Critical Literacy: Some Thoughts to Ponder As I continue my studies on critical theory, critical literacy, and New Literacies, I can’t help but think about what are the most important elements that should be part of preservice teacher classes, as well as my own. As an educator, what are the…

I know many states have adopted critical thinking within their standards and curriculum. My experience has been critical thinking can mean different things to different people. Questions about how to teach critical thinking or if critical thinking is innate will bring you back to the times of Aristotle and Plato. …

Today there is no clear concept or definition of what it means to be literate in the 21st century. Literacy is a reflection of a societies’ usage of language to communicate meaning. Due to today’s explosion and fast paced advancements in technology and digital tools, ways of communicating have exceeded…

Critical literacy and Critical theory are two paths that converge to help us understand the world. 21st-century readers must be meaning makers, text users, and text critics. The highly competitive world in which we live has increased the demand for schools to develop competent citizens that can collaborate with those…

I’ve been doing a lot of reading and processing of multimodal text and what those practices should look like within classroom settings. There is no doubt that text is no longer considered merely printed words on a page or words shown on a screen. …

I ask that question because I don’t think I really ever thought about it deeply, or certainly long enough, until I began my course work for my doctorate. Over the past three years I have been challenged to think about curriculum theory, curriculum design, social and cultural contexts affecting how…

As I study critical literacy and critical theory the questions that I pose are questions to be answered by educators and a collection of society’s members to address the purpose of schooling and the literacy requirements that are necessary for our current and future place and time. Despite past assurances…

As my journey continues exploring critical literacy and how it may be implemented within a curriculum, I came across a new twist in the development of placed-based pedagogy and critical literacy. The curriculum focuses on place and “belonging”. There is a synergy between critical pedagogy, social justice, and community-based pedagogies. …

I can’t tell you how many times I have wished that I was teaching civics (do we still teach civics?), government, or any content area to discuss current events, media coverage, elections, and the actions of our current branches of government with our students of today. We should be creating…