Friday, 25 November 2011
Critical Encounters Chapter 9
I thought this was a great chapter to finish off the course with- given its emphasis on Reading the World. As an avid, lifelong reader, I now have a completely re-vamped outlook on this activity that I cherish. I never considered how the reading material that I chose often required or demanded a critical lens, something done automatically without any thought to the process. I now can define just what these critical encounters with literature are, why they're so important and of course have a much firmer grasp of how to engage students in the wonderful, thought-provoking and sometimes life-changing world of reading. As teachers of ELA we certainly have a significant opportunity to broaden our students understanding of the world, by embracing multiple perspectives and encouraging literacy and lifelong learning.
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I agree that we have the power to broaden our students understanding of the world and that we need to encourage lifelong learners. Schools in the past have been so focused on trying to help students get jobs that I think the idea of helping them find out who they are and define themselves within the world has been forgotten when really this is much more important than being able to help students get a job if they find themselves then they can worry about what they want to do to get a job.
ReplyDeleteCheyne Dallyn
As much as I think it is important to introduce to students to critical lenses, I'm sometimes conflicted on how we are going to accomplish such a task within the classroom. I suppose it depends on the batch of students that we have. I know that at the high school I am at that the focus seems primarily on getting the reading done and answering a series of questions to test reading comprehension (so and so did this, for example).
ReplyDeleteIt also depends on the maturity level of our students.