Developing students' critical literacy competencies is vital to our democratic society, in which the abundance of fake news about national issues is a growing concern. Adding to these worries are findings from a recent study suggesting that digital natives are "easily duped," and their ability to evaluate information gleaned from the Internet or social media is "bleak" (Wineburg, McGrew, Breakstone, & Ortega, 2016). Educators can empower youth, even at a young age, by helping them cultivate the dispositions to look at text and other forms of information through a critical literacy lens.
As a teacher-librarian in an elementary school, I view the fostering of critical literacy competencies in my young learners as a central part of my work. My instruction has shifted in the past 20 years from simply teaching students how to find information to focusing more on how to evaluate information for overall meaning, relevancy, and credibility. In my role, I utilize teaching strategies rooted in critical pedagogy to help elementary students think about their relationship with authors of texts. Two strategies I use, one embedded and one explicit, help lay the foundation for developing critical literacy competencies.
Questioning the Author
The following questions serve as a framework to guide my students' thinking about texts:
- Who is the author?
- What message is being conveyed in the text?
- What feelings does the author want me to feel? What, if anything, does the author want me to do?
Using these questions as a framework embedded in our study of a text, students can develop a critical literacy lens that they can apply to a variety of text types, from picture books to Internet sources to social media posts. This strategy is different from using questioning techniques to promote comprehension because my overall goal is to get students to think about their relationship with the author and to question the author.
I also use author studies to help students develop a natural curiosity about the sources of texts. For example, I use many books by Patricia Polacco. Through her autobiography, website, Facebook page, and various picture books, my students come to know her. They begin to understand the motivation behind the theme of many of her books—the importance of family and familial traditions. Investigating who the author is and how she tries to shape the reader's experience sparks student curiosity about the source of and motivation behind a text.
Ad Literacy with Admongo.gov
Another strategy I employ is explicit instruction in advertising literacy. I begin this unit with the children's book Those Shoes (Boelts, 2009), which lends itself to a discussion of needs, wants, and values. I then use lessons from the website Admongo.gov (a project by the Federal Trade Commission) to support my students' awareness of advertising techniques. I assist them in analyzing advertising in various formats and deciphering the messages conveyed (both overt and hidden). Finally, I help my students identify the response that the advertisement is trying to elicit. There are many examples of advertisements in a variety of formats on the site, but I find that the best ones are the authentic ones that my students encounter naturally, such as those in the magazines in the school's library and on websites we visit. More recently, I have incorporated the "sneakier" advertisements that pose as news stories on my Facebook feed.
As homework, I ask my students to collect data on the number and types of advertisements shown during a half-hour television program of their choosing. After some quick data analysis as a class, students start to make connections between the type of television show and the advertisements shown. These activities have led to rich discussion about gender roles, as students' data show that advertisements for diapers and makeup tend to be aired during cooking shows, whereas advertisements for cars and deodorant often air during sporting events. The sophisticated level of analysis that many of my young learners engage in is surprising!
Explicit instruction in media literacy and embedded critical literacy strategies through questioning can help promote active engagement with texts in a variety of formats and foster a healthy questioning disposition in students. Developing critical literacy competencies, even at a young age, is crucial to the future of our democratic society.