Thinking themselves free
Subtitle: teen mothers, literacy, and education
By: Cynthia Miller Coffel
Series: Counterpoints: studies in the postmodern theory of education -- v. 389
Publisher: P. Lang; Peter Lang
Published: 2010
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 169
ISBN-13: 9781433109720; 9781433109737
Description: Thinking Themselves Free presents humane, tender portraits of a small group of teen mothers trying to finish high school, and describes the ways in which reading, writing, and schooling shaped these young women's lives. The book suggests ways in which deeply held ideas about class, appropriate gender roles, and the expression of emotion in school affect educators' relationships with students who are different from the middle-class norm. Teachers of teen mothers describe with poignancy the young women's struggles to balance motherhood, work, and school, and suggest how schools could change to become more open to the diversity of life choice these women express. --Book Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Marginal and secret stories; title: Feeling poverty : entering the teen mothers' worlds; title: Interlude : poor girls, reading, and me; title: Life stories : listening to the teen mothers' lives; title: Interlude : "you just don't be using your head!"; title: The teen moms' book club; title: The happy rainy day : teen mothers and teachers writing; title: Interlude : famous mothers and others; title: Schoolgirls : before, during, and after pregnancy; title: These kids are starved for knowledge; title: Interlude : graduation : nine months poignant; title: Stories you have told me; title: Coda : where are they now?.