Why Read the word and the World?
Building critical literacy requires the analysis of social structures through “reading the word and the world” (Freire & Macedo, 1987). Unlike the other two frameworks in this curriculum, “Reading the Word and the World: Educating for Social Change” is not a collection of classroom methods or processes; instead it encompasses many of the lenses, theories, concepts, and resources that map onto other parts of the curriculum as both content itself and as ways of approaching content. The lenses, theories, concepts, and resources that appear here are provided to help you guide your students as they generate historical and social analysis of the conditions shaping their particular lives.
The resources provided in this section are not exhaustive; they stem from the concerns and life-worlds of the students we work with in public schools in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and because those contexts are ever-shifting, so are the lenses that we need to effectively read the world around us. We encourage teachers to likewise be culturally responsive to their students: culturally responsive pedagogy (CRP) asks teachers to tap into student culture and experiences as a vehicle for learning and recognizes that all students can achieve academically regardless of social inequalities (Ladson-Billings, 1995; 2014). CRP is widely acknowledged as a universal marker of teacher effectiveness as a practice of engaging the world and oneself in critical ways (NCTE, 2010; AERA, 2012; NEA, 2014). As Fugiyoshi et. al. write:
Content should start with the real lives of students and communities. Projects should be built around students being able to address these problems through a process centered in hope. Skills should be aligned in ways that students can apply them to investigate and resolve these challenges. Assessments should be built so students are evaluated around taking on real world learning and action. (p.1, n.d.)
The lenses, theories, and resources presented in this section have the explicit aim of helping students to make sense of the world around them; they provide a critical vocabulary that is connected to established scholarship and social movements in which people across the globe are struggling to name their experiences. In order for students to engage in this kind of learning, both students and teachers need to deeply understand the historical and social contexts in which they will be conducting research and action. A deeper understanding of power allows students and teachers to recognize patterns of oppression and resistance rooted in historical movements. Teachers teach students who stand at varying intersections of class, race, gender, ability, nationality, sexual orientation, and religion. Meanwhile, teachers have their own intersectional identities. Fujiyoshi et. al. ask teachers to understand that “teaching is not a neutral undertaking. We teach for some things and against others (whether we acknowledge it or not)” (p.1 n.d.). Our students reside within specific systems, policies, economies, ideologies which are also not neutral. Therefore, teachers “must decide to either uphold systems of injustice and unfairness, or support our students in the critical work of justice. Neutrality does not exist” (Fujiyoshi et. al., p.1 n.d.). We understand it as the responsibility of culturally responsive teachers to form an analysis of the conditions that shape their students’ lives. As the National Board reminds us about our responsibility as community and culturally engaged educators:
Teachers cannot alleviate all the social problems they encounter, but they can be sensitive to those issues and caring toward students as they fulfill
their professional responsibilities as educators. Teachers confront the human condition daily in all its splendor and misery; what they choose to share,
how they respond, and how they prepare students in the face of it all are the factors that distinguish teachers who are truly accomplished. (National Board, p. 39, 2016)
The resources provided in this section are not exhaustive; they stem from the concerns and life-worlds of the students we work with in public schools in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and because those contexts are ever-shifting, so are the lenses that we need to effectively read the world around us. We encourage teachers to likewise be culturally responsive to their students: culturally responsive pedagogy (CRP) asks teachers to tap into student culture and experiences as a vehicle for learning and recognizes that all students can achieve academically regardless of social inequalities (Ladson-Billings, 1995; 2014). CRP is widely acknowledged as a universal marker of teacher effectiveness as a practice of engaging the world and oneself in critical ways (NCTE, 2010; AERA, 2012; NEA, 2014). As Fugiyoshi et. al. write:
Content should start with the real lives of students and communities. Projects should be built around students being able to address these problems through a process centered in hope. Skills should be aligned in ways that students can apply them to investigate and resolve these challenges. Assessments should be built so students are evaluated around taking on real world learning and action. (p.1, n.d.)
