Becoming Critically Literate in the 21st Century World

It’s one thing to read a piece of writing, but its another to ask many questions of it, such as WHAT does the author intend? WHY is it written? WHO is it for? and WHAT does it mean to me AND WHAT does it mean to other people? To me, this concept seems so important because the moment we take something in a different light, the more we see things we didn’t see before - perhaps inequalities, power struggles or injustices. Therefore, as future teaches, we need to think about things like our lived realities, our spaces and our lived experiences in order to see the underlying cracks that exist, because by doing so, we are being CRITICALLY LITERATE, which is something we not only need to teach ourselves, but our students too.

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What I love about critical literacy is that each person may interpret messages differently, or develop their own “language” per se. Take the example of reading a children’s book, where images and words on a page are not only informed by the author, but also the reader and what they bring to it. Words don’t have meaning unless WE give them meaning, and its meaning is dependent on different contexts, so that’s why I believe it’s so important to ask yourself questions like WHAT is being included or WHO is left out? A strategy I have been familiarizing myself with is problem posing, by asking students a number of questions about that text to look beyond the surface level layers. By prompting questions about the story, children will be exposed to different lenses and perspectives that can take place. We want our students to be open-minded and take action on their opinions, but in order to do so, students must be able to read between the lines – a skill that is so critical !

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As this world becomes more technologically literate, children now more than ever, need to be able to understand the virtual world that continues to grow every day. Even with recognizing things like conflicting sources of information on the Internet, it is important for children to question its trustworthiness and value. There are so many different representations and textual versions that exist to children, so they need to learn how these visual images and different kinds of media work, along with how they try to manipulate you. 

That being said, I believe it is so important to engage in these debates, because according to Allan Luke:                                                                                                                                               

“It’s about ‘reading’ the world, because when you read words, you are reading different versions of the world.”

To be critically literate, we need to mold our students to challenge common assumptions and explore multiple perspectives, because what WE see as normal may be something completely different to someone else. I have learned time and time again that seeing children as passive sponges who just absorb information is completely wrong! I can remember myself as a student, and being asked to memorize information did not teach me anything in the end. We need to move away from this “banking system” where the students are the piggy banks being stuffed with information, and instead, students should be constructing their own knowledge, as often times there is NO ONE RIGHT ANSWER. Therefore, we as teachers, need to continue to build tools for our students to engage in this ever-changing world and make meaningful contributions to it, and it starts by teaching them how to become critically literate citizens.

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In the video above, it emphasizes that critical literacy involves searching for meaning and going into the world questioning everything, as these skills are essential in our rapidly developing world. So far, EDUC 4P27 has opened my eyes into understanding the importance of the 21^st century literacies, with critical literacy being one of the new literacies. If we, as teachers, can incorporate critical literacy into our daily teaching practices, students will be able to understand things like who is included or excluded and develop a sense of ability when interacting with the world. In other words, not only will students be able to understand themselves and others better, but they will ultimately be able to ‘read’ the world using a critical lens and recognize the taken-for-granted norms and potential privileges that may have. I look forward to sharing more of my learning about the 21st century literacies, so please expect more to come!!