Critical Literacy

What Is Critical Literacy: 
Critical literacy is when you apply Critical Thinking to a literacy topic.

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Word Definitions

Bias-When you favour one thing over another.

Source-Where you got the information from.

Credible-A person you can trust with their work.

Authority-Power or respect off people.

Reliable-Trustworthy

Perspective-The way you or someone else sees something.

Agenda-Your Intentions

Manipulative-Persuading someone to see your points of view.

Text-Anything that is able to give you information

Construction-The Process of building something up

Representation-The showing of something in a piece of art.

Stereotype-A Standard that isn't always correct.

Inclusion-Adding something into something.

Exclusion-Not adding something in, or getting rid of something

Masculine/Feminine-The formal way to say genders

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Word Sentences

Bias-She was bias towards her mother cooking rather than her father.

Text-There are three different types of text

Constructive- She was always constructive with her writing, she always improved it.

Representation-There wasn't any representations for the golf competition.

Stereotype-His stereotype of females was wrong.

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Word Definitions

Inclusion In a Text

1.How does the text depict age, gender, and /or cultural groups 

2.How are children, teenagers or young adults constricted in this text?

3. What view of the world is the text presenting?

4.What kind of language is used in the text.

Exclusion In a Text

1.Who is missing from the text?

2.Whose views are excluded or privileged in the text?

3.Who is allowed to speak, who is quoted?

4.Who has been left out of the text?

Representation In a Text

1. Why has the composer of the text represented the characters in a particular text

2.What do the words suggest?

3.What do the images suggest?

4.What knowledge does the reader/viewer need to bring to this text in order to understand it?

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Putting it into practice

Little Shop Of Horrors

In the 70's the stereotype of females were decided that they were the maids of the house. It was shown that she was was doing all the housework, cooking, cleaning, etc. Her significant other was shown to be more masculism as he was doing the outdoor chores like cutting the grass and working for money. The house also looked perfectly neat and tidy like the rest of the other world. In reality she was in an abusive relationship imagining what it would be like living in her fantasy world.

Legally Blonde Musical

In this video the adults are shown in two different ways. Females are stereo typically more feminine and delicate people that like to stand out, while the males are stereo typically shown as masculine people that like to blend in. Instead Elle is shown to be loud, outgoing, imaginative. She wants to make her points known so that everyone can rethink her opinions. In the musicals reality girls seem to only be feminine while males are the talkative masculine ones. The reality of this is not true. Anyone can take this in and put different meanings towards it. They can choose to believe that this musical is how reality should be like, or they can choose to believe that this is nowhere close to how reality should look like. Anyone can interpretative this musical in their own ways. 

Summary

Both these videos show that that the stereotype of both genders is quite different. In reality this is how some people imagine the world. They are more bias towards their own views that aren't always true and start to manipulate others to think that this is the only way reality should be like. Not every male has to have a masculine persona and not every female has to have a feminine persona, everyone can be different.

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Putting It Into Practice

Synopsis

The driver was sober at first, as he was drinking coke. Then he started drinking more and more until he was drunk. He then drove everyone back without telling anyone he was wasted and crashed a car, he killed someone in that crash. Awhile later he visited his old mates and they addressed him by his name.

Synopsis

His friend was quite drunk while supposed to be the designated driver for the both of them, his friend got drunk and he started thinking about what would happen if he doesn't tell him not to drive. He then tells his friend after thinking a lot that he shouldn't drive tonight and his friend agrees. 

Is the text fair?

The text is not fair because it shows that everyone that is young always gets drunk and make bad decisions. It shows a stereotype that males that are pacific are more likely to drink then any other gender because it seems manly. 

How are children, teenagers or young adults constructed in this text? 

In the text it is constructed as party animals that always drinking. It shows that they aren't really that responsible. It portrays that males usually talk in slang and aren't really smart.

How does the text present age, gender or cultural groups?

It represents age in a way that young adults aren't trustworthy, or can handle things that well. It represents genders in a way that males have big egos and are the real deal while females aren't shown at all or in a way that they are objects to impress.

Why is the text written this way?

