ABSTRACT
The lesson-by-lesson format of the basal teachers manuals separated teachers from reading education pedagogy, "deskilling" them of the traits that Susan Mosher Stuard and Robert Smith employed and "reskilling" them with "efficient and effective" general strategies. Throughout the 1980s, the author argues that by framing the teaching of reading as a technical matter, officials separated teachers and students from participation in the development of reading education curriculum. They sought standardization through technological solutions, relying on reading experts to produce basal readers, teachers' manuals, and criterion-referenced tests as commodities for the school market. The author describes his/her influences in a 60-year pursuit of reading for emancipation and of pedagogies that would encourage others to do the same. Along with Peter Rabbit, Gene Vincent, the New York Yankees, and Dr. Seuss, his/her childhood was filled with four stories: "The Troubles", American labor, feminism, and civil rights.
