The importance of critical lenses in the classroom and outside the classroom

I believe educating students on critical lenses is really beneficial for students not only in how they approach literature but also how they approach life and the different perspectives they will encounter throughout their lifetime. Author Deborah Appleman, writes in her book Critical Encounters in Secondary English that, “[r]ather than simply covering literature as cultural content or focusing exclusively on the skills of reading and writing, these students and teachers used the lenses of literacy theories to construct multiple ways of reading texts (2015, pg. 143). Appleman further states, “Critical lenses allow us to look at something in different ways to understand what is taking place around us. If people look at things in different ways, it is possible to see the intent of other people and, in turn, [to] understand them” (2015, pg. 145). When I consider the problem of racism and stereotyping I believe part of the problem is that people are looking at others in only one kind of lens. Anyone who is familiar with glasses knows that there is not one single prescription that will resolve everyone’s eyesight and help them see clearly. I believe this is the same concept with literature, culture and people. That is why I believe using critical lenses in the classroom is so crucial as it teaches students to look through different lenses and consider people, culture and/or histories in a way they might not have before. I love books because they can take you places and broaden your world without having to leave your bedroom. However, without critical lenses, what good is it to be taken places and having your world broadened if one cannot understand the place or the various people due to one’s single perspective.

            When I consider how I would want to incorporate critical lenses in my classroom I would want to do a book fair that I did in my ECUR 379 class. I would want to allow my students the autonomy to pick their own book and instruct students to write about the various perspectives in the book of their choice. I will get students to consider how race, class or gender is portrayed in the book. If students report that their book does not include much diversity than I would try and get those students to think about how that would impact diverse people who read the novel. I think another idea I could add to the book fair assignment is to get students to write journal entrees in the perspective of one of the characters in their novel, perhaps a character that is the most different from the student, in order to encourage students to put themselves in another person’s shoes and consider the unique challenges they face. 

            I would also want the novels that I choose to study as a class to be diverse with various cultures, histories and race. I think it would be really cool to focus on one piece of history but read different perspectives from that historical time period. An example of this could be studying the holocaust and instructing students to read various perspectives from this historical event, such as Jews, Gypsies, German soldiers, women, etc. I think this will help students see that a historical event can be told in many different ways. Critical lenses is important because it helps encourage a mind set that understands the various perspectives in literature and the world. To me, as a teacher, helping students see through various lenses in order to accept various perspectives will be one of the most rewarding accomplishments as a teacher.