reading portfolio 5037

ChristinaM.Joseph C&T5037ReadingPortfolio 5/5/10

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How my journey through critical literacy has influenced my philosophy of education…


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Table of Contents

Sections PageNumbers

Introduction Page3

ReadingtheWorld

‐ WhereI’mFromPoem/Reflection‐ KiaCommercial/Reflection‐ Class4J/Reflection

Page4

Pages5/6Pages7/8Pages9/10

ReadingtheWord

‐ CriticalAnalysisofTarBeach/Reflection

‐ BissellCommercial/Reflection

‐ GiftFromPapaDiego/Reflection

Page11

Pages12/13

Pages14/15

Pages16/17

ImplicationsforTeaching

‐ Wherestudentsarefrom

‐ MorningMeeting‐ Deconstructingtexts

Page18

Page19

Page20/21

Page22/23

References Page24


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Introduction Thisportfolioisfilledwithexperiencesofmyjourneythrough

criticalliteracy.ThissemesterIbeganworkingwithaphilosophythatwasnotwrittenoutinsteps,didnothaveaprocessor‘howtomanual’togoalongwithit.Therewerenoshortcutsoreasierwaystobetterunderstandcriticalliteracy…Ineededtoliveit.Criticalliteracywasdifficultandfrustratingforme.ThesefeelingsofuncertaintyanddiscomforttoldmeIwaslearningsomethingnew,andIlikedthechallenge

ThroughoutthisjourneyItookrisks,fumbledwithmyunderstandings,workedwithpeersforcountlesshours,andbroughtnewideastomyownstudents.Intheprocess,Iwasgivenneweyestoreadmylifewith.Allofasudden,conversationsbegantosounddifferent,booksweremuchmorecomplexandtroubling,andTVwasnotjustforentertainment.Criticalliteracypulledbackthemanyhiddenlayersofmeaningandgavemenewlensestoviewtheworld,wordandmyteachingthrough.

“ Literacy is not a noun or an adjective or a verb. It is an action which structures relationships between subjects and objects… It is a way of acting in and on the world… Literacy is an action whereby people use texts to structure relationships with other people and with social institutions” (Bloome & Solsken, 1998).


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Reading The World Paulo Freire (1970), as used in Arlette Ingram Willis’ (1997) article, defines literacy as “A strategy of liberation [that] teaches people to read not only the word but also the world” (p. 392).


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WhereI’mFrom~ChristinaMarieJoseph(BasedonWhereI’mFrombyGeorgeEllaLyon)Iamfromhighschoolsweethearts.fromteachingandcars.IamfromaCul‐de‐sacwithapark.fromlaughterandbikerides.Iamfromdogbarksandkisses,snugglinginbedfromahomenotahouse,asafetynet.IamfromItalyandGermany.fromtheMiddleEasttoo.IamfromLodiandFlorida’swarmgoldenbreezes.fromParamuswithitsshoppingmalls.Iamfrombestfriendsandmemories.IamfromMimiandGramps,livingdownstairs.fromhomemadecookingandstoriestotell.IamfromWWIIandworkingtowardsadream.fromendlesskisses,hugs,andcomforting.Iamfromsweetsoundsandsongsbeingcarriedthroughtheair.fromneverbeingaparttobeingmilesfromanywherenear.Iamfrom“Bealeadernotafollower.”fromteammatesandscarstochampionshipstars.Iamfrompassionanddrivetosucceed.fromwantingtoteach,winandlead.Iamfrommakingalifeoutofworkingfromtheheart.IamfromNewYorkCity,thecenterofitall.fromwantingtolearnmoreandstillfeelingsosmall.Iamfrom22studentswhoneedmenow,butsomedaywon’t.from“Ms.Joseph!”andlaughter,sometimesevenmyown.Iamlongingtobe–there‐someday…


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ReflectiononWhereI’mFromPoem

As stated by Gee (1989) “By a discourse I mean a socially accepted association among ways of using language, of thinking, and of acting that can be used to identify oneself as a member of a socially meaningful group or social network” (p. 18).

Writingthe“WhereI’mFrom”poemwasoneofthefirstassignmentsinourclassthissemester.Thispoemtookintoconsiderationallofthecreativityandcraftthatpoetsincludeintheirpoems,butitalsopushedmetolookcloselyatwhoIamasaperson.ThiswasanecessarystepformeintotheworkofcriticalliteracybecauseIfirsthadtorealizewheretheideas,memories,familyhistoryandtraditions,experiences,andgeographycamefrom.SomeofthequestionsIwasfacedwithwere:WhoamI?WhatspacesdoItakeup?Whatismyfamilyhistory?Whatisliteracytome?Whohasinfluencedmylife?

