Exploring and Expanding Literacy Histories of the United States brings together new scholarship and critical perspectives hitherto missing from dominant narratives to offer a racially, ethnically, and linguistically diverse record of the history of American reading instruction. This book addresses the many important developments in the history of literacy in the United States that occurred outside of mainstream public education, in marginalized communities in and outside of traditional school contexts. Instead of a “top-down” approach of prominent thinkers and theorists, the book intends to cover key blind spots, including literacy education in Indigenous nations, and how marginalized groups have fought for access to education, by applying a critical lens to the under-recognized histories of literacy. This volume is essential reading for courses on History of Reading Education and Foundations of Literacy.

History of the Book in America: Volume 4: Print in Motion: The Expansion of Publishing and Reading in the United States, 1880-1940

Literacy in America: A Cultural History of the Past Century is a history of literacy in the United States over the last one hundred years. Told chronologically and supported by hundreds of research studies done over the years as reported in scholarly journals, the work sheds new light on the important role that literacy and reading in general have played in this country since the 1920s. The subject is parsed through the voices of educators, intellectuals, and journalists who have weighed in on its many different dimensions. Literacy is a key site of race, gender, and class, offering insights related to the social and economic inequities that are embedded in our institutions. The primary argument of Literacy in America is that literacy, as a major part of education, has functioned as a means of social control of children, with authority figures dictating which reading material is acceptable and which is not. Literacy has also operated as a vehicle of citizenship for Americans of all ages, and as a symbol of the responsibilities of democracy. With its ambitious scope, the strives to be a seminal guide to literacy in America and add to our understanding of everyday life in the United States. Most interesting, perhaps, is the twisting, unpredictable journey of literacy since the end of World War I, when I argue that the subject’s modern era began. Rather than follow a straight line, both the perception and reality of reading swerved over the years, offering a trajectory that makes for a compelling narrative for anyone interested in American cultural and social history. Controversy of some kind has often surrounded literacy in the United States, this alone making it a fascinating source of interest to explore in detail.

"We turn information into knowledge by thinking about it. These texts support students in using the Toolkit's comprehension and thinking strategies as tools to acquire and actively use knowledge in history."-Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis To support cross-curricular strategy instruction and close reading for information, Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis have expanded their Toolkit Texts series to include a library of short nonfiction for American history with 10 all-new Toolkit lessons. Building on selections from popular children's magazines as well as original articles, these engaging, age-appropriate texts will keep your active literacy classroom awash in historical resources that depict the controversies, issues, and dramas that shaped historical events, including the exploits of lesser-known individuals. These short nonfiction texts for American history include: 10 comprehension strategy lessons for close reading in content literacy. Short nonfiction articles on a wide range of topics and at a variety of reading levels. A bank of historical images, primary source documents and artifacts, plus primary source documents and artifacts bibliographies, web sites, and ideas for online investigations. A Digital Companion Resource provides all of the texts, primary source documents, and the image bank in a full-color digital format so you can display them for group analysis. Lesson Title 1 Read and Annotate: Stop, think, and react using a variety of strategies to understand 2 Annotate Images: Expand understanding and learning from visuals 3 Build Background to Understand a Primary Source: Read and paraphrase secondary sources to create a context for a topic 4 Read and Analyze a Primary Source: Focus on what you know and ask questions to clarify and explain 5 Compare Perspectives: Explore the different life experiences of historical figures 6 Read Critically: Consider point of view and bias 7 Organize Historical Thinking: Create a question web 8 Read with a Question in Mind: Focus on central ideas 9 Surface Common Themes: Infer the big ideas across several texts 10 Synthesize Information to Argue a Point: Use claim, evidence, and reasoning The CCSS and other state standards expect that children will read a variety of texts on a common topic and synthesize the ideas and information. These short nonfiction texts were selected using the following criteria: Interest/Content Because kids love the quirky and the unexpected, these texts highlight important but often lesser-known or unrecognized perspectives and voices from the past. Visual literacy Since visual literacy is an essential 21st-century skill, these texts include historical images, paintings, and maps, as well as diagrams, timelines, charts, and photographs. Writing quality and accuracy To foster student engagement, these articles feature vibrant language in an active voice supported by a rich assortment of visual features. Reading level/complexity These texts are written at a range of reading levels and include a wide variety of topics to capture the interests of all readers.

Since its original landmark publication in 1980, A People's History of the United States has been chronicling American history from the bottom up, throwing out the official version of history taught in schools -- with its emphasis on great men in high places -- to focus on the street, the home, and the, workplace. Known for its lively, clear prose as well as its scholarly research, A People's History is the only volume to tell America's story from the point of view of -- and in the words of -- America's women, factory workers, African-Americans, Native Americans, the working poor, and immigrant laborers. As historian Howard Zinn shows, many of our country's greatest battles -- the fights for a fair wage, an eight-hour workday, child-labor laws, health and safety standards, universal suffrage, women's rights, racial equality -- were carried out at the grassroots level, against bloody resistance. Covering Christopher Columbus's arrival through President Clinton's first term, A People's History of the United States, which was nominated for the American Book Award in 1981, features insightful analysis of the most important events in our history. Revised, updated, and featuring a new after, word by the author, this special twentieth anniversary edition continues Zinn's important contribution to a complete and balanced understanding of American history.

Aims to shed new light on the issue of literacy in America, providing a social history that broadens the definition of literacy, considering who was reading what, under what circumstances and for what purposes. The book assesses trends in Americans' reading abilities and reading habits.