PoMo* Cloze Exercise for Literacy Practioners

Use the word lists to complete the dialogue — or use your own words.

Please submit your completed dialogues to literacyenquirer@yahoo.ca.

*post-modern

by T&T 2004

Hey Pomo, did you know that _________ people are less healthy than rich people?	Oh yeah? Is that about their lack of _________?	I don't know. I think it's _________ .	Why can't it ever be _________ with you Pomo?
1.oppressed 2. illiterate 3. poor 4. labeled 5. disenfranchised	1. education 2. learning 3. literacy 4. money 5. identity	1. complicated 2. untrue 3. a socially constructed discourse 4. simple	1. simple 2. predictable 3. clear 4. linear

Five salaries

by Maria Moriarty

CEO – Canadian Tire: $ 8,547,543 annually or $4696.45 per hour (for a 35 hour week)

Average hourly salaries for literacy workers in Community Based Literacy Programs in Ontario

Executive Director of a Literacy Program: $21.44/hour
Program Coordinator: $17.87/hour
Paid Instructor: $17.08/hour
Unionized Literacy Instructor in a school board program: $32.59/hour

Cost of Living
Tank of Gas - $30.00
Large Pizza - $20.00

Teacher-activists: A story about education reform

This is Laure Gaudreault.

She was born in 1889 and began her teaching career in 1906. Gaudreault taught in rural Quebec for many years and then became a journalist. She took advantage of this forum to raise public awareness about the plight of the rural teacher. She returned to the classroom in 1936 and found that working conditions for female elementary school teachers in rural areas had not improved during her absence.

Gaudreault decided to organize an association for these workers. On November 2, 1936, the Association des institutrices rurales de la province de Québec held its founding meeting. Then Gaudreault travelled across the province -- under her leadership thirteen regional associations were created and more than 600 teachers became members.

In February 1937, the association delegates assembled as the new Fédération des institutrices rurales de la province de Québec and nominated Gaudreault as president.

One way that she kept the federation strong was by ensuring communication among the regional associations — she published and edited La petite feuille, the voice of the elementary school teachers.

Gaudreault resolutely defended the rights of female elementary school teachers as she worked to improve their working conditions and professional status. She laid the foundation for teacher professional development through various committees and study groups. Throughout a career that spanned more than 60 years, Gaudreault’s involvement in unions and her will to change the teaching environment in Quebec was an inspiration to all who met her. Teachers as well as Quebec society benefited from her contribution to the development of unionism in Quebec. TM