BeforethisassignmentIknewthatmylifewasmultifacetedandthatIwasacomplexbeing,butIdidnotrealizewhy.IalsodidnotrealizehowmuchliteracywaswovenintowhoIam.Thispoemtookalotofdeepthinkingandpersonalsearching.Throughthisexploration,IwasabletouncoverthediscoursesthatIidentifywith.WithoutthefirstexplorationsofwhoIwasasaperson,Iwouldnothavebeenabletorealizeallofthedifferentspaces,people,andelementsIinteractwithonadailybasis.Thispoemcreatedtheawarenessofmyownidentity,andwasthewaythatIstartedtoreadtheworldaroundme.


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Kia“BigGameCommercial”

“ Critical literacy offers the tools to investigate language constructions, including silence, through the assumption that

anything constructed through language is saturated with perspectives or ideological beliefs and therefore can be deconstructed and better understood” (Jones, 2006).


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Kia“BigGameCommercial”Reflection

FormyseconditemIhavechosenthecommercialthatIcriticallyanalyzed.TheKia“BigGameCommercial”airedduringthisyear’sSuperBowlGame.Thiscommercialhadoneofthegreatesteffectsonmethissemester.Beingavisuallearner,Ireallyneededtoseetheactions,sounds,andimagesforacompleteunderstandingofwhatitmeanttousecriticalliteracy.

Iamsomeonewhoisinterestedindifferentanduniquecommercials.IalsohavetelevisionshowsthatItrytowatchwheneverIcan.Beforelookingatmy“entertainmentworld”throughcriticalliteracy,IwouldjustwatchandbecontentwithwhatIsawonthescreen.UsingthedifferentlensesthatJones(2006)gaveusofpower,perspective,andprivilegeIwasabletotakeacloserlookandpullapartthedifferentlayersofthecommercial.Identifyingthetargetaudience,thecreators’perspectives,andwhattheirprivilegeswereshowedmethatnotextsarecreatedneutral.Eachone,whetheritbeashow,movie,book,picturebook,song,orcommercialareallcreatedbysomeonewiththeirowndiscoursesandwithspecificpurposesinmind.Now,whenIwatchTVcommercials,IamalertandItrytoreadintotheworldthattheadvertisingagencieshavecreated.Whatistheirmessage?Whohavetheycreatedthisfor?Whoisbeingleftout?Whoholdsthepower?Why?Whatelementsmakemefeelthisway(music,characters,language,props,setting)?


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ReadingMyWorld;MyStudentsinClass4J

Vivian Vasquez (2003) writes, “Children’s culture is based on broad anticipation in a range of literacies… highly complex literacies that children are now facing in this new millennium” (p. 125).


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ReadingMyWorld;MyStudentsinClass4JReflection

Asmyjourneycontinuedthroughcriticalliteracy,IknewIwasgrowingasastudent,reader,andindividual.Atthesametime,oneofmydiscourses,4thgradeteacher,wasalwaysattheforefrontofmylearning.IhavechosentoincludemyclassroominthisreflectiveportfoliobecauseofthemanychangesthathaveoccurredwithinitandaroundtherelationshipsIhavewithmystudents.

WhenImetmystudentsinSeptember,Ihadaplan.Activitieswerelaidout,dittoswerecopied,IknewthekindofenvironmentIwantedmy4thgradeclassroomtobe.Ileftsomethingstobedetermined,butmostitemsandcurriculumdecisionswerealreadywellintheworks.Usingcriticalliteracyhastaughtmetounpacktheroutineandtreasuredpracticesofmyteaching.Ilearnedtoaskmyselfmorequestionsaboutmystudents’lives,theirexperiences,families,andinterests.Werethebooksinmylibraryrepresentativeofthem?Didtheyevenlikethetopicswewoulddiscuss?Couldtheyrelatetothewholeclassreadalouds?Ihadbarelythoughtaboutthesethingsbefore.

