Literacy with an attitude

– Chapter 15

20th and 21st century heirs to the

corresponding societies and a new paradigm

for educating working-class students

A review of literacy programs that

have failed throughout history and

across two continents–

Programs have been based on and successfully run by what Aronowitz

and Giroux referred to as “transforming intellectual’s” that is those who

are self-consciously critical of inequalities in our society.

Their mission? Helping students develop a deep faith in struggled to

overcome injustices and change themselves.

The challenge? Programs succeed briefly but without outside support

and sustaining structural integrity these programs have died off.

For a success story we turn to

Brazilian educator Paulo Freire in the

1960s and 1970s…

Freire identified what we now call

“oppositional identity” and

“resistance”.

Working in the slums of Recife he

developed a highly successful

literacy campaign based on the

premise that motivation was key.

• Freire would first meet with the members of

the illiterate community that people tended to

turn to when they were looking for help – the

instinctive leaders of the community.

• He invited them to become the first members

of his class which he referred to as a “Culture

Circle”.

• He first procured the approval of all

surrounding powers and openly

acknowledged that his was a liberating

literacy program.

• Here’s how his pedagogy worked…

• Freire would begin with a discussion about the differences between nature

and culture to help the student leaders to see the origin of something is

nature and other things are created by man. Things created by man are

identified as culture.

• Then this series of drawings would be shown. The bow and arrow in the first

slide represent they are culture and the skills that are passed from father to

son. More complex and more powerful skills not easily accessible are

represented in the gunshot. An animal who has no control over his own

culture and hunting skills is discussed to demonstrate those in nature that

have no power to change their own culture.

• A picture of a common everyday creation within the community, that of pot

making, is shown to demonstrate the power that citizens have to create

within their community. Flower arranging in these same paths demonstrate

the students ability to improve upon and change the every day.

• The creation of books and clothing are then discussed as possibilities for

cultural creation with it in their own community. The final picture is that of a

cultural class.

dialogues – or discussions between equals – are modeled and evaluated

throughout the lesson. Freire considered this the heart of his lesson plan.

As the culture leaders begin to understand that they have the power to change their culture and to

impact their culture, the discussion turns to “generative words”. These are specifically chosen words

in the Portuguese language to begin literacy study.

Imagine the impact of discussions using words like slum, land, food, work, salary, government, brick,

and wealth. Relevance is the unifying trait of the chosen vocabulary list.

These jump off words are used to teach basic phonemic skills. For instance the word for brick, tijola,

might be used in a lesson as demonstrated below.

A Freirean Game Introduced

• The players? Students identified by a random

drawing as the teacher, the student or a

member of the jury.

• Situations are presented. Teacher and

student players act out possible negotiation

scenarios. The jury discusses if it was the

successful, or not, negotiation.

• Strategic discussions and behavioral

metacognition happen spontaneously.

Freirean Motivation

• Distinction between learned versus acquired

discourses.

• Learned discourses might be modeled and

discussed. The learners consciously aware of

the values and attitudes reflected.

• Acquired discourses learned at the mother’s

knee and naturally as we flow through the

world. No serious conflicts between values

represented and all done with little conscious

awareness.

Three Types of Motivation

• Intrinsic motivation – ideal and all teachers

wish their students had it.

• Extrinsic motivation – often used in

domesticating education.

• Machiavellian motivation or Freirean

motivation – the desire to gain justice or

equality and fight to get a better deal for

yourself and families like you. Motivated by a

change.

Frederick Douglass

As a side note, a favorite text to read aloud

during the early stages with a student is a

powerful excerpt from the life of Frederick

Douglass, in his own words.

Parts of this excerpt might be considered

offensive, but I have found that this passage

effectively accomplishes what Freire did with

his drawings - activating internal motivation to

better oneself through learning.

Excerpt From

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave

• Very soon after went to live with Mr. and Mrs. Auld, she very kindly commenced to teach me the

A, B, C. After I had learned this, she assisted me in learning the words of three or four letters. Just

at this point of my progress, Mr. Auld found out what was going on. He at once forbade Mrs. Auld

to instruct me further, telling her, among other things, that it was unlawful as well as safe to teach

a slave to read. To use his own words, further, he said, “if you give an “N” an inch, he will take ell.

He should know nothing but to obey his master ––to do as he is told to do. Learning words spoil

the best “N” in the world.” Now, said he, “if you teach that “N” (speaking of myself) how to read

there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become

unmanageable and of no value to his master. As to himself, it could do him no good, but a great

deal of harm. It would make him discontented and unhappy.”

• These words sank deeply into my heart, stirred up sentiments within that lay slumbering, and

called into existence an entirely new train of thought. It was a new and special revelation,

explaining dark and mysterious things with which my youthful understanding had struggled, and

had struggled in vain. I now understood what had been to me a most perplexing difficulty––to whit,

the white man’s power to enslave the black man. It was a grand achievement, and I prized it

highly. From that moment, I understood the pathway from slavery to freedom. It was just what I

wanted, and I got it at the time when I least expected it. Whilst I was saddened by the thought of

losing the aid of my kind mistress, I was glad by the invaluable instruction which, by the merest

accident, I had gained from my master. Though conscious of the difficulty of learning without a

teacher, I set out with high hope, and a fixed purpose, to learn to read.

A Call to Action

• “If we are truly to educate the vast majority of

working-class children, we need a major

paradigm shift. We must replace the old

paradigm of extrinsic motivation and

individual border crossing with a new

paradigm of Freirean motivation and powerful

literacy, the literacy that will enable the

majority of poor and working-class children to

become better able to exercise or civil,

political and social rights.”