1. Literacy with an attitude
– Chapter 15
20th and 21st century heirs to the
corresponding societies and a new paradigm
for educating working-class students

2. 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.

3. For a success story we turn to
Brazilian educator Paulo Freire in the
1960s and 1970s…

4. 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.

5. • 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…

6. • 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.

7. • 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.

8. • 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.

9. • 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.

10. 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.
dialogues – or discussions between equals – are modeled and evaluated
throughout the lesson. Freire considered this the heart of his lesson plan.

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. 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.

15. 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.

16. 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.”