GivingmystudentsavoiceintheirownlearningprocessissomethingthatIwilltreasureaboutmylearningofcriticalliteracy.Inowhavethetoolstostartgivingmystudentstheliteracytheyneedtoreadtheirowncomplexworlds.Thetoys,shows,electronicgadgets,andevenbooksarenow“multimodal.”Carrington(2003)writes,“Printliteracy,inandofitselfisnolongersufficienttoensuresuccessfulparticipationincivicandsociallife.Being‘literate’isabouthavingtheskillsandknowledgewithwhichtoparticipateinandtransformone’ssocialandculturalcontext”(p.84).Iwantmystudentstonavigateandinteractwiththeworldaroundthem.Thesecriticalliteracyskillscanbeasignificantpartofmyliteracyprogram,notjustapassingthoughtoridea.Iamgoingtobringmyreadingtheworldskillsandlearningprocesstomystudents,andgivethemtheopportunitytoseetheirworldsthroughnewlenses.


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Reading the Word “Literacy surely means nothing unless it has something to do with the ability to read. ‘Read’ is a transitive verb. So literacy must have something to do with being able to read something. This something will always be a text of a certain type. Different types of texts (e.g., newspapers, comic books, law books, physics texts, math books, novels, poems, advertisements, etc.) call for different types of background knowledge and require different skills to be read meaningfully” (Gee, 1991).


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CriticalAnalysisofTarBeach


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CriticalAnalysisofTarBeachReflection

MycriticalanalysisofTarBeachbyFaithRinggoldisanimportantexampleofhowIreadthewordsthroughJones’(2006)lensesofpower,perspective,andprivilegeinordertounderstandmoreabouthowreaderstakeuptextsandhowtheauthorcreatesit.ReadingthewordscarefullymeanttakingeachpageofthebookintoconsiderationandquestioningthetextasIwentalong.AsIwastakingapartthewordsofthetext,IrealizedsomuchmoreaboutRinggold’sworkandhermessages.

Withinthecontextofthepageswerethehistories,struggles,momentsofjoy,andworksofartthatexpressedFaithRinggold’sviewsandshowedherpowerandstruggleswithinthetext.IfIwasgoingtoreadTarBeachbeforethissemestertomyclass,Iwouldfocusonthecharactertraits,setting,plot,andhavestudentsrespondtothetextintheirownway.Now,afterusingthelensesofpower,privilege,andperspectiveIcanshowmystudentsjusthowmuchthewordsofatextcanactuallytellus.Usingquestionsintheclassroomtopushmystudentstoexplorethewordsofdifferentcultures,differentissues,tomakeconnectionsanddisconnections;theseelementsallinvolvethestudentsintheprocessoftheirlearningandreading.ReadingthewordusingTarBeachalsogavemetheknowledgetoshowstudentshowtoreadagainsttheirownexperiencesandtonoticeandquestionthewaytheyinteractwiththetextandtheauthor.

“ Disconnection from such texts can open up spaces for conversation… Talking across difference can lead us to insights” (Jones, 2006).


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ReadingthewordsofaBissellVacuumCommercial


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ReflectiononBissellcommercial“Isyourvacuumagoodmatchforyou?”

“No one would say anyone could read a given text if he or she did not know what the text meant. But there are many different levels of meaning one can give to or take from any text, many different ways in which any text can be read” (Gee, 1991).

ThisBissellcommercialbroughtadifferenttypeofcriticalanalysisthanthefirstcommercialIinterpreted.ForthiscommercialIusedtheactualwordsinthecommercialtomakemeaning.Usingthewordsthatthenarratorissayingthroughoutthecommercialgivesnewmeaningtoacommercialwithasimplemessageandscript.

Thecommercialusespronounstocreateexclusivepositioning.Thepronoun‘you’isusedthemostfrequentlythroughoutthecommercial.Usingthepronoun‘you’ismeanttomeananyandeveryperson.Withthecombineduseofvisualimages,thecommercialonlycreatesamoreexclusivegroupofpotentialcustomers.Inthiscaseawhite,female,housewife.

Bissellalsousesthepronoun‘we’torefertotheircompany.Forexample,“AtBissell,wedesignourvacuumswithyouinmind.”Inthisquotefromthecommercialitmakesthecompanyseemasiftheentirestaffisonboardwithyou.‘You’thecustomerand‘we’thecompanyareonthesamelevelandthiscreatesanexclusiverelationship.Thiswouldmakethecustomerfeelclosertothecompanytheyareselectingandallowthecompanytoseemmorerelatable.

