26 Jan 2016
THE IMPORTANCE OF CRITICAL LITERACY FOR OUR STUDENTS – L3 and FOCUS ON READING
We are living in a time when only two companies own basically all of the media – newspapers, TV and radio. Some media organisations in Australia are not shy about influencing the outcomes of elections through biased reporting. In this climate how are we to be sure we are getting the truth about what is happening in the world? Combine this with the flood of inescapable information to sift through accessible now on any computer or Smartphone and we suddenly discover the most important skill our students here need to have – critical literacy, the ability to understand the author's purpose and not to be fooled.
Here at Ebenezer we are moving to a curriculum model, guided by the New English Syllabus, where the incremental development of critical literacy is embedded in everything we do. L3 and Focus on Reading across the curriculum helps us veer away from busy work to real-world engagement with learning and asking students to access their critical faculties. I thank the staff for going on this journey together as a committed team of educators.