Critical Literacy in Action: Fractured Fairy Tales

1. Critical Literacy in Action: Fractured Fairy Tales 2013 Spring C&T 820 Gulinna Linda A

2. Introduction • I hypothesize teaching in a 6th grade language arts class in Kansas. • I will encourage students to explore stereotypes in fairy tales. Students will revise the stories in their distinctive voices. • This thematic unit includes 5 sessions. Each session will last 50 minutes.

3. Rationale • Critical literacy not only helps students to develop critical thinking, but also encourages students to be active learners in the class. (McDaniel, 2004) • Multiliteracies designs learning experiences that “afford learners to the opportunity to develop strategies for reading and writing diverse textual forms, whether in print or medium of the screen” (Ajayi, 2011, p. 7). • “Critical literacy serves as a useful framework for conceiving and implementing a multiple literacies curriculum that has an explicit goal of social justice and equitable participation in democratic societies” (Larson, 2006, p. 322). • A multiliteracies perspective could transform ESL/EFL/FL instruction and assessment from “Language as Problem” to “Language as Resource”. Teachers can assess students’ literacy progress through e-portfolio and language portfolio. (Davis et al., 2005)

4. Target Student Group • My target students will be 6th graders in a middle school in Kansas. • There are 16 students in my class, 9 girls and 7 boys. • 8 students are English only students. 3 students are from Mexico. 2 students are Native Americans. 2 students are from China. And 1 student is from France. • All ESOLs have been in the U.S. for one year. Their English language abilities are at intermediate level.

5. Unit Objectives • Discuss and analyze various stereotypes in society, such as gender, race, and ethics. • Develop critical thinking skills by learning to identify an author's voice to develop characters and the plot in his or her writing • Compose alternative viewpoints of a selected text • Adjust their use of language to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences for different purposes, while exhibiting style and voice to enhance their message

6. Unit Objectives • This unit will be aligned with the requirements of Kansas Common Core Standards for English Language Arts in 6th grade curriculum (Common Core Standards for English Language Arts) • This unit will also be aligned with Kansas Curricular Standards for Reading, Writing, and ESOL (Kansas Department of Education)

7. Session Overview

8. Session Overview

9. Target Vocabulary/Concept

10. Materials • Venn diagram http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/venn_diagrams/ • Fractured Fairy Tales http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/fairytales/ • A wide selection of fairy tales for reference • Blogger www.blogger.com/start?hl=en • Google Sites http://www.google.com/sites

11. Assessment • Formative Assessment • In-class brainstorming activities and discussion participations • Summative Assessment • Self-reflection papers, peer evaluation journals, oral presentations, and e-portfolios • Students will have instructions and rubrics for each assignment

12. References • Ajayi, L. (2012). Video “Reading” and Multimodality: A Study of ESL/Literacy Pupils’ Interpretation of Cinderella from Their Socio-historical Perspective. The Urban Review, 44(1), 60-89. • Davis, K. A., Bazzi, S., Cho, H. S., Ishida, M., & Soria, J. (2005). It’s our kuleana”: A critical participatory approach to language minority education. Learning, teaching, and community: Contributions of situated and participatory approaches to educational innovation, 3-25. • Larson, J. (2006). Multiple literacies, curriculum, and instruction in early childhood and elementary school. Theory into practice, 45(4), 319-329. • McDaniel, C. (2004). Critical literacy: A questioning stance and the possibility for change. The Reading Teacher, 57(5), 472-481.