Critical literacy is a response to injustice and the production of illiteracy in which students and teachers work together to...

• Improve Math Literacy - "I know how strange it can sound to say that math literacy - and algebra in particular - is the key to the future of disenfranchised communities, but that"s what I think, and believe with all of my heart." (Moses, 2001, pg. 5)
• Provide Skills Necessary for New Jobs - "Sixty percent of new jobs will require skills possessed by only 22 percent of the young people entering the job market now." (Moses, 2001, pg. 8)
• Improve Technology Literacy - "70 percent of all jobs require technology literacy; by the year 2010 all jobs will require significant technological skills." (Moses, 2001, pg. 9)
• Increase Opportunities for Blacks - "Blacks make up perhaps 15 percent of this country's population, yet in 1995 they earned 1.8 percent of Ph.D.s in computer science, 2.1 percent of those in engineering, 1.5 percent in the physical sciences, and 0.6 percent in mathematics." (Moses, 2001, pg. 11)
• Decrease Poverty and Prison Rates  - "They cite a relationship between literacy and prison as well as poverty and prison." (Moses, 2001, pg. 12)
• Decrease "Teacher as Narrator" Teaching  - "Narration (wit the teacher as narrator) leads the students to memorize mechanically the narrated content... Education thus becomes an act of depositing, in which the students are the depositories and the teacher is the depositor." (Freire, 1997, pg. 53)
• Abolish the Banking Approach to Teaching  - "Those who use the banking approach, knowingly or unknowingly (for there are innumerable well-intentioned bank-clerk teachers who do not realize that they are serving only to dehumanize), fail to perceive that the deposits themselves contain contradictions about reality. " (Freire, 1997, pg. 56)
• Learn from Each Other - "Every child knew they had something important to contribute to this unit right from the start." (Gatto, 2007, pg. 79)
• Place an Emphasis on Talk - "We have neglected talk in school. "We seldom address it directly; we seldom teach it explicitly; and we almost never assess it. We do expect it and we do depend on it, but we don't teach it." (Probst, 2001, pg. 45)
• Increase Conversation  - "Real conversation requires that participants have ideas, that they articulate those ideas and that they bring them to the group, decide how to address them, and then engage with one another." (Probst, 2001, pg. 49)
• Use Conversation to Build Better Ideas - "We need to teach our students to use conversation to build better ideas collaboratively than any of us will come to on our own." (Probst, 2001, pg. 59)

All of these ideas were found throughout the readings for weeks 8 and 9.



There were a couple of things that really drew me in throughout these past readings. The first of which I would like to discuss is the impact of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) on our education system. Freire, on page 53 explains how students are expected to simply memorize everything the teacher is saying. "Education becomes an act of depositing, in which the students are the depositories and the teacher is the depositor." In my opinion, this expectancy for the students to memorize everything is due in large part to the emphasis schools place on high-stakes assessments. Teachers preach to student, expect them to take everything in but in doing so the students learn nothing. All these children are doing is learning to memorize - they have no understanding as to why or how something is the way it is. This is a topic we have discussed throughout the class, and we see through this article, "Pedagogy of the Oppressed", another way that No Child Left Behind impacts our schooling, possibly for the worse.

To further our discussion of NCLB, we turn to "Success Guaranteed Literacy Programs" by Lynn Astarita Gatto. She writes "The recent legislation for No Child Left Behind has impacted every classroom across America" (Gatto, 2007, pg. 74). Gatto explains that her district was being expected to participate in these programs that 'proved' to be successful in aiding students to perform better on state testing. Gatto was completely against these programs. "Teachers are being held accountable through their statewide high stakes testing at every grade level. Most districts are adopting curriculum and textbook programs designed to prepare students for these tests" (Gatto, 2007, pg. 74). These programs may be successful, but what about all of the other ways of teaching in which teachers and children are now being deprived of? This method allows students to read textbook after textbook with no variation - does that really help students?!

Another thing that really enticed me was the idea presented by Herbert Kohl of "Topsy-Turvies". Throughout our reading the past few weeks, we have shown an emphasis of the need for communication. In this discussion, we have encountered "Topsy-Turvies". The idea of "Topsy-Turvies" is that teachers need to take a step back and try to come to terms with how the STUDENTS are viewing their statements. "How you think you're speaking and how students interpret what you're saying are not necessarily the same" (Kohl, 2002, pg. 150). For a teacher to be successful, they need to understand that sometimes the students aren't exactly following what the educators are saying. In order to be able to do so, educators must be able to take a step back and look at the signs as to whether or not the students are comprehending. When a teacher sees everyone remaining silent or not volunteering, this is a warning sign that they aren't comprehending. In this case, the teacher must take a step back and evaluate their teaching methods and turn them 180 so the students can understand.

The idea of "Topsy-Turvies" was great for me. It reminds educators to take a step back and analyze their teaching, and then gives them a way to fix it so students can benefit! This is a great tool that can be used by a variety of teachers.

This video shows a program "Investigations" in which discussion is emphasized in the classroom. Take a look at this Video, as it truly shows the positive outcomes of discussion in the classroom.