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Bill Brydon

Reflective teaching, critical literacy and the teacher's tasks in the critical literacy... - 0 views

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    The purpose of this literary investigation is twofold: first, to make explicit the connections between reflective teaching and critical literacy, and second, to infer from the findings key tasks for teachers in the critical literacy classroom. Specifically, the investigation shows that the following features of reflective teaching connect with and form the core of critical literacy, and are vital to the teaching of critical literacy: giving careful consideration or thought in order to create meaning and pass judgement; questioning personal assumptions, values and beliefs; taking initiatives and using intuition; taking part in development and change; and the use of journal writing. Examples of teachers' tasks in the critical literacy classroom include: building time into lesson plans and implementation for students to give careful consideration and thought to and to pass judgement on the text being studied; guiding students' evaluations and criticisms in a judicious manner; encouraging students to look critically at literature and question what they are reading; emphasizing the readings of texts from a variety of perspectives; allowing students to use journals to write entries that juxtapose multiple viewpoints; and facilitating discussions generally that are based on students' journal entries.
Bill Brydon

The media and the literacies: media literacy, information literacy, digital literacy - 0 views

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    With the advent of digital technologies, awareness of media is acquiring crucial importance. Media literacy, information literacy and digital literacy are the three most prevailing concepts that focus on a critical approach towards media messages.This article gives an overview of the nature of these literacies, which show both similarities to and differences from each other. The various contexts of their functioning are outlined and additional literacies are mentioned. Especial attention is given to the question of the blurring line between media consumers and producers.
Bill Brydon

Critical thinking in a first year management unit: the relationship between disciplinar... - 0 views

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    While there appears to be broad acceptance that university graduates must have the capacity to think critically in an increasingly complex, information-rich world, there remains a gap between aspiration and teaching practice in many faculties. We examine this issue through our experience of designing assessment to develop critical thinking in a first year management unit. This case highlighted three important pedagogical considerations. First, there is the need to articulate a conceptualisation of critical thinking that is both discipline- and unit-specific. Second, there is a need to consider the crucial link between critical thinking and academic literacy. Third, there is a need to consider the relationship between the capacity for critical thinking, student learning progression and the development of disciplinary knowledge. These factors will all assist higher education teachers in meeting the challenge of designing developmentally appropriate assessment of critical thinking at each year level.
Bill Brydon

English teachers' racial literacy knowledge and practice - Race Ethnicity and Education - 0 views

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    This article examines how secondary English teachers in two racially diverse schools - one in Massachusetts, USA, the other in Ontario, Canada - described their knowledge of and practices for teaching about race and racism. The extent and quality of teachers' racial literacy knowledge and practice were considered in light of the literature on racial literacy, racial literacy instruction, and anti-racist education. Three approaches to racial literacy instruction were identified: apprehensive and authorized; incidental and ill-informed; and sustained and strategic. The paper explores the strengths and weaknesses of teachers' knowledge and skills in order to suggest content and structures for professional development in support of racial literacy instruction.
Bill Brydon

English teachers' racial literacy knowledge and practice - Race Ethnicity and Education - 0 views

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    This article examines how secondary English teachers in two racially diverse schools - one in Massachusetts, USA, the other in Ontario, Canada - described their knowledge of and practices for teaching about race and racism. The extent and quality of teachers' racial literacy knowledge and practice were considered in light of the literature on racial literacy, racial literacy instruction, and anti-racist education. Three approaches to racial literacy instruction were identified: apprehensive and authorized; incidental and ill-informed; and sustained and strategic. The paper explores the strengths and weaknesses of teachers' knowledge and skills in order to suggest content and structures for professional development in support of racial literacy instruction.
Bill Brydon

Girl game designers | Carolyn Cunningham NMS - 0 views

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    "Educational programs designed to bridge the digital divide for girls often aim to increase girls' technological literacy. However, little research has examined what aspects of technological literacy are highlighted in these programs. In this article, I provide a case study of a video game design workshop hosted by a girls' advocacy organization. Through observations, interviews, and analysis of program materials, I look at how the organization conceptualizes technological literacy as contributing to gender equality. I compare this conceptualization to how technological literacy was taught in the classroom. Finally, I draw on situated learning theory to help explain how girls responded to the class. In the end, both the organization's limited notion of how technological literacy could increase gender equality as well as gender and race differences between the teachers and the girls influenced girls' participation in the workshop."
Bill Brydon

