Critical Literacy: Reading Vann’s Sneakers, MTV, or Georgia O’Keefe

Peggy Corbett
Jun 30, 2008

Traditionally, literacy has been associated with what we read in books and text as a body of printed words. Despite this strict interpretation, teachers have always understood that actions, experiences, and subtleties of innuendo may either obscure meaning or enhance it. If this were not true, we would not need a full-time Supreme Court to constantly interpret the same U. S. Constitution! If we broaden the definition of text, as it surely has been, with the advent of modern technology the condition is the same.  The same principle is applied to "non-word" text such as emblems, art, music or popular icons. Flags, for example, may appear visually identical to any viewer, yet they are interpreted in many contradictory terms by the same viewers.

Every day our students are bombarded with media images that have become the language and literacy of their generation and still the canon is taught as if it were the only authentic literacy. (Smelling salts for English teachers, please.) Ignoring the "new language" places students at risk of being unable to acquire critical discernment.
 
Teachers know that reading is more than decoding, fluency, or moving through the eight tested reading skills. At least equally important is the ability to construct meaning from text - and realistically that text may be a historical marker, a piece of music, a statue, or even an entry structure in a new subdivision. If we throw in the bewildering world of internet "misinformation," the urgency for teaching new forms of literacy is even clearer. In advertising and other persuasive media, the ability to discern the implicit message is more important than the explicit.
   
In planning any content lessons, including English, it is important to provide opportunities to read and interpret a variety of texts throughout the learning stages. Certainly the most interesting opportunities for students and teachers lie in the Extending Thinking stage. As you plan acquisition and extending thinking lessons evaluate whether you are providing students with these opportunities. Students might be surprised at just how much "reading" they are actually doing each day.