for a free and democratic society.

To be perfectly honest…

The events of the past year give me pause

In my entire life, I cannot remember a time when I

was more concerned about the gullibility and

incivility of the American citizenry

Left and right at the mercy of the media and the

internet.

Let and right have little tolerance for difference

Criticism is suspect if not outright evidence of disloyalty

We tend to believe what we read and are told

Voting patterns illustrate internal contradictions in our

thinking.

l We don’t even vote in our self interest

This is not a curriculum for the

privileged few Helping students examine texts and authors

critically is as important for a student at the 20th

percentile as it is for a student at the 90th percentile

We cannot contribute to a dual curriculum—one

for the rich and one for the poor, one for the haves

and another for the have nots

Even, no especially, the least amongst us deserves

this curricular opportunity

At any rate…

Those of you privileged to teach reading and writing in our schools…

Have a tremendous challenge before you, but also

An incredible opportunity to help students demonstrate their patriotism through critique…

And transformation—What Freire was all about

Develop the healthy skepticism for ideas, arguments, and text that makes for

Good reading,

Good writing, and

Good citizens

Critical juncture in my life

More interested in developing approaches that are

based on

Validated theory

Conceptual integrity

Solid research

Optimistic views of teacher and student learning

Generous views of how capital (economic,

political, and intellectual) is distributed.

Looking Forward…

The End

Parking Lot

Is close reading enough?

Is argumentation enough?

Is rich talk about text enough?

Is attention to author’s craft enough?

How can vocabulary be taught as a

critical reading skill?

Why Critical Literacy?

Why Now?Make sure our kids are up to the challenge

of modern society

Certainly bucking a curricular trend in Reading/Language Arts Education

Sisyphean task: rock up the hill, swimming upstream, fighting windmills

Without a strong emphasis on comprehension, writing, and critical examination of texts, we will never get to where we (our kids, our state, our nation) need to be.

teaching reading in trickytimes: critical literacy for the 21...

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