Classroom contradictions: Popular media in Ontario schools' literacy and citizenship ed... - 0 views

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    "In 2003, the Ontario Ministry of Education in Canada began promoting popular media as a pedagogical tool, especially for 'reluctant' readers. This 'pedagogy of the popular' is instituted within a critical media literacy framework that draws on the values and codes of multiculturalism to counter the consumerist messages students encounter in nontraditional texts. The model of civic citizenship promoted by the critical media literacy curriculum, however, fails in its ambitions to provide a counterweight to the neo-liberal model of consumer citizenship. Insofar as its critique is grounded in a multicultural politics of representation, Ontario's media literacy curriculum fails to deeply interrogate the social roots of conflict and discrimination. As a result, it only weakly challenges, and is unlikely to displace, the post-Keynesian-era model of citizenship education in which the values of universality and inclusiveness are subsumed to an ethos that naturalizes the practices and moral codes of the marketplace."
Bill Brydon

"Globalization, Pedagogical Imagination, and Transnational Literacy" by Ezra Yoo-Hyeok Lee - 0 views

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    "In his article, "Globalization, Pedagogical Imagination, and Transnational Literacy," Ezra Yoo-Hyeok Lee explores the juncture of comparative literature, globalization and postcolonial studies as to how creative writers, literary critics, and cultural theorists respond to globalization and its challenges. Arjun Appadurai expounds that globalization has demanded new research conceptualization and invention in academia. Subsequently, Lee investigates methods through which educators and scholars in comparative literature take up such a demand. In turn, Lee proposes a transnational literacy which offers a responsible form of cultural explanation, through which to explore the interrelations between the national and the postcolonial or global paradigms, both emergent as frames of current cultural change. Lee also offers a close reading of critical works by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Diana Brydon, and David Damrosch to elaborate on the concept of transnational literacy and to consider ways of circumnavigating around Eurocentrism in comparative literary and cultural studies."
Bill Brydon

The power of problem-based learning in developing critical thinking skills: preparing s... - 0 views

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    This article describes problem-based learning as a powerful pedagogical approach and an aligned teaching and learning system to explicitly and directly teach critical thinking skills in a broad range of disciplines. Problem-based learning is argued to be a powerful pedagogical approach as it explicitly and actively engages students in a learning and teaching system, characterised by reiterative and reflective cycles of learning domain-specific knowledge and doing the thinking themselves. At the same time, students are guided and coached by the problem-based learning teacher, who models critical thinking skills in the acquisition of the domain-specific knowledge. This article will explore what critical thinking actually means. What are critical thinking skills? How best to teach such skills? What is the potential role of problem-based learning in teaching critical thinking skills? Finally, the article reflects on how critical thinking can be developed through problem-based learning as a pedagogical approach in an aligned learning and teaching context.
Bill Brydon

Scaffolding critical thinking in the zone of proximal development - HERDSA - 0 views

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    This paper explores student experiences of learning to think critically. Twenty-six zoology undergraduates took part in the study for three years of their degree at the University of Otago, New Zealand. Vygotsky's developmental model of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) provided a framework as we examined how critical thinking was developed. There was very little evidence of critical thinking at first year as students experienced a high-level of material scaffold in the form of course documents, textbooks, problem solving-exercises and discussions that were primarily aimed at the acquisition of factual knowledge. In large classes students were anonymous to lecturers and they relied on each other for support. In years 2 and 3, learning to do research became the main scaffold for critical thinking and students gradually changed their views about the nature of knowledge. Verbal scaffolding and conversation with lecturers and peers allowed students to extend their ZPD for critical thinking. They began to accept responsibility for their own and their peers' learning as they practiced being a zoology researcher. These findings are discussed in relation to two approaches to scaffolding in the ZPD and it is suggested that research should be an integral part of the first year if critical thinking remains a key aim for higher education.
Bill Brydon

Integrating technology with literacy: using teacher-guided collaborative online learnin... - 0 views

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    "This paper reports on classroom-based research that was designed to monitor the integration of information and communication technology (ICT) in a teacher-guided collaborative online learning context to encourage students' critical response to literary texts. The study investigates the premise that an ICT project where children read books and then use email communication to exchange responses with other learners will support critical thinking. Videos of classroom observations, journals and rap sheets were analysed for individual students' levels of critical awareness. Improvements in critical thinking were measured using linguistic analysis. Teachers and students were also interviewed for attitudes to technology use related to learning. Although there were gains in critical thinking, there was little student engagement with technology. The discussion problematises the integration of technology in the classroom through a repositioning of collaboration in a blended learning context known as book raps."
Bill Brydon

