ABOUT THIS BOOK

A classic work of liberatory education that Jonathan Kozol called “powerful,” by one of the founders of critical pedagogy

In this unique book on education, educator and philoisopher Ira Shor develops a teaching theory side-by-side with a political analysis of schooling. Drawing on the work of Paulo Freire, he offers the first practical and theoretical guide to Freirean methods for American classrooms. Central to his method is a commitment to learning through dialogue and to exploring themes from everyday life. He poses alienation and mass culture as key obstacles to learning, and establishes critical literacy as a foundation for studying any subject.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Ira Shor, an English professor at Staten Island College, City University of New York, has been teaching and writing about education for fifteen years.

REVIEWS

“For teachers eager for rededication and recommitment to teaching through new stimulation, this work is vital. . . . [It is] the most substantial presentation of methods for transferring [Paulo] Freire’s pedagogy from the third to the first world.”

— William Alexander, University of Michigan

“A welcome antidote to back-to-basics frenzy . . . wonderfully restorative.”

— Susan O'Malley, Journal of Education

"Reading this book has made me a better teacher. I do not believe any teacher of reading or writing can read Chapter Four without becoming a
better teacher.”

— Donald Billiar, Community College Humanities Review

“An essential book for those who have not given up on a bond between education and liberation.”

— Dick Ohmann, Wesleyan University

“Powerful, passionate, and straightforward.”

— Jonathan Kozol, author of Savage Inequalities

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface
Part One - Problematic Schooling
1. The Working Class Goes to College
2. Interferences to Critical Thought: Consciousness in School and Daily Life
Part Two - Reconstructed Learning
3. Extraordinarily Re-experiencing the Ordinary: Theory of Critical Teaching
4. Monday Morning: Critical Literacy and the Themes of "Work"
5. Learning How to Learn: Conceptual Thought in a Utopia Course
6. Social Inquiry: Daily Life and Language Projects
7. Questioning Sexism: Poetry and Marriage Contracts
8. Culture Against Itself: Reflection Through Drama
Conclusion: Critical Teaching and a Liberatory Future

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