Dreamcatcher, Gatekeeper, Spider Web, Safety Net

By using a wide variety of quotations grouped under the four metaphors—dreamcatcher, gatekeeper, spider web, and safety net—the authors replicate for the reader the dissonance of the reading and writing processes as they might be experienced by basic skills readers. While sentences and paragraphs may make sense in a traditional way, the larger semantic cohesion is frustratingly and tantalizingly elusive. The authors question the relationship of basic skills to its students, and implement Bartholomae's recommendation that we start reform of basic education by changing the way we talk about students who do not fit.