BeforeIwouldneverhavethoughttolookorlistensoclosely,orpayattentiontopronounsusedintexts.Now,Ihavecometorealizethat“keylinguisticfeatures”(Janks,1999)oftextcanleadtoacriticalanalysisandthedeconstructionofcommontextslikecommercials.


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CriticalAnalysisofAGiftFromPapaDiego

“Critical literacy is a set of approaches designed to engage students in literary practices such as questioning the author, proposing and identifying multiple perspectives, and making connections between history and other social practices when reading texts” (Rogers & Mosley, 2009).


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PartnerReadingofAGiftfromPapaDiego:Reflection

Reflectingonthecriticalanalysisofthebilingualstory,AGiftfromPapaDiego,byBenjaminSaenzwasanimportantpartofmycriticalliteracyjourney.CompletingthisactivitywasadifferentexperienceformebecauseIworkedonanalyzingthistextwithapartner.Workingwithsomeoneelseseemstoexemplifythesocialaspectthatcriticalliteracyurgesustoexplore.MypartnerandIwentpagebypageofthetextandreadthewordslookingforinformationabouthowthewordswouldmarginalizeorempowerreaders?Whatwordswouldtellusabouttheauthor’sperspectives?Whatinformationcouldwelearnaboutwhowouldbeprivilegedandwhowouldbeleftout?

Oncewedeterminedwhohadpowerinthistextandwhowasmarginalized,wewereabletousethesefindingstolookatthewordsinanotherway.MypartnerandItalkedaboutthevaluesthatwerehiddeninthedialoguebetweencharacters.Fromthewordsthateachcharacterspokewewereabletonoticethatliteracyandlearningwereimportanttothefamilyinthestory.Wealsolearned,throughstoriesthatthecharacterstold,thatfamily,celebratingheritage,andworkinghardwereimportanttothecharactersandtheauthortoo.

Criticalliteracyandreadingthewordgavemeanewwaytoworkwithanotherstudent,mypartner.Eventhoughweareteachers,itwasimportantforustogothroughthislearningexperiencetogether.Ienjoyedworkingwithsomeoneelseandbuildingresponsesandtakinginthewordstogether.Workinginpartnershipsandreadingthewordsofcommon,everydaytexts,willprovidemystudentswithnewlearningexperiencesandwaystoexploretexts.


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Implications for Teaching Critical Literacy

“As teachers we need to incorporate a critical perspective into our everyday lives with our students in order to find ways to help children understand the social and political issues around them… Critical literacies include an ongoing analysis of textual practices… Critical literacy does not necessarily involve taking a negative stance, rather it includes looking at an issue or topic in different ways, analyzing it and hopefully being able to suggest possibilities for change or improvement” (Vasquez, 2005).


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Plan for Implementation: Looking closely at where students come from?

Next year I know that I want to have my students experience critical literacy. I know that the process of bringing critical literacy into the classroom will be a long and steady process. I feel that the best way to start making critical literacy a part of our literacy instruction each day, is to make it a way of life for the kids. I plan to begin the year with the students the same way I started out this critical literacy journey… looking within themselves. Making the students aware of who they are, where they are from, and why they read texts the way they do, will open up the conversations and minds of students in my class.

One of the bulletin boards in my hallway will be left open with just a title on it. This board will be interactive and ever changing and growing. The students will contribute to it through the activities we will complete in class. Here are some activities to share and express the students’ histories and personal discourses:

Lesson/Activity Bulletin Board Elements Where I’m From poetry Poems, pictures, drawings, letters Family Histories Family tree, pictures, timelines,

letters, post cards, stories

Map of students lives Actual maps, photos, collages, drawings, books, magazines

Reading our School Environment Interviews, photos, books, writing pieces

Read Aloud Deconstruction: talk about what books represent our views and discourses based on further work; take apart the familiar and reconstruct “make the familiar strange” (taking action)

Add new titles, writing pieces that would be more representational, letters written to authors of books, letters written to magazines or newspapers with our thoughts


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Plan for Implementation: Morning Meeting

Using Roxann Kriete’s (1999), The Morning Meeting Book, I was able to notice how the social structure and interactions of classroom can make a great impact on learning. I chose to include morning meeting into my plan for implementation of critical literacy for next year because I think it will definitely show students how to read their world (our classroom and how they take up our space). Taking a look at the 7 elements of The Responsive Classroom:

o The social curriculum is as important as the academic curriculum

o How children learn is as important as what children learn o The greatest cognitive growth occurs through social

interaction o There is a set of social skills that children need to learn and

practice in order to be successful o We must know our children individually, culturally, and

developmentally o All parents want what’s best for their children and we must

work with parents as partners o The principles of The Responsive Classroom must be practiced

by educators in their interactions with each other, with the children, and with the parents

These elements of The Responsive Classroom capture most of the work that I have done this semester in planning critical literacy lessons, reading the word and world, and starting to realize how important getting to know our students and their families are. The morning meeting will be a great way to start this kind of responsive relationship amongst students and teachers.

