Project Title: Empowering Voices: Critical Literacy Pedagogy in a High School Social Justice Curriculum

For this project, I examined an example of critical literacies pedagogy implemented in a Grade 11 English classroom at a public high school in Toronto, Canada. The teacher designed a unit around social justice themes, encouraging students to engage with various texts—novels, news articles, and media clips—focused on issues such as racism, gender inequality, and environmental justice. Rather than passively consuming these texts, students were asked to interrogate them critically: whose voices were being amplified, whose were being silenced, and what ideologies were being promoted? The unit culminated in a digital storytelling project, where students created short documentaries on local issues that mattered to them personally. This allowed them not only to analyze existing narratives but to construct their own, positioning themselves as agents of change within their communities.

The strengths of this approach lie in its ability to promote deep engagement, critical thinking, and social awareness. It empowers students to connect academic content to their lived experiences and to broader societal structures. By validating student perspectives and encouraging them to challenge dominant ideologies, critical literacy pedagogy supports the development of active, informed citizens. Additionally, the incorporation of digital media fosters multiliteracies and 21st-century skills. However, the model is not without its challenges. It can be time-consuming for teachers to plan and implement, especially if they are not already comfortable facilitating discussions on complex or controversial issues. Moreover, resistance from school leadership or parents may arise, particularly when topics challenge traditional norms or beliefs.

When compared to functional literacy pedagogy, which focuses on acquiring basic reading and writing skills for everyday or workplace contexts, critical literacy offers a more expansive and transformative approach. While both aim to develop literacy, functional literacy tends to prioritize technical proficiency, whereas critical literacy emphasizes questioning, reflection, and social responsibility. Ultimately, critical literacy not only equips students with the tools to read texts, but also to read the world—and, when necessary, to work toward changing it.