Developing pedagogical practices for English-language learners: a design-based approach... - 1 views

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    "This study draws on the application of sociocultural theory to second-language learning and teaching to examine the impact of a design-based research approach on teacher development and literacy instruction to English-language learners (ELLs). Design-based research methodology was employed to derive theoretical suppositions relating to the process of learning as well as the means by which this process is supported. Our research questions were: (a) How will this professional development model result in shifts in teacher thinking about language and literacy learning for ELLs; (b) what innovations in teachers' repertoires of practice will be developed; and (c) in what ways will these shifts in teachers' thinking and innovations in their repertoire of practice bring about new forms of language and literacy learning? Our findings point to the need to place development in the forefront of teacher professional development models. Also foregrounded is the importance of promoting teachers' critical reflection on classroom practices and of creating hypotheses for pedagogical change vis-à-vis new understanding about students' linguistic, cognitive and academic needs."
Bill Brydon

Negotiating the Multi in Multilingualism and Multiliteracies - 0 views

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    "This article poses the following research question How do multilingual students in higher education negotiate the multi in their multilingualism and multiliteracies? The article presents data from a qualitative study conducted with eight multilingual undergraduate university students in which the participants describe their complex multilingualism and literacy practices in interviews and provide samples of their formal and less formal literacies for analysis. Findings show that participants creatively use their multilingual and multiliterate competencies in safe informal contexts, but in high-stakes academic contexts they relegate these competencies to conform to institutional expectations of standard academic writing in English. Analysis involves an interweaving of several theoretical perspectives: multilingualism as something combined and hybrid rather than discrete languages, multiliteracies, academic literacies, and identity formation as performed and negotiated in relation to powerful social and institutional discourses. The authors find the participants of the present study to be highly reflexive, knowledgeable, and skilled transnational learners, a finding that challenges pervasive discourses around multilingual learners that focus on deficit and remediation."
Bill Brydon

Global Ill-Literacies Hip Hop Cultures, Youth Identities, and the Politics of Literacy ... - 0 views

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    This article focuses on the emergence of what I shall refer to as "global ill-literacies," that is, the hybrid, transcultural linguistic and literacy practices of Hip Hop 1 youth in local and global contexts ( Alim, 2006; Alim, Ibrahim, & Pennycook, 2009; Androutsopoulos, 2003; Ibrahim, in press; Pennycook, 2007), as well as the pedagogical possibilities that scholars open up as they engage these forms ( Desai, 2010; Fisher, 2007; Hill, 2009; Kinloch, 2009; Low, 2011; Morrell & Duncan-Andrade, 2004).
Bill Brydon

Racial Pedagogy of the Oppressed: Critical Interracial Dialogue for Teachers of Color -... - 0 views

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    "Brazilian education activist Paulo Freire ( 1970 12. Freire , P. 1970 . Pedagogy of the oppressed , New York , NY : Continuum . View all references ) argues that to create social change, oppressed people must have critical consciousness about their conditions, and that this consciousness is developed through dialogue. He theorizes that dialogue allows for reflection and unity building, tools needed to transform society. When considering racial oppression in K-12 schools, racial minority teachers have an often-untapped insight and power to transform classrooms and schools (Kohli, 2009 21. Kohli , R. 2009 . Critical race reflections: Valuing the experiences of teachers of color in teacher education . Race, Ethnicity and Education , 12 ( 2 ) : 235 - 251 . [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Web of Science ®] View all references ). Connected through a commonality of racial oppression, it is important for teachers of color to engage in cross-racial dialogues about manifestations of racial injustice in K-12 schools and to develop strategies for change. Utilizing Freire's conceptual lens and a critical race theory (CRT) framework, this article highlights critical race dialogue about the educational experiences and observations of 12 black, Latina, and Asian American women enrolled in a teacher education program. Through cross-racial discussions, the women were able to broaden their multicultural understanding of racial oppression as well as strategize solidarity building among diverse students in urban classrooms. This study demonstrates knowledge and insights of teachers of color and highlights the importance of interracial dialogue in school contexts."
Bill Brydon

Reimagining Critical Theory - British Journal of Sociology of Education - Volume 32, Is... - 0 views

