Teaching Literacy for Love and Wisdom

“These inspirational findings confirm the highest values of democratic education and offer an inspiring vision of what it truly means to put students first. The authors not only describe the future of English Studies, but its best current practices and its deep historical legacy. This book is more than prophetic: It’s necessary.”
—Robert Inchausti, California Polytechnic State University, author of Spitwad Sutras and Thomas Merton’s American Prophecy

“At a time when all the discussion about teachers seems so critical, here comes this book by Jeff Wilhelm and Bruce Novak that brings some light into my world, reminding me as nothing else has lately what it means to be a teacher, and an English teacher in particular. It is enough that this book restores my pride in our profession; that the book also offers examples of great teaching and expands my conception of my own practice—well, that just makes this book all the more of a gift to our profession.”
—Jim Burke, author of The English Teacher's Companion, Third Edition and founder of the English Companion Ning

This powerful book lays out an inspiring new vision for the teaching of English, building on themes central to Wilhelm’s influential "You Gotta BE The Book." With this new work, Wilhelm and Novak challenge business as usual in the language arts. They call for nothing short of a revolution in our understanding of the aims and methods of the English classroom, showing what English can do for democratic life, inside and outside of classrooms. With moving portraits of teachers and students, as well as practical strategies and advice, they provide a roadmap to educational transformation far beyond the field of English that will be of interest to a wide audience of teachers, teacher educators, curriculum developers, and educational leaders.

Essential questions explored by Teaching Literacy for Love and Wisdom:

• Why is what English teachers do so often underestimated?
• How can we teach literature in a way that fully taps into its transformative power?
• How can we artfully teach all subjects, at all levels, for personal wisdom, democratic community, and social and ecological justice?

Jeffrey D. Wilhelm is professor of English Education at Boise State University and author of "You Gotta BE The Book" Teaching Engaged and Reflective Reading with Adolescents, Second Edition. Bruce Novak is the director of Educational Projects for the Foundation for Ethics and Meaning. He has taught English, grades 6–12, at diverse settings in Chicago.

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