This article examines the usefulness of engaging culturally relevant texts with five levels of analysis to foster critical thinking and academic writing. Teachers who are not critical of seemingly a theoretical, ahistorical reading methods often overlook the ways that cultural biases in instructional methods ignore the cultural and critical needs of urban students of color (Bartolome, 1994; Morrell, 2008). Using five levels of analysis (explicit, implicit, theoretical, interpretive, and applicable) addresses this concern by challenging students to comprehend the central ideas of texts, interrogate in terms of social justice, connect concepts to their immediate realities and extrapolate useful ideas to apply to their everyday lives.