Chapter 7: Using A Critical Literacy Framework To Infuse Social Justice Issues Into The Curriculum: A Primer Written by a Public-School Teacher for Teachers and Teacher Educators

A question that educators must ask themselves as we move from the information age to the digital age is: “What makes a person literate in the 21st century?” The answer to this question will shape the type of education they offer children in schools today. In the digital age, the term “literacy” takes on new meaning; children are immersed in a media flood that includes not only print media like books, magazines, and newspapers, but also digital media like blogs, wiki, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and so on. For the first time ever, elementary school children are privy to extensive public and private discourse about social justice issues of diversity, race, gender, immigration, inequality, and oppression; issues their parents and teachers may have sheltered them from several decades ago. Educators can choose to focus on standard curriculum conventions, or they can teach children the power of not only reading words but also “reading the world” (Shor & Freire, 1987, p. 135). They can accomplish this by engaging children in the practice of critical literacy.