The lenses, theories, and resources presented in this section have the explicit aim of helping students to make sense of the world around them; they provide a critical vocabulary that is connected to established scholarship and social movements in which people across the globe are struggling to name their experiences. In order for students to engage in this kind of learning, both students and teachers need to deeply understand the historical and social contexts in which they will be conducting research and action. A deeper understanding of power allows students and teachers to recognize patterns of oppression and resistance rooted in historical movements. Teachers teach students who stand at varying intersections of class, race, gender, ability, nationality, sexual orientation, and religion. Meanwhile, teachers have their own intersectional identities. Fujiyoshi et. al. ask teachers to understand that “teaching is not a neutral undertaking. We teach for some things and against others (whether we acknowledge it or not)” (p.1 n.d.). Our students reside within specific systems, policies, economies, ideologies which are also not neutral. Therefore, teachers “must decide to either uphold systems of injustice and unfairness, or support our students in the critical work of justice. Neutrality does not exist” (Fujiyoshi et. al., p.1 n.d.). We understand it as the responsibility of culturally responsive teachers to form an analysis of the conditions that shape their students’ lives. As the National Board reminds us about our responsibility as community and culturally engaged educators:
Teachers cannot alleviate all the social problems they encounter, but they can be sensitive to those issues and caring toward students as they fulfill
their professional responsibilities as educators. Teachers confront the human condition daily in all its splendor and misery; what they choose to share,
how they respond, and how they prepare students in the face of it all are the factors that distinguish teachers who are truly accomplished. (National Board, p. 39, 2016)
Considerations for Teachers
As we facilitate a process for students to read the world around them, we are asked as teachers to go outside of our areas of expertise to find resources and research that our students are passionate about engaging with. In this process, teachers must come to terms with being students with their students and students of their students. We must recognize that while we may not be experts in racial justice, gender theory, or education history, we must be willing to learn alongside our students and to model what research and self-educating look like. The decentering of expertise for teachers, a key element of the entire Amplified Classrooms curriculum, may be an uncomfortable experience for teachers as they have to let go of some control. Some teachers may see themselves as showing weakness for not performing the “sage on the stage.” Inviting members of the community into the classroom to conduct workshops or serve as mentors can likewise feel like a loss of control. Yet, for those teachers willing to engage in a learning process with their students and to seek out community connections to support this development, both students and teachers can become aware of their own gaps in knowledge and biases and grow together.
Additionally, this process requires teachers to model vulnerability and reflection (see Adaptable Methods: Teacher Reflections), two abilities which possess great power. Vulnerability requires a vast amount of courage and promotes authenticity and accountability (Brown, 2015), and normalizing vulnerability gives students permission not to “put up a front” or pretend they do not care when facing unfamiliar and challenging material they do not understand. Seeing vulnerability modeled teaches students that one does not have to know all the answers and that knowing how to search for answers is what matters. Additionally, studies show that reflection is considered a critical skill for learning for both students and teachers (Beauchamp, 2015; Liu, 2015; Rodgers, 2002; Taylor, 2017). Teachers and students will need vulnerability and reflection to face the often uncomfortable experience of learning about injustices and imagine the possibility of change together (Cooper, Torres, Weinstein, & West).
Additionally, this process requires teachers to model vulnerability and reflection (see Adaptable Methods: Teacher Reflections), two abilities which possess great power. Vulnerability requires a vast amount of courage and promotes authenticity and accountability (Brown, 2015), and normalizing vulnerability gives students permission not to “put up a front” or pretend they do not care when facing unfamiliar and challenging material they do not understand. Seeing vulnerability modeled teaches students that one does not have to know all the answers and that knowing how to search for answers is what matters. Additionally, studies show that reflection is considered a critical skill for learning for both students and teachers (Beauchamp, 2015; Liu, 2015; Rodgers, 2002; Taylor, 2017). Teachers and students will need vulnerability and reflection to face the often uncomfortable experience of learning about injustices and imagine the possibility of change together (Cooper, Torres, Weinstein, & West).
Guideposts and Applications
We offer two major guideposts for “Reading the Word, Reading the World.” While the application of these guideposts can run wide and deep throughout a curriculum, their most specific applications in Humanities Amped classrooms are through the Critical Participatory Action Research (CPAR) process. The following table demonstrates where we see the most opportunities for application. Click on each guidepost icon below to explore.
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