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Literacy

Tools for Understanding and Action

  • What is Literacy?

    When Paulo Freire published Pedagogy of the Oppressed in the mid-’70s, he transformed the landscape of adult education by stating what great teachers have always known, but few had articulated so forcefully: that genuine learning can only occur within a context that is meaningful and relevant to the learner.

  • Teaching Teachers About Talk

    On the third floor of Larsen Hall at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, thousands of video and audiocassettes line the walls of a room not much bigger than a closet. The cassettes contain data of an unusual sort—voices of children in ordinary conversation with each other and with adults at school, at play, and at home.

  • Building Consensus, Building a Future in Papua New Guinea

    The most famous example of the linguistic theory known as the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis is the multiple words Eskimos have for snow. Similarly, Micael Olsson uses the theory to provide insight into his research and collaborations with the Barai people of Papua New Guinea. The Barai have 30 different words for “yam”—one of their staple crops—but only one word for any piece of furniture with a flat surface (i.e., bed, chair, table, bench, desk, counter, and cupboard).

  • New Media Literacy

    “History is changing,” write Cornelia Brunner and Bill Tally in their new book, The New Media Literacy Handbook: An Educator’s Guide to Bringing New Media Into the Classroom. “Broadly stated, the change can be described as a shift from neat history to messy history. Neat history is characterized by a coherent, agreed-upon, linear narrative, and by delivery systems such as textbooks and lecture-and-slide presentations.

  • Inspiring Adults to Learn ... and Parents to Teach

    Dallas Farmer always dreamed of owning his own auto repair shop. He has a knack for taking things apart, figuring out how the pieces fit together, and making them work. But when he couldn’t read auto repair manuals, he couldn’t pass the tests he needed for certification. And when Farmer realized his reading problems were also interfering with his ability to help his kids with homework, he decided to take action.