Words have the power to empower

When thinking about critical literacy, I loved the way that Shor described it: "Critical literacy thus challenges the status quo in an effort to discover alternative paths for self and social development." (282) In order to be fully effective as in the classroom, social justice education and critical literacy go hand in hand. (Here is an article about the long term affects of social justice education I found really interesting!) Giving students the tools to analyze the world that they live in to help them to understand that they have a voice, they matter and can stand up and be catalysts for change in society is a very powerful thing. Helping them to unpack ideas and "ism's" that surround them every day of their lives is key in teaching them how to push back against the status quo and use their voices to evoke changes in attitudes and treatment of others. I want to be able to teach my students not to take things at face value and to question articles or stories they may see in the various sources of digital media that we are exposed to every day.

I think that in the world of ELA, we have an advantage. I am in awe of all of the amazing literature that has been written over the past few years that takes a critical look at how marginalized populations are taken advantage of, oppressed, and exploited all to maintain the status quo. Powerful works in the world of adolescent literature are bringing to the forefront  subjects like racism, the #blacklivesmatter movement, date rape and sexual abuse, sex trafficking, and the challenges that transgender and gay adolescents face daily. Situations that our students see every day in the media, Twitter feeds, and Instagram posts. The sad thing is that some of our students have been affected by these same situations. I love the idea of having the opportunity to explore some of these books and use them to have students dig deep on topics that they know in their souls are just wrong. I found a great lesson plan on Cultural Connections and Writing for Change that is technically geared towards grades 3-5, but can  be easily adapted to upper level students quite easily by changing the books or short stories they can read to. Students read a story about another culture or critical issue that is affecting their world, then do some Venn diagrams to compare your culture or family to the one in the story. This is really a neat activity because students can see that other cultures may have their differences but there are so many similarities that bridge the cultural divide. They then move on to some writing assignments, picking an issue that came up in the book and expanding on it. Then they can move on to issues affecting their lives or community and then maybe even composing letters to elected officials in their areas to use their voices to evoke changes. I get giddy with excitement and hope when I think about using some of this new adolescent lit in my classroom. 

This is such a simplistic visual for how one can start to engage in critical literacy in the classroom, but as I am all about the power of words - it makes sense. Using a simple display like this with your students can help them to visualize the process.