I just finished presenting Chillin’ at Club Penguin to a small but enthusiastic group at the OISE Dean’s Conference at University of Toronto. Happy to say that it went well, despite a few setting-up tech glitches (aren’t there always?)
Once myself and my fellow panelists got rolling, we explored how the theories of critical literacy can be applied to children’s in-school and out-of-school texts. For my part, I looked at virtual worlds for children, specifically Club Penguin.
I’m a big fan of vws for kids because I see such potential in them for education. Today, this potential remains untapped and the many of the messages children are receiving are problematic on several levels. This is essentially the jist of my talk. You can real my full thoughts at the presentation blog, here and check out my slides from todays talk just below (which would go well with an audio recording of the talk if one were to exist.)
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My head is still swirling from the great conversations that followed all our presentations. It was good to talk about the issues of representation, equity and critical thinking in the texts our students encounter both in and out of the classroom. I’m taking the time to mull it over in my mind and will definitely continue the discussion in further posts in the coming weeks.
For now, I need to unwind, get outside and soak up some vitamin D.
