Critical Literacy for Early Readers

I've observed a number of early childhood classes, where critical literacy is being taught to the students implicitly in terms of what do good readers and writers do - i.e. text deconstruction strategies. I haven't, however, seen this done involving technologies, but I would argue that introducing critical literacy to younger students using the web is an easier task than using offline texts. The reason I suggest this is because students who have grown up being read to, will often take offline texts (including picture books, novels, films, audiobooks) as being definitive representations of what they are being told. Unless the parents are teaching their children to be critical before they enter school, they won't be looking at texts with a critical eye - and this is OK, I don't think students should have to be aware of critical literacy before entering school as in the pre-school stage an enjoyment of reading should be fostered.

The reason I say using the web to introduce critical literacy to younger students is because it is the web that offers so many more examples of falsified information because little on the web is verified. There is a perception that information that is published in books is more verified than what's on the web and that is true to a certain extent, but especially when dealing with fictional texts there are values and attitudes of the author that the reader needs to take into account. I imagine teaching critical literacy in secondary school would be easier to do using print texts, because the students should have a great enough baseline of knowledge and their own critical literacy skills have been developed during primary school.

To relate this back to early childhood teaching (which seems to have inadvertenly become a theme for me!), I think we still need to demonstrate the purpose of reading for enjoyment and interest, which is why I would suggest making the students (even young ones) aware that they are being critical. For instance, students could have a designated reading time where they can pick a book for enjoyment and just read it without the need for critique or analysis and then a specific critical literacy session (or "Smart Readers" session) could bring in online texts to develop these necessary critical literacy skills, e.g. the students might have read a picturebook on space, or they are interested in space, so the teacher finds an online article on alien life on other planets. This could be a text deconstruction activity, involving critical literacy skills and linked to a writing activity (which could be creative or factual). This kind of approach would work for me, with the eventual aim of having students subconsciously assessing texts as they read, with new skills continually being added to the critical literacy sessions.

Meet Tinker

My first go at a Voki character:



Unfortunately, it seems the Voki scene can only be 11 seconds long when inputting text, as opposed to 60 seconds when using a voice recording. I shall experiment with voice recordings over the next week.

Web 2.0 in the Early Childhood Classroom

Something that concerned me when we were talking about blogs and wikis was that even though they could be used in early childhood classrooms, the written aspects of class blogs and wikis were decidedly teacher-driven. This concerned me because I felt these activities would not necessarily help younger students (ages 5-8) develop their digital literacy if the teacher was the only person openly submitting data to these websites. The plethora of visual-based resources introduced in this week's lecture has given me new hope for integrating web 2.0 technologies into the early childhood years - these audiovisual mediums could be used to engage students in literacy immediately and emphasise the fun side to learning. It also introduces students to digital literacy and critical literacy from a young age, whilst not overburdening the students with written text. I was struggling with the blog I have created for my four-week science program because I think I have pitched the written text side of things at too high a level; however after today's lecture I have some new ideas for keeping the students engaged and will help me to reach literacy, science, SOSE and ICT outcomes.

ESI: Electrical Science Investigators

This is the blog I am experimenting with for my four science lessons. The plan is to update the blog with content and student responses each week, with parents free to comment if they wish.

http://esi-electricalscienceinvestigators.blogspot.com/

(I'm having trouble posting links - they're not showing up when I use the link function!?)

The Sociology of Twitter

With news that Twitter's entire backlog of tweets will be headed for the Library of Congress, will this open broader channels for sociology-based research using the micro-blog medium? I'd definitely be interested in a study on celebrities who have foregone their agents wishes and posted incriminating tweets and how this effects their careers. Really, I think this opens up possibilities of assessing Twitter for usefulness - what are people actually Tweeting about and what relevance that holds for the individual, the local community and the global community. There's a lesson in their for students on their contextual use of the internet - what is the bigger picture and what is it really all about. The transparency of posting online content should open our eyes to something more - it makes us community members on a global scale.

Fantastic video...

Of little relevance, but watch it anyway.

(Thanks to Lee Unkrich, director of Toy Story 3, for pointing it out to me)

Pixels:


PIXELS by PATRICK JEAN.
Uploaded by onemoreprod. - Watch original web videos.