Family involvement is the number one predictor for a student's success. Chapter 10 focuses on the importance of families when it comes to children developing literacy. Teacher's play an enormous role in a child's life. We are with the children for 30+ hours a week and so much learning takes place in that time. However, we go home at the end of the day and so do the children. The time that the children spend at home is valuable to all involved. Each home works on a very complex system. Things have to get done - chores have to be completed, dinner has to be cooked, homework needs to be done and relaxation is a must. This chapter talks about just how complex family literacy is and how valuable it is to the child's success.
At my childhood home, I had a huge bookcase right outside my bedroom door. It was filled with children's books that my brother and I loved dearly. Every night, I would pick a few books from the bookcase and take them into my parent's room - and they would read them to me. It was a special time for me to bond - and also learn about the joys and functionality of reading. I looked forward to those times - and it gave me something to think about while I headed off to bed.
On page 421, the book talks about what a home that promotes literacy looks like. It describes the home as being lined with books - books in the child's room, books in the kitchen, books in the car, books in the family area and pretty much anywhere the child has access. In addition to books, they also have access to markers, pencils, notepads and different kinds of paper. Environmental print should be everywhere the child goes - and more times than not - it is.
Families that provide rich literacy environments to their child provide various experiences for their child, which heighten the child's responsiveness to the world around them.
As we all know, this perfect picture is often not available for the children. Not every family has the luxury of buying books for their child, or allowing their child to have a nook. As teachers, we need to be aware and responsive to this fact. We need to have resources for the parents in our classroom such as books that parents can take home, resource sheets, game ideas with environmental print (think cereal boxes,) and other ways to give those children the same joy that many of us had as a child.
I agree with you Ellen! Literacy in the home is so important and I thought it was really neat that you tied the importance of families in a child’s education as the number one predictor of a child’s success in school. Having books everywhere is a great way to make print available to the child in almost everyplace he/she goes and you have a point that not all families can provide that many books or technology as books very easily and that’s why it is crucial we as teachers keep that in mind, are sensitive to it, and have concrete resources to give the families who deeply care about their child’s education but maybe don’t have many resources to give to their child. Another strategy for families looking to help their child’s literacy development that was explained in the book was a parent involvement framework or a network of programs designed to involve and inform parents about activities that will promote their child’s literacy development in school. This framework basically gives families activities that are done in school and adapts them to a specific and family so that family can do those kinds of enriching activities at home, to give their child more practice at certain skills that are being taught in school. Not always is it about buying more books or buying a lot of expensive materials but teaching families to look for opportunities that promote literacy and how they can fully take advantage of those for their child. The intent is not to discourage what is already happening in the home but to add these literacy activities as well. Although having literacy materials like books, newspaper, magazines, novels, or even work related material are a vital part of creating a literacy rich environment, two other crucial aspects that I did not think of before are; the quality of interactions that happen during literacy experiences and it also matters that family members have a positive and supportive attitude toward reading and support literacy achievement, and those two do not require a lot of reading materials but it does take time, support, and knowledge on the families part.
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