Critical Consciousness
Provide opportunities for students to surface, challenge, and change society inequities by thinking critically and acting empathetically.
CARING AND CONNECTED COMMUNITIES
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In order to help students navigate critical consciousness, educators can be knowledgeable about the ways that history and current events impact the lives of young people, and then use those cultural referents to catalyze learning. Teachers discussed projects and units that promote critical analysis, sense of agency, and critical action such as the “Wildfires” project or the “Voting Rights” project. You can start closer to home by co-creating classroom agreements, co-constructing assignment criteria, or co-designing a unit or project with students by using this simple “Co-Created Norms'' instruction handout.
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How did it feel to release control and co-create/co-construct/co-design with students?
What changes did you notice in your students?
What are other ways you can support young people to notice, name, and navigate the world around them?
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To learn more about the “why” behind navigating critical consciousness read Critical Consciousness: A Key to Student Achievement. To get more ideas for what to try in your classroom check out Seven C’s for Effective Teaching, Critical Consciousness in the Classroom: 10 Counternarrative Resources, and Using inquiry to help kids develop critical consciousness.
Critical Consciousness In Practice
In this short video, two teachers discuss specific projects and units that promote critical analysis, sense of agency, and critical action.
Media Literacy
In a dizzying media landscape, it can be hard to tell fact from fiction. Equipping students with the skills to identify misinformation, read data, and identify bias is critical to their success as adults, and as citizens.