Marg Wells conducts a critical literacy project that encourages students to look at what matters to them and what concerns them and then she leads her students into the exploration of local civic action based on those concerns. It is essential to keep in mind student interests in order for them to be truly engaged in their learning. This lesson may be adapted to fit a high school classroom by giving students more autonomy when it comes to what local issue they want to focus on.
I see this subject as a perfect opportunity for students to develop argumentative essay skills. The teacher can start by asking students to bring in an artifact or a picture that represents a social issue in their community. Students will share their artifacts and start to develop a claim. Students will get together and help each other come up with counterclaims on the same issue. Students will develop an argumentative essay supporting their claim with evidence in order to advocate for social change in their communities.
Marg Well did not stop at addressing an issue, she also included real community members and workers in her lesson. In a high school classroom, the teacher will give students an opportunity to share their work with the class to promote the sharing of ideas. The teacher will also encourage students to reach out to community workers and voice their concerns and get involved.
Hi Sarah! I absolutely love the idea of making the project for High School students into an argumentative essay because it allows them to actually connect with the community issues and be more engaged in the assignment. Furthermore, having the students pick the issue themselves just adds to their engagement.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to build upon your assignment idea and add that this project also has the potential to include a debate of some kind to allow the students to use their speaking literacy too. Also, what do you think about having the students translate their social issues about the community essay into an infographic or digital image to incorporate multimodality into the project!?! It allows them to practice their Critical Media Literacy too by examining each other’s posters. This idea comes from Rodesiler’s reading "Empowering Students Through Critical Media Literacy: This Means War" as he discusses making opportunities for students to engage in multimodality assignments and practice being critical consumers of the projects too. What do you think about these possible additions to your argumentative writing project?
I love your idea of incorporating a debate into the project: it allows students to explore other points of view and respond to them which will, in turn, give students the opportunity to strengthen their arguments.
ReplyDeleteI also like the idea you found from "Empowering Students Through Critical Media Literacy: This Means War." The posters will help students to not only look at their peers' work through a critical lens, but they may also be encouraged to improve their own work.