It is shown in this way to educate you and inform you that drinking is wrong. It makes you remember the ads because they are funny or serious so then you remember certain parts of the ads. It is to inform you that when most people drink they are prone to making bad decisions that affect others. 

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What am I learning?

We are learning about vocabulary words that are involved in Critical Literacy?

How does this show my learning?

This shows my understanding of what I am learning so far.

What am I wondering?

How will all these words get involved with Critical Literacy?

My Goals For This Year

This week for English we have been setting ourselves some goals for the week, these were the goals that we were given to choose. The ones in green are the goals I think that I have completed, the ones in yellow are the ones I think I have to work on.

Death Sentences In New Zealand

Death Sentences shouldn't be allowed back into New Zealand's law. This is my opinion because I find it would be the easy way out for a lot of people. People go to jail for as little as trespassing and as big as murder. When people have multiple felonies they could go to court. When they go to court they decide if they are guilty or not and how long they stay there. Depending on how bad your felonies are you could stay there for the rest of your life, which is very long. If we had the death sentence people would get the easy was out and they wouldn't pay for their crime. If someone was also framed and they died, if police found out after they died the real person who did the crime it would be too late. It would be easy for people with huge felonies to get the easy way out of jail time. That's why I think that death sentences shouldn't be allowed back into New Zealand.

Impacts of Social Media

Social Media has a negative impact on human relationships. This is my opinion because of the way it impacts people to make irrational decisions. An example is if you see a photo of a famous model or celebrity, you might ask yourself why you don't look or act like that. they might be really buff or skinny so you think that is how you should look. You might stop eating, or starta pushing yourself too far and exhaust yourself. In other words you might set your standards way too high and risk your life to try and look like an idol. It can also cause you to get things you might not want like a tattoo, or a piercing. Those things can cost you a lot of money and it might not turn out how you wished it would, it also might not suit you. Even though an idol might look amazing, that's now how you should set yourself to become. There are a lot of different ways that social media affects people, this is one of the reasons.

Beans Cause Fires

Prompt -

Beans Cause Fires

I didn’t know how this happened, I was only gone for an hour. The house was set ablaze and the ladder was broken. How can a pot of beans catch fire so easily. I walked over to my brother Julio and started to yell at him, after all he was the cause. 

“I didn’t mean to, I just needed to go to the store for Nachos. I was going to make you some for your birthday, if only I turned it off” he had said.

I just nodded, hugged him and went to the police to tell them what had happened.I also told them how this house was really concerning, as it was practically floating other than the electrical lines and ladder that was attached to it. 

After the house had been extinguished and placed on the ground mysteriously the firefighters walked in to see the damage. To my utter surprise and concern the inside was fine, other than the stove, that was fried. I kept thinking about how beans were the cause of it all, and I started laughing. I checked the pot and Cringed, the beans were charred and stuck to the bottom of the pot, it looked like charcoal had been beanified into mushy beans. 

“I’m never using that pot ever again.” I muttered. I walked back outside and told the firefighters and police that the inside of the house was completely fine, other than the stove. My brother was really embarrassed that the cause of this was Because of beans.

Percy Jackson - Diary Entry

Diary Entry

Today was the day I was kicked out of school, again, 5th grade is really hard when you don't have any friends. It wasn’t my fault though, the other kids were out for me. They always blamed me for things i never did. For example, they always pushed the fire alarm in the hallways and I was blamed for it when the teachers saw I never did it. 

The last straw for the school was when I was reading a random book about Greek mythology, I had put it down because the teacher had called me so they attacked. They tore the pages out and wrote “percy was here” on all of them, they then proceeded to fling the pages everywhere. The teacher didn’t notice though, he never did. We had walked into the room and we both saw the damage that was done. He immediately called me out, and forced me to go to the principal, 

As I was about to walk past everyone I had tripped. Everyone laughed at me, even the teacher, I looked up and saw Michae, one of the kids that hated me, laughing at me after he tripped me. I didn’t even know what happened next, I guess I lashed out and punched him, it wasn’t that hard though. My hand didn’t even have a bruise, Michae on the other hand was knocked out with a greyish bruise forming on his eye. I was definitely being expelled, no one would believe me if I didn’t plead guilty. 

