Critical literacy: addressing broad issuesI first heard the termcritical literacyin a workshop at the International Reading Association conference. During this session we worked in groups to define critical literacy asbuilding thinking skills that enable students to consider all viewpoints, respect differences, and become more self-aware. North Carolina is changing, and those changes are reflected in classrooms across the state, possibly even yours. The largest groups of new immigrants are Hispanics from Mexico and Hmong from Southeast Asia, not to mention the steady influx of people who have relocated here from New York, New Jersey, and the rest of the United States. The cultural, religious, and ethnic diversity in North Carolinas schools grows every year, and with this diversity comes opportunity.Perhaps youre already using some activities to build critical literacy in your classroom. If you read novels written from the point of view of a child from another culture or set in another country, youre providing an opportunity for your students to stand in the shoes of another: that is critical literacy. If your students hear stories about people who practice religions different than their own or if they consider the differences between their lives and the lives of people like them who lived through war, the Great Depression, or the Civil Rights movement, that too is critical literacy. If you ask you students to write from the point of view of someone much older than they are, thats critical literacy. These activities all serve the same purpose: they help the student to see the world through someone elses eyes, to learn to understand other peoples circumstances and perspectives and to empathize with them.LEVELS OF ENGAGEMENT WITH OTHER CULTURESWhat can we do to build critical literacy skills in our classroom? Social justice curricula provide a good starting point for building understanding. These lessons and approaches can be categorized as follows: Contributions approach: discrete cultural elements added to instruction Additive approach: perspectives of other cultures added, but structure of curriculum does not change Transformational approach: thoroughgoing change enables students to view the world from perspective of diverse groups Social action approach: students empowered to decide and act2Most schools make an effort to address diversity on acontributions level. Including a Chanukah song in the winter holiday program and assigning the Famous African American report in February add discrete cultural elements to the curriculum. These elements are separate and may feel like an add-on or an afterthought, something more obligatory than celebratory.The next level is theadditive level. Selecting books from different cultures is one way to add the perspectives of others: the format does not change (you still assign a novel or provide a variety of stories to read) but multiple experiences add depth to the curriculum. Textbooks use this approach when they add a color call-out box with the title "The Black Experience" or "A Womans Perspective." These extras give some opportunity to learn how different people experienced the same event, but they are still separate from the mainstream story; students are not asked to consider these perspectives as "normal," let alone to attempt to see the event through them.The contribution and additive levels are simply not enough to building the thinking skills that enable students to consider all viewpoints, respect differences, and become more self-aware. There are, however, ways to approach diversity that build critical literacy skill.