Thoughts on "Challenging the Text"

One of the first things that struck me about this chapter was how critical literacy is completely tied to inquiry. This could be a great interdisciplinary link for our students, since inquiry is such a hot topic in science. I can see how infusing critical literacy into our English and reading classes may reach some of the students who haven't really latched on to reading, but like subjects more often linked with discovery.

The problem-posing questions on pages 64 and 65 will be a huge help as I start weaving critical literacy into my teaching. With my particular group of students, I think using a familiar text and starting with one or two questions will help them begin to make sense of what it means to challenge a text. Questions one and four would be most familiar for my students. Then, of course, questions two and three logically follow question one if I really want students to think critically. I'll likely tie these questions back to point of view. We all see the world through our own eyes and experiences. Authors do too. Helping students make that connection may empower them to challenge the text.

There were two activities in particular from this chapter that I'd like to incorporate into my classes. The first is on page 74, where Perez had her students make "posters of things that the Rainbow Fish could have said to the other fish when they asked him to share his scales" and then asked them to dramatize "an alternative to Rainbow Fish's encounter with other fish." The reason I latched onto this activity is because it's great for language learners. It not only incorporates reading, writing, and speaking; it also lends itself well to having students practice specific language structures (the conditional and responding to various types of questions). The other activity I really liked was the mind portrait Homeyer used with Number the Stars.