What follows are a series of statements from various presentations that Dr. Harste has made which seem to get quoted often. Dr. Harste would say that to some degree these quotes capture “the kind of guy I am.”
“Curriculum is too important to be left in the hand of those who rarely come in contact with children.” (Creating Classrooms for Authors, 1988).
“Children, rather than tests, need to become our curricular informants.” (Language Stories & Literacy Lessons, 1984).
“One possibility for reforming schooling is to build curriculum around the inquiry questions of learners.” (Reforming Middle School Education Conference, 1990, Hawaii).
“There is something about a good teacher that simply takes one’s breath away.” (Presidential Address, Whole Language Umbrella, 1992, Winnipeg).
“Teacher education reform is not easy. Schools of education are full of dinosaurs. They are easy to spot. They have a small head, a big ass, and if you ever try to do something, they trip you!” (Presidential Address, National Reading Conference, 1989, Tampa).
“We must always remember that common sense is really cultural sense” (Quoting Mary Douglas, in Presidential Address, National Council of Teachers of English, 1999, Denver).
“People have a tough time getting a handle on what we mean by the word culture. It is not a commodity that you can or cannot leave on the school house steps. Culture is when you sound like your mother and you never meant to” (Quoting Harold Rosen and Michael Hertzfelt in Presidential Address, National Council of Teachers of English, 1999, Denver).
“If we are to make the kind of educational progress we need to make, it is going to have to begin in the language arts classroom. Where better place to begin!?! We language teachers, after all, understand the importance of voice. Further, we know how to use literature to support critical conversations about social justice, how to use reading and writing as a tool for thinking, and how to support children to interrogate text — politically and ideologically– for purposes of developing an awareness of how texts are and can be used to position people and ideas. We could even help children understand that they haven’t really finished reading until they have taken some form of social action by mentally and physically repositioning themselves in the world. It is not enough, for example, to read about women’s rights. You have to act and talk differently too.”
(Presidential Address, National Council of Teachers of English, 1999, Denver).
“We need to expand our current definition of literacy. Rather than to think verbocentrically, we need to see the goal of a good language arts program as expanding our communication potential, through language, yes, but also through art, music, dance, drama, movement and more.” (Beyond Reading & Writing: Inquiry, Curriculum, & Multiple Ways of Knowing, 2000).
“Literacy always involves an intuitive leap of faith, using the familiar to metaphorically think through the unfamiliar. It is in this leap of faith that sign systems can play a significant role.” (Beyond Reading & Writing: Inquiry, Curriculum, & Multiple Ways of Knowing, 2000).
“I see curriculum as a metaphor for the lives we want to live and the people we want to be.” (Primary Voices K-6, 1990).
“I have this theory that your brain is the same shape as your butt. If you sit too long, everything flattens out. So, stand up. Take a break. Fluff up our butts!” (Workshop, Hawaii, 1980).
“Critical literacy is about creating students who are agents of text rather than victims of text” (Creating Critical Classrooms, 2008)
