Critical Lenses in My Classroom

            In this blog post I will reflect on the critical lens approach to teaching and on the critical lenses used in ECUR 379. Specifically, I will discuss whether I will use the critical lens approach to teaching in my classroom or not and how I may or may not use each critical lens in the classroom.

            When it comes to whether or not I will actually use the critical lens approach to teaching in my classroom, yes, I will. However, I can definitely see myself using certain critical lenses more often than I use others, this will be exemplified below when I actually break down how I may or may not use each critical lens. When it comes to why I will use the critical lens approach to teaching in my classroom, there are a variety of reasons. The main reason is that I believe that based on my experiences with using them this semester that they all provide a unique and largely interesting way of looking at texts. Another reason why I will use the critical lens approach is that I think that using critical lenses will make students have to study a text deeper and gain a better overall understanding of it. They will actually have to go below the surface of a text and find the deeper meanings within it by examining it using a certain lens. Yet another reason why I will use the critical lens approach is that through using certain lenses it allows students to interpret texts in a way that they most likely would not have before and allows them to see the text in multiple ways. A final reason why I will the critical lens approach to teaching is that it helps students to develop critical thinking skills, as they will have to think critically about how the main ideas of a certain lens related to the text.

            The first critical lens that I will discuss how I may or may not use in the classroom is the reader response lens. This is my personal favorite of all the critical lenses used in this course and the one that I can see myself using the most in the classroom. I think that students will enjoy this lens the most as well as it is the most straight forward of all the lenses and the one that allows  students to develop the strongest personal connection to a text with as through using this lens they will discuss how aspects related to themselves or the text itself affected their reading and interpretation of it. I will use this lens before I use any other lens in a classroom as it is the easiest to use and will ease students into the process of using critical lenses. Also, due to the low level of difficulty associated with using this critical lens, I will use it even in middle school English courses, such as English 7. I will use this lens to have students examine a variety of different types of texts including poems, short stories, articles, novels and even plays, as I think this lens is very versatile and can be used by students to examine any type of written text regardless of the format or topics involved. There really are no texts that are off limits for this lens, so it may be used to examine anything.

            The second critical lens that I will discuss how I may or may not use in the classroom is the Marxist lens. I can see myself using this lens at least a few times per semester to examine a written work. However, I think that this lens definitely has less versatility and is less interesting to use than the reader response lens. Since this lens is largely about discussing how economic classes are represented in a certain text, it should only be used by students to examine texts where the economic class of the individuals in the text is evident and can actually be discussed. Also, since the lens asked students to examine more complex ideas such as ideologies and how the text is a means of control, I would probably only use it in the high school grades with students who have familiarity with using lenses and understand what the ideas discussed in the Marxist lens mean. I will most likely use this lens to have students examine texts such as short stories, articles, novels and plays where the topic of economic or social class is discussed and is actually evident to the reader. I will not use this lens to have students discuss a short story about nature or something like that where it does not apply. I probably won’t use this lens to have students examine a poem unless I find one that perfectly applies and has a decent amount of length, as I found when using this lens myself that I needed more material to work with than I did for most of the other lenses and poems are generally much shorter than other forms of writing.

            The third critical lens that I will discuss how I may or may not use in the classroom is the gender or feminist lens. As with the reader response lens I really like the feminist lens and think that it is versatile and can be applied to most of the texts that students read. Pretty much all texts have characters of different genders present or at least the ones I will use will, so that is what makes this lens very versatile. Also, since students now more than ever have an understanding of what ideas are sexist and are more cognizant of the roles that gender plays in a person’s life, even from a young age, I believe that this lens can be used as early as grade seven English. I can see myself using this lens fairly often in all the courses that I teach since it contains topics that most students have at least a decent understanding of and is fairly straightforward to use. I will use this lens to have students examine all different kinds of texts including short stories, novels, plays, articles, poems and whatever other forms of written works I can find. However, I will not have students use the lens where its application is not evident or does not make sense such as when examining a work about death or when a different lenses’ application would make more sense such as a work mainly about wealth disparity (Marxist lens).

            The fourth critical lens that I will discuss how I may or may not use in the classroom is the post-colonial lens. I can see myself using this lens a couple times throughout the semester in certain English courses that I teach. However, as with the Marxist lens this one must also be used with texts that contain or discuss certain topics. In this case it must be evident that the text discusses colonized cultural groups and cultural conflicts, among other aspects related to colonialism in order to be used. Also, since the topic of colonialism and other aspects related to post-colonial theory are sometimes hard to understand, I do not think that I would use this lens any earlier than grade 10 English. I would also ensure that all students knew what colonialism means and what it entailed prior to having students apply this lens to examine a text. I would also not use it with students who are unfamiliar with applying critical lenses to examine texts since it can be fairly difficult. I will use this lens to have students examine various types of written works where it is evident that colonialism is discussed or present, specifically short stories, novels, poems, articles and possibly plays that relate to Indigenous people and their experiences with colonialism and how it impacted them. I will probably not have students use this lens to examine anything other than the above, at least not at this point.

            The fifth critical lens that I will discuss how I may or may not use is the new historicism lens. I will most likely not use this lens very much in my teaching as I find it one that is very difficult to use. Due to its difficulty I would probably only use the lens in the upper high school English courses. Also, the lens is not as versatile as certain other ones since it can only be applied to texts where history and historical events are discussed. When I do use this lens in my classroom it will be for short stories, articles and potentially plays that relate to history or historical events in some way. In all likelihood I will use the lens to examine texts that discuss some aspect or aspects related to Indigenous Canadian history. Other than the above I probably will not use the lens a lot in the English courses that I teach. I can actually see myself using it more in history courses that I teach since I find it to be a unique way of looking at history and historical events.

            The sixth critical lens that I will discuss how I may or may not use is the deconstructionist lens. I probably won’t ever use this lens in my teaching since I find it incredibly difficult to use and apply to texts. I may use a modified version of the lens that contains the easiest aspects of it to use such as examining the oppositions in the text and which opposition appears to be favored, but I cannot see myself using the full version of the lens that we used in ECUR 379 at any point in my career. I would also only potentially use a modified version in the upper high school grades of English, since I find even the easiest aspects of this lens difficult to use.  The lens technically could be used to examine most texts since it is about deconstructing a text and pretty much all texts can be deconstructed. However, again due to its difficult it would be hard to explain how to use to students and most of them would struggle a lot with using it. If I were to use a modified version of the lens, it would be to examine a short story.