Critical Literacy Praxis
This course is the fourth in a series of 11 courses in the in the sequence of courses. This course focuses on opportunities for instruction in the use of digital texts and tools. Course specifics are available below. Truth be told, this is one of my favorite courses because it tries to create a version of teaching & learning using online tools that Freire would have been proud of.
Course Description
Beginning with the critical approach that views illiteracy as a consequence of unequal social environments that limit access to economic and educational opportunities, this course investigates how learning to read and write – with all kinds of technologies and tools – is part of the process of becoming conscious as historically constructed within specific power relations. Students will reexamine what they know about literacy in their own instructional practices and institutional contexts; they will identify ways in which they can use required instructional materials as well as challenge standard school literacy practices. They will also investigate how current technologies reify and challenge particular notions of literacy and power.
Core Objectives
- Students will investigate the evolving nature of subject-matter knowledge in relation to literacy practices in and out of school.
- Students will discuss new ideas and understandings within one’s discipline, including the impact of technology and information sources on the nature of teaching, communications, and development of knowledge.
- Students will construct meanings of literacy and power through the use of active learning strategies such as purposeful discourse and/or inquiry-based learning.
Essential Questions
- What do educators need to consider during their planning in order to prepare students for the 21st century?
- What practical steps can be taken to create an environment that effectively prepares students for the future?
- What obstacles might stand in the way of change? What strategies are most useful in dealing with such obstacles?
The full version of the syllabus is embedded below. This version of the syllabus is an artifact and does not contain all of the edits and revisions to the syllabus we use each semester for the class.
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