Review
?The New Literacy is based on research but filled with common sense, cutting through much of the fog of current educational reform rhetoric. Using scholarship, interviews with real people, and current events, authors Morris and Tchudi weave a compelling argument and offer practical solutions to one of the most serious issues facing American education.? --Leila Christenbury, editor, The English Journal
?Too much of the discussion of literacy in the past has been limited, being either naive, negative, or nostalgic. Morris and Tchudi provide a valuable corrective by being expansive, inclusive, and realistic. For teachers, parents, and concerned citizens, this book will be a vital starting point for sane, sensible, and practical approaches to achieving the new literacy in all its manifestations.? --Robert L. Root Jr., professor of English, Central Michigan University
From the Inside Flap
There is no question that literacy lies at the heart of education. But is our definition of literacy too narrow to encompass the demands of today's complex world?In this book, authors Paul J. Morris II and Stephen Tchudi explore what it means to be a literate person in the real world. Using interviews from a broad range of people, they reveal the gulf between what is taught in most schools and what is used in everyday life. In compelling stories--a college English teacher, a police officer, a newspaper journalist, a street sweeper, a fifth grader, and others--tell in their own words how they learned the necessary skills to function at work, in school, and in their communities. The authors identify the common characteristics in each of these stories and suggest ways in which these can be fostered in school classrooms and literacy programs.Morris and Tchudi make the case that successful literacy education demands the development and nurturing of complex cognitive skills, which in turn yield the ability to think critically and analytically and to communicate thoughts and ideas clearly and coherently. Through the use of thought- provoking dialogue, they demonstrate how to promote literacy and they offer reform strategies, curricula, and teaching innovations that can be adopted by public schools, colleges, and teacher education programs.
