Changing the Definition: Critical Literacy

Now a days with the rise of digital media anyone can be an expert, so as educators it is our job to teach our students how to determine what is fact and what is opinion in the overwhelming amount of information available to us at the touch of a button.The old tricks of looking at the URL and trusting a “.org” over a “.com” no longer promises the credibility of a source so we have to use a different method: critical literacy. Adolescents should use critical literacy to create a deep awareness of the influences digital media has in their own lives and how create their own truth.

In Buckingham’s article about critical literacy, he breaks critical literacy into four key components: representation, language, production, and audience. Since all sources are written by a human being, they are all that person’s interpretation of the truth. Adolescents need to be aware of where there is information is coming from, how it’s written, and even who the intended audience is(Buckingham). In order to prevent the mindless sifting through information adolescents have been trained to do, we have to show them how to think. This infographic breaks down critical literacy into an almost systematic way of thinking that can help to reach these desired higher order thinking skills.

Many times adolescents stop after the first stage in which they can summarize an article or point of view but don’t stop and think about the “why” or “how”. They should be asking questions about who is writing the particular media and the possible bias of the author as well as the the kind influence the author is projecting on their audience(OSDE). This breakdown of how to think may make finding reliable sources of information seem a little less daunting.

As you look around a typical high school, students are scrolling through twitter or Facebook quickly scanning over post after post mindlessly absorbing information at all times of the day. These social media platforms have algorithms to recognize patterns based on the posts you like and people you follow. Soon your feed may be filled posts that find yourself almost always agreeing with and maybe even reposting, and soon your feed has become an echo chamber. In Dr. Wallace’s capstone speech he talks about the existence of echo chambers and the danger of becoming “a prisoner who does not even realize he is locked up”. We see this so often in adolescents declaring opinions of their political beliefs when in reality they don’t even realize they are only seeing part of the truth.

In RT’s video she talks about how Chuck Todd criticizes conservatives for creating an echo chamber for distrusting media with its portrayal of Donald Trump. The funny part is, Mr. Todd refused to acknowledge the existence of echo chambers in his own political party(RT).

If you were to look up a recent event including the president, depending on the news source, you will find different versions of the exact same story. The goal is to help adolescents be aware of these biases, and to encourage them to be more open-minded and curious about the finding the whole truth then making their own opinion. We want our young adults to be aware of this danger of blindly believing everything they come across and be able to have the freedom to create their own interpretation of the truth.

Another aspect of critical literacy is creating social awareness and questioning what’s going on in the world around us. In Watson and Soares article, they talk about encouraging students to ask questions and to fuel their curiosity in asking why world is the way it is (Watson and Soares). One of my 8th grade students told me that she is frustrated that adults do not respect her, and I asked her what she was going to do about it. A couple of her other classmates echoed this idea so a cool project would be to use digital media to allow them to explore societal norms that create this inherent mistrust of young adults. The restlessness that comes with curiosity can motivate them to problem solve and drive them to find answers for themselves.

If they have the tools to use digital media critically, they can use it to form their own opinions and have the ability to share these ideas through their own digital outlets. Acquiring these skills will better equip our students to be problem solvers and leaders in a world with so many followers.

Required Readings:

Buckingham, D. (2007). Digital Media Literacies: Rethinking Media Education in the Age of the Internet. Research in Comparative and International Education, 2(1), 43–55. doi:10.2304/rcie.2007.2.1.43

Wallace, D. F. (2013, May 19). Retrieved October 21, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CrOL-ydFMI

Other Resources:

OSDE. (n.d.). Critical Literacy. Retrieved from http://www.osdemethodology.org.uk/criticalliteracy.html

RT America. (2018, August 31). Retrieved October 21, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVYjGeiXPvA

Soares, L., & Watson, P. (2006). Empowering Adolescents through Critical Literacy. Middle School Journal, 37(3), 55–59. doi:10.1080/00940771.2006.11461537. http://middlesecondarytoolkit.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/38699626/Empowering-Adolescents-Through-Critical-Literacy.pdf