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Anti-Literacy Laws
Between 1740 and 1867, anti-literacy laws in the United States prohibited enslaved, and sometimes free, Black Americans from learning to read or write. -
Moby Dick
Moby-Dick is an 1851 novel by American writer Herman Melville. The books plot have proved accommodating to interpretations by successive generations, which have found in the novel representations of imperialism, same-sex marriage, and climate change. -
The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby is a 1925 novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Gatsby attracted popular and scholarly attention. Scholars emphasize the novel's treatment of social class, inherited versus self-made wealth, gender, race, and environmentalism, and its cynical attitude towards the American Dream. The Great Gatsby is widely considered to be a literary masterpiece and a contender for the title of the Great American Novel. -
Louise Rosenblatt: Publishes Literature as Exploration
Rosenblatt is most widely known for her “reader response” theory of literature. The process of reading is a dynamic transaction between the reader and the text, in which meaningful ideas arise for readers from their own thoughtful and creative interpretations. Her reader response theory stresses the importance of the reader in making meaning from a text. -
Maria Montessori
Maria believed that children needed early, orderly, systematic training in order to master skills. The curriculum includes learning reading and math using manipulative materials. -
Chall's Stages of Reading Development
This development discovered by Jeanne Chall changed the way students learn to read with her stages of reading development. Chall was the first to delve into the complex and widely debated ideas on how children learn to read and how stressors like poverty limit a child's ability to do so. -
Culturally Responsive Teaching
Culturally responsive teaching is when a teacher incorporates different cultures, perspectives, and customs within their teaching in order for students of all backgrounds to feel seen and included. Culturally relevant teaching was made popular by Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings in the early 1990s. -
"Science of Reading" Laws
This law ensures all K-3 teachers were trained in the Science of Reading using an intensive literacy training known as Language Essentials for Teaching Reading and Spelling (LETRS) to equip educators to know what literacy skills to teach, the background research supporting those methods, and how best to teach them. As of January 24, 2024, 37 states and the District of Columbia have passed laws or implemented new policies related to evidence-based reading instruction since 2013.