Front And Center Podcast
1) Teachers engage teens with realistic fiction, 'street literature'
Front and Center visited classrooms around Chicagoland to hear what gets teens excited about reading.Amy Correa teaches sixth and seventh grade at Agassiz Elementary School in Chicago.
2) Literacy and civic participation
For Front and Center, Michigan Radio’s Jenn White hosted a one-hour show on June 13 exploring the ways in which low-literacy can affect an American’s civic participation.
3) Getting a 'Jumpstart' on literacy
Every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon around 3 p.m., a group of Northwestern University students in red Jumpstart T-shirts trickle into the Howard Area Community Center. Once inside, the Jumpstart memb...Show More
4) A high school confronts its reading struggles head on
Poverty and safety are some of Fenger High School's major concerns. Reading is another.
5) Writing poetry improves reluctant readers' literacy skills
On a warm Friday evening, Chiara and her friends are huddled over paper and computers. They aren’t distracted by the shouts and laughter drifting in from the playground behind them. These students are...Show More
6) The cost of literacy: Overcoming learning disabilities
Like one in five students, 9-year-old Jacob Forst has language-based learning disabilities that affects his reading and writing abilities. A school like The Hyde Park Day School sounded just right for...Show More
7) The death of cursive writing
New Common Core standards require students to become proficient with a keyboard. Forty-five states have adopted this comprehensive change to K-12 curricula. Now educators must decide whether they want...Show More
8) Adults without literacy: 48-year-old man learns to read
9) Detroit international bridge project going nowhere
The busiest international crossing in the United States is in Detroit. Each year more than $200 billion worth of trade crosses the border there. Those trucks drive across the Ambassador Bridge--which ...Show More
10) Rustbelt city wants immigrants, skilled or not
To create businesses and jobs, some cities in the Midwest are trying to lure immigrants. Dayton, Ohio, stands out for welcoming newcomers without wealth or training—even those who lack papers to...Show More