Literary Mantra

My literacy mantra is related to "understand what you're reading". I have read multiple research that links between background and understanding and how it can affect children's reading. Culturally relevant texts are those that children can connect to and draw back knowledge to make meaning. I agree with the fact that when children are reading they should be able to connect it with their background knowledge and experiences. Research has shown that our background and understanding of the world affects our reading. Therefore, children should be able to make connections through their readings; text to self, text to world and text to text. As a result, culturally relevant texts are the way for children to succeed in their progress towards and- reading comprehension is perhaps the key to literacy. Therefore, connecting children to culturally relevant texts facilitates that comprehension. 

For so many years, I've always wondered why reading texts and understanding it was difficult for me. I used to think that it was because I was struggling with reading it had something to do with the fact that I was not proficient in English. Yet, it had nothing to do with English, it was because I lacked the background knowledge to understand what I was asked to read. Numerous research explained explained to me that I never had culturally relevant texts to connect or draw background knowledge. Reflecting back, I didn't have any background knowledge or experiences with the texts that were given to me to read. This makes me question my teachers, were they not aware of the importance of culturally texts? Did they have little experience using books that relate to their students' cultural background? Did they not know how to implement such texts in their lessons? There are no excuses for not implementing culturally relevant texts because there is numerous research that explains the importance of it. Children are given numerous reading assessments throughout elementary schools and could be doing poorly because they don't have culturally relevant texts to connect to. "I find that students tend to do poorly on reading assessments when they cannot relate to or bring background knowledge to the text they are asked to read" (Reading Horizons, 2010). When teachers use culturally relevant texts, students have a better understanding of the books and, as a result, become more engaged in their reading. I've read and written numerous essays about education and children, in particular, the importance of children reading everyday, phonological skills, diversity, etc in college. I have a lot of background knowledge in education due to the fact that it is my major. Therefore, when I'm reading about education and children, I'm able to connect back to my background knowledge and experiences. When I understand texts more fully, as a result, I become more engaged in my reading. When I become engaged in my reading, it motivates me to read more. 

To ensure literacy interest in my classroom is to help/find texts for my students that they can connect to and draw background experiences from. If I know that my students like to go to the park, ride their bikes or have younger siblings then I can take my class to the library and find the books that they are interested in, and as a result, they'll make connections between the books and their own lives. Therefore, they'll have an easier time remembering the story when they feel personal connections. Eventually, this will open doors to some big concepts and understandings. Overall, I gathered a lot of information about the importance of culturally relevant texts and I'm happy that I did. I cannot wait to implement it in my classrooms.