What Does Critical Literacy Mean to Me Now?

Before beginning this course I thought that I had a little background on what critical literacy was but I wasn't too sure on how to implement it in my classroom.  After taking this class, I have a much better understand of what critical literacy is and how I can use it in my classroom. Several of the activities that Vivian introduced to us have been very useful, and successful, in my fifth grade classroom.  I was also introduced to many pieces of children's literature that I was unfamiliar with.  This especially helped in sharing more diverse texts with my class.

Critical literacy is about digging deep into a piece of literature and discovering any meanings that may not stick out to the naked eye.  Critical literacy explores sociopolitical issues and by using it in a classroom allows for a deeper understanding of both the text, and the issues presented within the text.  Prior to learning about critical literacy I tended to shy away from exploring racial, gender, and other sociopolitical issues in my classroom.  I didn't know how to approach them and how to make it meaningful to my students.  Using critical literacy in my classroom allows for me to do this with my students.  Touchy subjects don't seem that touchy anymore since they are evident in everyday children's literature that the kids pick up from the school library.  Just by having the students take a critical look at different literature opens up a much different classroom discussion that would not be present if those issues were not examined.  

I have enjoyed learning about critical literacy in this course and look forward to learning more about critical literacy and how I can implement it in my classroom in future courses.  

Media Research

I never noticed how some commercials linked to fairy tales until this class.  I suppose I was not paying close attention. These are the commercials that I found.

1) Capital One  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFn4cxy05HA

A princess starts out by kissing a frog to turn him into a prince. As she continues kissing him he turns into different animals.  While this is going on the animals speak discussing cash rewards.  It is a unique way to present the information while capturing the audience.  Also, the music in the background is light and cheery.  

2) Hansel Sandwiches 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axtiOVgq5UE

This is a company based out of the Philippines.  They have an entire series of commercials focused on fairy tales.  The link above goes to the Rapunzel commercial.  You can also see ones that go with Sleeping Beauty and Snow White.  Basically, the commercials has the prince trying to rescue Rapunzel, but he keeps running into problems.  Once he eats a Hansel Sandwich (based off of Hansel and Gretel I'm guessing) he has the energy to rescue her.  

3) Guess Model Search

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foYc5Vpa5LM

This commercial goes off the traditional Cinderella story.  However, in this version Cindy wants to be a model but is stuck cleaning for her evil stepmother.   It starts off by saying "Once upon a time" and at the end the "princes" watch strikes midnight and he rescues her.