Critical Literacy Activity

Activity:         Literacy Walks

Objective:      Raise Students' Awareness of the Messages They See Everyday

This is adapted from an activity described (at an NCTE workshop on critical literacy) by a third grade teacher in Bloomington, Indiana who does this with her students to help them to apply critical reading skills the signs they encounter everyday. They walk around their school and read the environment. If you want more information, type "literacy walks" into Google,  and you'll find many examples of how teachers use this activity.

WHAT: Take your students on a walk somewhere and ask them to read the environment as they walk. They will record the actual uses of language they encounter and then think about the implicit messages.

HOW: Have students record all written language that they encounter-signs, billboards, etc.-in a double-entry notebook. Students should also consider the following questions:

1. What messages do you see?
2. Who are those messages intended for?
3. Who are they NOT intended for?
4. What do the signs say explicitly?
5. What do the signs say implicitly?
6. Who is the author of the signs?
7. What do you think the author's purpose is? Is there anything below the surface?

WHERE: I've been thinking the mall would be a good place to walk, but Virginia Street certainly seems like an equally intriguing destination. You could also walk them around this campus and notice where signs are "allowed" and where they are policed.

 

 

submitted by Kara Moloney

Download an RTF version of Literacy Walks