Critical Literacy Skills In Teaching

Question

Task: On-campus lectures will be replaced by 3 hour weekly ZOOM lectures/consultations. To download the technology, go to ZOOM.US. Additional instructions will be made available on the Moodle site for EDGX800. (NOTE: If the Zoom technology fails and live lectures are not possible, then please refer to the pre-existing Moodle books and online videos. These will contain the same content).
Weekly dates updated and changes to Assessment Task #4 to allow for remote submission. This is due to the change in delivery mode to remote delivery because of COVID-19.
Why are skills in critical literacy important in your field? How does this subject prepare you for future study and employment in your chosen field in your home country?
Write an 800 word written reflection responding to this prompt and prepare a 3-4 minute PowerPoint presentation containing 4 slides to be presented via Moodle video format.

Answer

Introduction
Critical literacy skills refer to the ability to read and understand the texts in a deeper and meaningful way to gain a critical insight into the claims made by the author. Critical literacy not only helps in better reading of a subject, however, it also helps in developing high level writing skills in achieving high quality learning outcomes (Manarin et al., 2015). However, there are various vulnerability that occurs in the critical thinking and writing competencies while learning.

The paper analyzes the importance of critical literacy skills in the field of teaching and the ways in which the subject of post graduate critical scholarship play an important role in my future study and employment.

Discussion
Importance of Critical Literacy Skills in Field of Teaching
Critical literacy skills are considered to be highly important for any student to meet the academic guidelines. It helps in developing skills like analytical thinking, problem solving and better way of written and verbal communication. Critical literacy skills are important in the field of teaching because it enables the student to develop skills such as organize, synthesize, assess and analyze the information in the best possible way. Critically analyzing a reading allows a person to know the in-depth meaning of the paper and enables them to identify the judgmental errors (Manarin et al., 2015). This in turn will help an educator be more knowledgeable and approachable in the field of teaching or academic conduct. Moreover, with critical literacy an educator would be able to analyze the situation and problems faced by students in the most effective way. Diakidoy, Ioannou, & Christodoulou (2017) has stated that critical analysis and thinking skills enables a person to be give a better reasoned explanation for a problem and propose an effective solution. Thus, skills of critical literacy is important in different problem solving processes in the field of education or teaching. This is because developing critical literacy skills such as argumentation, analytical thinking and others allow the persons involved in the field of teaching or education to analyze a particular solution argumentatively. This means that both positive and negative points against the solution is analyzed before giving the final teaching solutions.

Further, being analytical and reasonable helps a person to be more efficient in the field of education. This is because it helps the faculty to teach similar skills to the children and help them learn the ways a claim is made justifiable. This means that by learning critical literacy skills a person is able to guide the children in teaching in the best possible way (Wahlstrom, Johnston & Steketee, 2009). It will enable the students to be critical thinker in every aspect and gain better position in their claims. This shows that critical literacy skills are an ongoing importance for the field of education. Davis, (2013) has further stated that having critical reading skill is important for academic purposes. This means that developing critical reading enable an educator to identify the textual elements, distinguish main and subordinate ideas, evaluate its creditability, make effective judgement of the ideas and then present it effectively in front of the students. This means gaining critical literacy skills such as critical reading will help an educator to present themselves effectively in their field of teaching.

Samanhudi & Linse (2019) has pointed out that teachers in the field of education has long intuited the importance of recognizing categories for understanding of academic texts. Thus, being critical helps the teachers to enable students have a better understanding of something and be aware of the reading processes and interact effectively with the texts. This further shows the importance of acquiring critical literacy by a person in the field of education or teaching. Critical judgement allows for better approach in teaching processes and enable a teacher or academic faculty to be more open and logical to the students (Sanders, 2016). It enables them to handle students in a better manner than they could have done otherwise.