Read on to see elements of the morning meeting I plan to use and different activities for each:


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Morning Meeting

Component Activities

Greeting Songs, ball toss, different languages, handshakes

Activity Hot and cold, clapping names, cooperative spider web, memory game, 3 question interview

News and announcements Notes to class from teacher: can include questions, observations connections to class events, memories, entertainment, voting, weather, songs, riddles, tallies, responsibilities, jobs, reminders

Sharing Different groups of students each day, toys, writing, stories, questions, ideas, skits, songs, news, books, poems, any object


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Implicationsforteaching:Deconstructingamovietrailer,televisionshoworwellknownreadaloud

As I have stated before in this portfolio, working through the critical analysis of the television commercials helped to solidify my understanding of critical literacy. One way I would like to bring this practice into my teaching would be to deconstruct a text together.

My fourth grade students are very interested in media and popular culture. I would like to bring their world to them up close, and show them how we can apply critical reading skills to the texts we encounter most often: television and film texts. An example of a text that I would like to reconstruct with my class would be the movie trailer for “Diary of a Wimpy Kid.”

After downloading the trailer from iTunes, I would project it onto the Smart Board in my classroom. The students and I would watch the trailer together once without any kind of critical lens being used. Then I would talk to them about how we can apply the already familiar lenses (Jones, 2006) of power, perspective and positioning. Using these three lenses, we will take apart the text layer by layer. I will provide the students with a thinking and jotting sheet to gather their critical analyses of the trailer.

This sheet will include questions that I would like the students to look at and reflect upon during our critical analysis. These questions are taken from Jones’ book as well:

Readers can ask themselves… About Perspective: ‐ Who could have created

this text? ‐ Who is the intended

audience? ‐ What readers might think

like the creator?


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Differently? ‐ What are the views of the

creator? About Positioning: ‐ What perspectives,

practices, or people are centered in this text?

‐ Who is left out? Not represented?

‐ How does this text position me?

About Power: ‐ How does the author use power in the text?

‐ Does the author repeat stereotypes or challenge them?

‐ Who or what benefits from this text? Does not benefit?


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Reference

Carrington,V.(2003).‘I’minabadmood.Let’sgoshopping’:Interactive dolls,consumerculture,anda‘glocalized’modelofliteracy. JournalofEarlyChildhoodLiteracy,3(1),83‐98.Gee,J.P.(1989).Whatisliteracy?JournalofEducation,71(1),18‐25.Gee,J.P.(1991).Sociallinguisticsandliteracies:Ideologyindiscourses. NewYork:FalmerPress.Janks,H.(1999).Keylinguisticfeaturesforcriticaldiscourseanalysis. WorkshoppresentedatTeachersCollege,ColumbiaUniversity, NewYork,NY.Jones,S.(2006).Girls,socialclass,andliteracy:Whatteacherscandoto makeadifference.Portsmouth,NH:Heinemann.Kriete,R.(1999).Themorningmeetingbook.Greenfield,MA:Northeast FoundationforChildren.Ringgold,F.(1991).Tarbeach.NewYork,NY:Scholastic,Inc.Rogers,R.&Mosley,M.(2006).Racialliteracyinasecond‐grade classroom:Criticalracetheory,whitenessstudies,andliterary research.ReadingResearchQuarterly41(4),462‐495.Saenz,B.(1998).Agiftfrompapadiego.SanAntonio,TX:CincoPuntos Press.Vasquez,V.(2003).WhatPokemoncanteachusaboutlearningand literacy.LanguageArts,81(2),118‐125.Willis,A.(1997).FocusonResearch:Historicalconsiderations. LanguageArts,74(5),387‐397.YoutubeBissellcommercial:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76G4cDKeIqoYoutubeKia“TheBigGameCommercial”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uJ7Ifa449w

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