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    "This paper discusses Critical Theory, a model of theorizing in the field of the political sociology of education. We argue for a reimagined Critical Theory to herald an empowering, liberatory education that fosters curiosity and critical thinking, and a means for successful bottom-up, top-down political engagement. We present arguments at a theoretical and meta-theoretical level, leaving empirical analysis to a future writing. We hold it impossible: to fully dissociate normative from the analytical in constructing scientific thought, thus showing the importance of the notion of a good society to guide varied intellectual explorations; to deny the political role of education; and to detach from historicity of thought and policy prescriptions emerging from such theorizing, as not all social constructions are equal in terms of logical configuration, methodological rigor, or solid empirical proof. What follows are snapshots of how we can reimagine the historical present, and how Critical Theory can impact the new theorizing of sociology of education."
Bill Brydon

POLITICS OF LANGUAGE IN CONTEMPORARY SINGAPORE CINEMA - Interventions - Volume 13, Issue 4 - 1 views

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    "While critics have argued that the films of Singapore director Jack Neo posit a critique of the state, this essay will argue the contrary. In deploying Chinese 'dialects' his films may appear to give voice to the Chinese-speaking masses in Singapore, especially those who have been marginalized by the state's political economy, which clearly favours the educated and English-speaking milieu. For the Chinese-speaking masses, his films may even appear to act as a medium or outlet for 'anti-state' criticisms which they feel but cannot articulate, since criticism of the government is essentially prohibited here. However, as this essay will demonstrate, Neo uses such linguistic idioms only as a foil to further perpetuate government propaganda: he uses Chinese 'dialects' to draw his intended audience to his side, and once they are taken in, he persuades them to reconcile with unpopular government policies. In other words, Neo's films constitute an extension of state politics via cinematic means, rather than an authentic political critique. As this essay also suggests, unveiling Neo's manipulation of language in his films as such will be critical to uncover not only Neo's underlying political intent, but also the unequal distribution that underlies the state's language policies"
Bill Brydon

Multiple Literacies Theory: Discourse, sensation, resonance and becoming - Discourse: S... - 0 views

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    "This thematic issue on education and the politics of becoming focuses on how a Multiple Literacies Theory (MLT) plugs into practice in education. MLT does this by creating an assemblage between discourse, text, resonance and sensations. What does this produce? Becoming AND how one might live are the product of an assemblage (May, 2005; Semetsky, 2003). In this paper, MLT is the approach that explores the connection between educational theory and practice through the lens of an empirical study of multilingual children acquiring multiple writing systems simultaneously. The introduction explicates discourse, text, resonance, sensation and becoming. The second section introduces certain Deleuzian concepts that plug into MLT. The third section serves as an introduction to MLT. The fourth section is devoted to the study by way of a rhizoanalysis. Finally, drawing on the concept of the rhizome, this article exits with potential lines of flight opened by MLT. These are becomings which highlight the significance of this work in terms of transforming not only how literacies are conceptualized, especially in minority language contexts, but also how one might live."
Bill Brydon

Theorizing Visual Representation in Children's Literature - Journal of Literacy Research - 0 views

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    Children's literature has been analyzed through a number of different theoretical lenses, including critical literacy, feminism, and multiculturalism. Yet, given the prominence that image plays in such literature, little if any work in literacy has analyz
Bill Brydon

Indigenous Education for Critical Democracy: Teacher Approaches and Learning Outcomes i... - 0 views

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    This article focuses on how three dimensions of critical democracy preparation (place-based geographical knowledge, social and political awareness of American Indian history and culture, and orientations conducive to the development of personal connections with American Indians) were impacted by different instructional approaches introduced when implementing an innovative Indian Education for All education program at a K-5 school in Montana. Student-learning outcomes were measured through pre- and post-intervention tests of place-based and social/political knowledge and a short survey of personal orientations. Instructional approaches across first-grade through fifth-grade were identified through interviews and participant observation. In their own ways, participating teachers, working in partnership with Salish tribal educators, demonstrated that Indigenous education contributes to critical-democracy learning. The specific outcomes of the Indigenous-education program varied according to the different instructional approaches teachers elected to pursue. Instructional comparisons showed that combining place-based instruction with guided reflection on personal connections with American Indian people through "boundary-breaking" approaches that aim to bring about critical consciousness ignited the most impressive changes in learners' orientations. The research findings offer particularly valuable insights for teachers striving for equity and excellence in elementary schools with American Indian populations.
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