"Critical literacy" is a set of skills and dispositions that promote creative teaching and active learning. While the term is relatively new, the concept is basic to all good pedagogy. For college students, Critical Literacy is the ability to read with comprehension, think critically about course content, write in a manner appropriate to specific disciplines, and become actively engaged in learning. For college faculty, Critical Literacy offers a fresh perspective on the process of teaching and the process of learning, as well as methods for assessing whether learning is occurring.

    Educators involved in the Critical Literacy movement support the investigation of learning theories and the development of classroom practices that enhance critical thinking. Major areas of interest include course design/redesign, sequencing of assignments, cultural/gender influences in learning, learning styles and teaching styles, and collaborative learning, as well as a new look at Writing Across the Curriculum. The CL movement encourages all faculty to build on what they already do well, to investigate new areas, and to share experiences and insights.

    At Montgomery College, a formal Critical Literacy initiative was launched in 1990, when the Writing Across the Curriculum Committee, a collegewide faculty committee which had been meeting since 1984, voted to broaden its focus to Critical Literacy. During its seminal years, the Critical Literacy movement sought to involve MC faculty through the following programs and initiatives:

• From 1992 to 1997, we sponsored year-long series of biweekly seminars for "fellows" who included full-time and part-time faculty, librarians, and learning resource personnel. During the early years, we relied heavily on outside "expert" presenters. As the program evolved, we were able to facilitate most seminars sessions ourselves. Each May during Professional Week, "graduating" fellows offered to the full College faculty a presentation of work they had done during the seminar year.

• During Fall and Spring Professional Development weeks, we sponsored open workshops, seminars, and colloquia that brought to Montgomery College distinguished theorists and practitioners of Critical Literacy from institutions around the country.

• Our ongoing mentoring program paired alumni "fellows" with new College faculty.

• From 1995 to 1998 we sponsored a regional Cherry Blossom Conference on Critical Thinking: Concomitantly, our own faculty attended and offered presentations at regional, national, and international conferences.

• Working in cooperation with our Center for Teaching and Learning, Critical Literacy sponsored a multimedia materials development project, which granted released time to selected seminar alumni to develop instructional materials in their disciplines.

    As theorist/practitioners of learning, we are most excited about our current work:

• During January Professional Week, we sponsored a workshop on "Designing and Evaluating Writing Assignments." Our presenter was Joyce Magnotto Neff, professor of English and director of composition at Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia. Although the format of this event may sound traditional, we had a large turn-out, a provocative discussion, and an enthusiastic call for follow-up. You can learn more about Writing Across the Curriculum at MC by contacting Prof. Barbara Stout at bstout@mc.cc.md.us.

•  This academic year we are undertaking a major new college-wide and community-wide project called "Community Conversations," which links Montgomery College classes and community groups in the interactive study of a single powerful theme. For the Spring 1999 cycle, Conversations participants are studying the theme of violence -- the nature and impact of violence in our lives. Fifteen Montgomery College courses from fields as diverse as Biology, Sociology, Women's Studies, Philosophy, English, Psychology, and Speech are now turning their special energies to the task.

Joining the conversation in a culminating Town Meeting will be community respondents from government, law enforcement, public education, mental health, and the media. The project coordinator, Prof. Marcia Bronstein, welcomes your inquiries at mbronste@mc.cc.md.us.

• Our active Critical Literacy "alumni fellows" began the academic year with a reunion breakfast in August and now regularly keep in touch through an on-line discussion group, accessible through the web page at http://www.eGroups.com/list/critlit/, as well as the general Critical Literacy web page you are now visiting.

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