KAT Promotes Literacy for Democracy

Reflections on Literacy

Addressing Your Concerns:
Literacy: Necessary but NOT Sufficient

Gleanings from the Field:
From Vocabulary Exercises to KAT Applications

Notes about the Centerfold Lesson
Using KAT to Enhance Literacy, Comprehension & Civic Action

CenterFold Lesson
Aspects of the Literacy Issue for KAT Study

Adding to Your Resource Base

BreakOut Lesson
Literacy for Democray

 

 


Reflections on Literacy

“If American schools are to be defined by the search for literacy, then civic literacy must take its place alongside science, math, English and cultural literacy.”

Benjamin Barber “Education for Democracy” in The Public Purpose of Education and Schooling, eds John Goodlad & Timothy McMannon (1997) San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

“We do not need to burn books to kill civilization, we need only to leave them unread for a generation.”

Attributed to educator and scholar, R.M Hutchins (1899-1977)

“…the ability to read and write, to understand and be understood, is critical to personal freedom and the maintenance of a democratic society…[an aim of literacy] programs is to ensure that all adults in this country have all the skills required to function effectively as parents, employees, and citizens.”

From Frequently Asked Questions, Literacy Volunteers of America, Inc., www.literacyvolunteers.org 

[Citizens need] “skills in questioning, analyzing, comparing, contrasting and evaluating, so they won’t become addicted to being told what to think and do.”

R.D. Freseman, “Improving Higher Order Thinking Skills in Middle School…” Nova University, 1990, cited by Kathleen Cotton: “Teaching Thinking Skills,” SIRS (NW Regional Educational Laboratory, Close-Up # 11) www.nwrel.org

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