Relevance of the Subject on Future Study and Employment
The subject EDGX800 has huge relevance and significance in preparing me for my future study and employment in my chosen field of education. There are various kinds of things being taught in the subject such as research culture, critical reading, note taking, paraphrasing and other academic protocols. The subject is of high importance in my future study that I am planning to take up such as diploma course in teachers training. With the subject EDGX800 I will be able to better understand reading and understanding and would effectively implement this in my teachers training courses I would take in future. Moreover, the subject would enable me to promote critical analysis thinking in my skills in the context of reading and writing. This would further help me understand different course material analytically to further implement them in my career (Wahlstrom, Johnston & Steketee, 2009). In addition to this, paraphrasing, which is an integral part of this subject would enable me to eliminate mismatch between my perception and behaviors achieve better performance in my future teachers training study. Liao & Tseng (2010) states that paraphrasing helps in generating acceptable texts by transferring words from the texts to personal ideas and writing and eliminating any kind of plagiarism. This shows that the subject help me develop effective knowledge of academic protocols and behavior and implement them efficiently in my projects I would indulge in during my future teachers training study.

In addition to this, the subject would also be important in my future employment in the education field. I plan to become a kindergarten teacher in future as a part of my education or teaching field I am involved in. as a kindergarten teacher I would be involved in creating lesson plans, analyze students development and manage their behaviors. Thus, critical thinking skill I will develop from this subject would help me be analytically strong when making lessons and working with students (Ekici, 2017). I would be more efficient in understanding their needs and judge every lesson planned using critical argumentation. Further, Weber (2019) stated that critical thinking allows the teachers to listen to the students and assist them with the best of their thinking and plan effective ideas for them. I would be able to implement this benefit of critical understanding that I derive from this subject (Sanders, 2016). Further, the subject will teach me the important of proofreading and editing. This would further prepare me to be a kindergarten teacher where I would effectively indulge in editing and proofreading every plan I make for the development of the children before implementing it in the actual scenario. This shows that the subject holds great importance in preparing me for the future diploma in teaching education course I would indulge in and help me develop effective skill as a kindergarten teacher that I plan to be.

Conclusion
From the above analysis it can be concluded that critical literacy skills and the subject of EDGX800 helps in preparing across the entire academic skills and behavior required by a person involved in the field of education. It would help in developing the understanding of the student efficiently and allow them to excel in the field they want to enter in future. Moreover, it hold huge importance in the field of education where being critical and judgmental while reading and understanding is needed.

References
Davis, M. (2013). The development of source use by international postgraduate students. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 12(2), 125-135.

Diakidoy, I. A. N., Ioannou, M. C., & Christodoulou, S. A. (2017). Reading argumentative texts: comprehension and evaluation goals and outcomes. Reading and Writing, 30(9), 1869-1890.

Ekici, D. I. (2017). The effects of online communities of practice on pre-service teachers’ critical thinking dispositions. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics Science and Technology Education, 13(7), 3801-3827.

Hyytinen, H., Löfström, E., & Lindblom-Ylänne, S. (2017). Challenges in argumentation and paraphrasing among beginning students in educational sciences. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 61(4), 411-429.

Liao, M. T., & Tseng, C. Y. (2010). Students' Behaviors and Views of Paraphrasing and Inappropriate Textual Borrowing in an EFL Academic Setting. Journal of Pan-Pacific Association of Applied Linguistics, 14(2), 187-211.

Manarin, K., Carey, M., Rathburn, M., & Ryland, G. (2015). Critical reading in higher education: Academic goals and social engagement. Indiana University Press.

Samanhudi, U., & Linse, C. (2019). Critical Thinking-Related Challenges to Academic Writing: A Case of Indonesian Postgraduate Students at a UK University. Lingua Cultura, 13(2), 107-114.

Sanders, S. (2016). Critical and creative thinkers in mathematics classrooms. Journal of Student Engagement: Education Matters, 6(1), 19-27.

Wahlstrom, K., Johnston, H., & Steketee, C. (2009). Scholarly practice the Australian way: an academic skills course for postgraduate students.

Weber, M. (2019). The Importance of Collaboration Within Project-Based Learning in a Kindergarten Teacher Classroom.