I remembered being dragged to the principal's office and being told that I should be glad I'm going, I didn’t believe it though. The principal kicked me out quickly and now I'm here, writing in this stupid book to help my anger issues for the next school, if there ever is one. All I know is that mum’s not going to be happy today when she sees me.

English - Writing A Common Thing As Something Unknown

Word: Heat pump

As I opened the door I felt a warm breeze flowing towards me, basking me in the warmth that was inside my apartment, I had never felt warmth inside my apartment before. I had always came home to antarctica almost inside my house. I could hear a noise in the living room telling me that something was on. I walk in to see what was causing the noise, a machine at the top of my ceiling whirring away and creating what was now the warm air inside the apartment. I didn't know how the machine got there, and how it was on but I was so relieved that I was finally able to sleep comfortably without having to wear a entire wardrobe. I walked to the kitchen and saw a note from the landlord telling me that she hired an electricity company to install what they call a heat pump into all the apartments without me paying anything for the rest of the month. I didn't like the noise the machine made, or how I would turn it off and on but I was still glad that I finally had heat inside my house. The note also said that the gadget could also turn cold, so if it got too hot in the summer I would have something to keep me cool if I couldn't survive the temperatures that summer brought when it arrived.

Prompt Writing

Prompts:

8. Footsteps slowly creaked on every step of the stairs. The bedroom door handle turned slowly.

10. My hair stood on end, a shiver raced down my spine and a lump came to my throat. It was him...

1. I didn’t mean to kill her.

I ran into the room hoping he didn’t come after me, after all there were seven other people in the mansion. I ran around a corner and bumped into a door. The door was brown, almost mahogany coloured and polished, unlike anything in this old mansion. I turned the gold knob and pushed the door open, too my luck it was open. I ran inside, turns out it was a bedroom. I admired the baby blue wallpaper that was still on the wall, the white trim looking brand new. There was no bed inside, only a white crib with white bedding and a teddy bear, it looked like the one I owned at home, light brown, missing a black beady eye and a blue bowtie. I saw a closet and opened the door, as I opened it I heard someone coming up the stairs. Footsteps slowly creaked on every step of the stairs. The bedroom door handle turned slowly. My hair stood on end, a shiver raced down my spine and a lump came to my throat. It was him. The boy who had just murdered my sister, my brother Daniel. His white top was now splattered with crimson red blood, it almost looked like watercolour paint. His jeans were cut, you could see a deep gash in his knee. The gas was gushing out blood like a drink dispenser. “ I didn’t mean to kill her”. He whispered. I could see a knife in his hand, so I slowly backed away. I looked behind me into the closet, there was nothing but a door. I could fit inside of it but I would have to make a distraction to have enough time to get in and run. I looked beside me and saw a black chinese ring dagger. I grabbed it without Daniel noticing and flung it at the deer paining behind him, I actually liked that paining but either I die or that painting gets a knife into it. The glass protecting the paining shattered and Daniel fell to the floor, trying not to get any shards in his eyes. I quickly ran towards the closed, grabbing a chair on the way to barricade the door with. I ran into the door and hoped that the door was open, to my surprise it was. I quickly ran in, closed the door, barricaded the door with the chair and sat down. Would I ever get out of this house alive?

language Features - Hyperbole

A Hyperbole is a use of over exaggeration that shouldn't be taken literally, It's also used to make you understand a little more about how someone could be feeling. For example "I'm so hungry I could eat a cow." You can't physically eat a cow but you are exaggerating that you will, you're just saying that you are really hungry. When a writer uses hyperbole they want you to see how someone might be feeling. A writer might use hyperbole because they want you to imagine how a character might feel

Hyperbole

An exaggeration

I've told her that a million times!

I'm so hungry I could eat a Tyrannosaurus rex

She’s told that story a billion times, yet she keeps repeating it every day.

Some examples from the internet are

- I told you to clean your room a billion times!

- His brain is smaller than a pea