Questions that matter

After reading Dr. Vasquez's book, I was throughly amazed by the questions that her JK students were asking. I know kids are naturally curious, but the depth to their questions were so much more meaningful than the usual "why?" Dr. Vasquez mentions that one of her student's parent told her that her students "ask questions that matter"(p. 141). I think that is what really struck me the most. The way Dr. Vasquez was able to get past the superficial surface and dig deeper is very well documented in her book. I think a big factor is the audit trail, which is so appealing to all types of learners and really helps connect the dots. I think this should be done in every classroom, and at home as well. I plan to create a similar audit trail for my child, something on a smaller scale, but portable, such as a notebook. The great thing about critical literacy is that it can go in so many directions, the pages will fill up quickly.

I especially like how each theme in Dr. Vasquez's book was linked to social action. The children learned at a young age that they do have a voice and can make a difference by creating alternative solutions. What a wonderful lesson to learn at such a young age. I wonder if these same children continue to be activists in and out of the classroom. Dr. Vasquez, have you been able to follow up with this group and see how they are doing?

I also wanted to mention that I really enjoyed the conference last Saturday. Even though I am not a teacher in a classroom, I appreciated all of the ideas that Dr. Harste had for us. He was able to give us a lot of "take-aways" that I am curious to know if the teachers in our class where able to implement any of them.

Have a great week!

Valentine's Day cards boycott

I remember Dr. Vasquez mentioning in our first meeting how we will start to look at the world differently once we become more conscious of what critical literacy is. It wasn't until I started reading Negotiating Critical Literacies with Young Children did I finally start noticing the hidden messages in everyday life. I find myself asking who is behind this message? What is the purpose?

For instance, I was shopping in Target yesterday and I was bombarded by Valentine's Day advertisement. I walked through the aisle of Valentine's cards that kids give to each other in their classrooms. I looked closely and saw that almost all of the Valentine's Day cards were connected to a TV show (Dora the Explorer, Care Bears, Power Rangers, etc.). Not that this a novel idea....even when I was in elementary school Care Bears was all the rage, funny how things come back in style. Of course Valentine's Day is a hyped up commercialized event, but why should our kids buy and then help spread free advertisement for these TV shows? On top of parents already have to deal with buying all the tie-in stuff like toys, clothes, bed sheets...the list goes on.

I like how critical literacy helps find alternative solutions. Instead of buying into all of this consumerism around such commercial holidays like Valentine's Day, children can invent their own cards to give to their classmates. Or better yet make them for people who normally don't receive such greetings. Imagine all of the topics that can come out of looking closely at who is behind such a holiday. I am sure the possibilities are endless, especially by putting a bunch of young minds together. Don't get me wrong, I loved receiving those little envelopes with the cheesy messages when I was a kid, but the ones I do remember were especially made for me. You know the ones where the glitter fell on your lap and your name was spelled wrong, but hey, at least it was personalized!

Understanding Critical Literacy

As I learn more about critical literacy and some of the theories behind it (such as the four resources model of reading developed by Freebody and Luke) I am reminded of the work of Paulo Freire. Just as Freire helped link social change to empowering the underprivileged and oppressed, I believe critical literacy is able to do a similar feat in developing the voice of our youth.

It's amazing listening to young children debate on what's fair and unfair. Often we neglect these conversations as trivial and uninformed. But if you listen closely, you will find that children already posses insightful thoughts and strong opinions on what impacts their world. It seems to me that the key age to further develop these critical skills is not at high school level, where we are taught how to critically analyze text, which by then we have already cemented our rote learning skills, but at the pre-school level where Dr. Vasquez has focused her research.

It's at this age we can equip our children with the tools needed to carefully analyze the text they will come in contact in their future classrooms, as well as in everyday life, such as the media and other forms of commercialism. More importantly, kids will learn to question such things and not take everything at face value, but instead dig deeper.

I look forward to reading Dr. Vasquez's book, Negotiating Critical Literacies with Young Children who has brought attention to the voices of our young children and what we as teachers can learn from them.