This book is for teachers, parents, and community organizers who are on the side of working-class children. It's about the resistance of working class children to the kind of education they typically receive, education designed to make them useful workers and obedient citizens. It's about working-class habits of communication and ways of using language that interfere with schooling. It's about a new brand of teachers, followers of Brazilian educator Paulo Freire who are developing effective methods for teaching powerful literacy in American working-class classrooms. It's about teacher networks where teachers devoted to equity and justice find mutual support. And it's about community organizers who are bringing working-class parents together around education issues and helping them mount effective demands for powerful literacy for their children.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Patrick J. Finn is Associate Professor in the Department of Learning and Instruction at State University of New York at Buffalo. His previous books include Helping Children Learn to Read, Helping Children Learn to Read, Second Edition, and Helping Children Learn Language Arts.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Must Read for Every Classroom Teacher,
By Michael (Buffalo, New York) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Literacy with an Attitude (Paperback)
Partick J. Finn's book Literacy With an Attitude is an excellent book that presents a view of public schooling in working class communities that every teacher and parent should read. Finn argues, from a long list of research that is presented in an easy reading and personal style, that schools in working-class neighborhoods do not generally provide the form of literacy instruction [reading and writing] that prepares working class children for occupations of leadership and power, but instead, prepares them for occupations in manual labor, retail, and the like. Finn argues that this is not done intentionally with any overt plot, but rather, is accomplished as part of the normal social order in a society made up of professional, middle, and working class persons. Finn describes how this process works, and does so in a very convincing manner--indeed, it is difficult to put his book down once he gets rolling on this description. He concludes this book with descriptions of how to escape this form of literacy instruction and how teachers and schools can deliver literacy instruction that is enriching, leads to powerful understandings, and changes ways of thinking, not just ways of reading and writing: i.e., literacy with an attitude.
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Absolutly one of the best books you'll ever read!,
By ASchoolGal "aschoolgal" (Riverside, Ca United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Literacy with an Attitude (Paperback)
If you have ever wondered what the difference is between children of working class families verses those of more afluence, (hint, it isn't simply the money) if you ever wondered what the difference could possibly be that leads some children into the chute toward dead-end factory jobs, while others have jobs that hold some promise, this is the book to read! Read it, then take a closer look at your child's classsroom, their homework, they way they are spoken to, etc. Take it with you as a guide and visit the classroom often, and at different times! You may be shocked at what they are actually learning. Be warned--that reading this book gives validity to the saying "The truth will set you free, but first, it will [upset] you ... !"
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Essential,
By
This review is from: Literacy with an Attitude (Paperback)
I found this book to be one of the most important books I've read. I was a working-class student, and Finn's description of typical attitudes astounded me, because I had those attitudes, but thought I was fiercely independent and radically individual. Oh, well.
It is written in a friendly and encouraging way, and offers proven methods to improve education across class and cultural divides.
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Inside This Book
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Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs):
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new literacy classrooms, try eat lid, affluent professional school, executive elite school, domesticating education, powerful literacy, using explicit language, school discourse, transforming intellectuals, involuntary minorities, empowering education, oppositional identity, liberating education, directive methods, crooked letter, corresponding societies, primary discourse, implicit language Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, Pink Panther, Puerto Rican, Civil War, John Carter, New York City, New Zealand, Pat Hutchins, Paulo Freire, Academics Plus, African American, Irish Catholic, Native Americans, New Jersey, Parent Association, Third World, Asian Americans, Crest Toothpaste, Dominguez Hills, Grand Rapids, Hopi Indians, Industrial Areas Foundation, Inspector Clouseau, Mexican Americans, Roman Numeral New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
new literacy classrooms, try eat lid, affluent professional school, executive elite school, domesticating education, powerful literacy, using explicit language, school discourse, transforming intellectuals, involuntary minorities, empowering education, oppositional identity, liberating education, directive methods, crooked letter, corresponding societies, primary discourse, implicit language Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, Pink Panther, Puerto Rican, Civil War, John Carter, New York City, New Zealand, Pat Hutchins, Paulo Freire, Academics Plus, African American, Irish Catholic, Native Americans, New Jersey, Parent Association, Third World, Asian Americans, Crest Toothpaste, Dominguez Hills, Grand Rapids, Hopi Indians, Industrial Areas Foundation, Inspector Clouseau, Mexican Americans, Roman Numeral New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 72
books:
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6
books
cite this book:
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- Rewriting Literacy: Culture and the Discourse of the Other by Candace Mitchell on 9 pages
- Democratic Teacher Education: Programs, Processes, Problems, and Prospects (Suny Series Democracy and Education) by John M. Novak on 7 pages
- The New Literacy: Redefining Reading and Writing in the Schools (Critical Social Thought) by John Willinsky on 6 pages
- Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools by Jonathan Kozol on 5 pages
- Becoming Political: Readings and Writings in the Politics of Literacy Education by Patrick Shannon on 4 pages
See all 72 books this book cites
- Defying the Odds: Class and the Pursuit of Higher Literacy by Donna Dunbar-Odom on page 48, and Back Matter
- Calling Cards: Theory and Practice in the Study of Race, Gender, and Culture by Jacqueline Jones Royster in Back Matter
- Affirmative Action: Racial Preference in Black and White (Positions: Education, Politics, and Culture) by Tim J. Wise in Back Matter
- Ten Traits of Highly Effective Teachers: How to Hire, Coach, and Mentor Successful Teachers by Elaine K. McEwan-Adkins in Back Matter
- Building Academic Literacy: Lessons from Reading Apprenticeship Classrooms, Grades 6-12 (Jossey-Bass Education Series) by Audrey Fielding in Back Matter
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