Critical Literacy in the Classroom

After reading Ira Shor's "What is Critical Literacy", I began to look into how to incorporate critical literacy in the classroom when reading a novel. Often times, students will read a book by reading the words on the page and not really unpacking those words. Critical literacy encourages students to read in between the lines, to question the text and the meanings behind what is written, to make connections to their lives and world around them. When searching online I found a list of Books that Foster Critical Literacy.

In order to reach students, teachers can scaffold critical thinking skills by reading and thinking aloud, developing literature circles and asking critical comprehension questions, rather than a multiple choice test based on the text. While researching online, I also found a great resource for teachers to use in a lesson with students Encouraging Critical Literacy.