Multiliteracies and Grade One Readers
Interweaving proven practices in the classroom.
Critical Framing and the Struggling Reader
In the video below, Dr. Allan Luke describes his vision of critical literacy in the early years classroom. I find his perspective clearly explains how we, as educators, need to fully engage all students, regardless of their literacy level, in critical thinking. Connecting with his perspective and believing that all students can engage in critical literacy, Mraz and Wood (2008) also believe that all students can engage in higher order thinking skills. When children are learning to read, teachers need to expose children to more than simple decoding and literal comprehension which is why critical framing is an essential component in the Multiliteracies classroom (Mraz & Wood, p. 14, 2008).
The Critical Framing component of Multiliteracies calls for students to step back from the text or image and consider its message. It requires students to think critically about the message, who the intended audience is, what the intended outcome is, who benefits from the message, and whose voice is not represented (Lapp et al., 2012). I created an infographic to help guide me in these questions when reading and discussing literacy with the class.
A favourite part of the school day, for both myself and students, is our read aloud time. During these fifteen to twenty minutes, I read rich literature which allows me to model decoding and comprehension strategies as well as engage the students in critical framing. Click on the button below to view a short Prezi on critical framing during Read Aloud in grade one.
Every Monday morning in grade one students
share their weekend activities orally, in writing,
and through pictures. One Monday morning I
shared some images my brother had sent me
from Toronto. The images engaged all students
to think critically about the effects of littering
(Student Achievement Division, 2013). Here is the
Prezi I created for the class. It includes the images
as well as student responses. You will notice that
I transformed the Prezi to include an additional
video that was requested by a student.
The class discussion of these images resulted in one student (who happens to be a struggling reader) suggesting that everyone could create a poster encouraging people not to litter. As the classroom teacher, I value this student's suggestion because “students must be free to engage in new and multimodal textual practices rather than simply reproduce a tightly confined set of linguistic conventions” (Mills, 2009, p. 108). The students had the choice to work independently or in a small group to brainstorm possible solutions to littering (Student Achievement Division, 2013). They then created posters to encourage students not to litter in our school yard or in our community.
Critically Framing with a Squirrel
Improving Classroom
Critical Framing
As I implement Multiliteracies practices in the grade one classroom, I realize I need resources in place (e.g., engaging Guided Reading text, Read Aloud books that present a variety of global perspectives) to create a Multiliterate student.
Since Critical Framing is a new component to my pedagogy practices, I decided to create an infographic to help guide the students with effective questioning.
The Critical Literacy infographic is posted in my classroom so I can use this resource across curriculum areas to encourage students to think beyond the text. Struggling readers, like all readers, require exposure and practice with critical framing. Having this resource facilitates the need to critically engage students.
Works Cited for the Critical Literacy Infographic
Government of Ontario. (2009). Critical literacy (#9). Retrieved from http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/inspire/research/Critical_Literacy.pdf
Kalantzis, M., & Cope, B. (2008). Language education and multiliteracies. Encyclopedia of Language and Education, 1, 195-211.
Lapp, D., Moss, B., & Rowsell, J. (2012). Envisioning new literacies through a lens of teaching and learning. The Reading Teacher, 65, 367-377.