Culturally Responsive Literature

Another big point in Prose’s essay is the assignments associated with high school literature. She argues that teachers make students write around the books and not about the books they read. “No wonder students are rarely asked to consider what was actually written by these hopeless racists and sociopaths. Instead, they’re told to write around the book, or, better yet, write their own books,” (430). The assignments that teachers give these days are nto about the book or the story itself. They usually ask the student to rewrite the ending, or ask what the student would do if they were in the same situation as the character. Prose argues that high school students are seen as having the same experience as some of the characters they read about, such as Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby. “And is it any wonder that

Literacy, whether it is reading, writing, or listening, can mean many different things to people. Each form can impact everyone immensely. In 2016 I had a literacy encounter that made a lasting impact on me. That summer I began babysitting John, a precious five-year-old boy, for the sole purpose of building up my bank account. Since both of John’s parents worked long hours at the hospital, John did not get to spend as much quality time with them as he or they would have liked. I felt badly for John, so I made it my goal that the time I spent with him would be meaningful and memorable.

Literacy comes in all different shapes and sizes, and is not always something as simple as a book or literary element. In my case, I consider my high school, Council Rock High School South, to be a very large literacy sponsor for me. I was lucky to have grown up in a middle-to-high class area with a great education system in place. Although Council Rock had great funding and personnel, I did not consider the level of education that I received to be the staple of my literacy. When it came to literacy, there were different types of students who revolved around me during my four years of high school: the overachievers, the underachievers, and the average achievers. The crowd which I associated myself with were the average students and the overachieving students. To myself these groups of people, agreement with a mentor named Malcolm X is very pertinent: “Where else but in a prison could I have attacked my ignorance by being able to study intensely sometimes as much as fifteen hours a day” (X 116). Because of the harshness of some courses, my fellow students and I sometimes felt trapped in the building until the end of the school day.

“Multiplication is for White People”, by Lisa Delpit, presented the facts about what was missing in American education. The missing pieces added fuel to the already burning achievement gap fire. Throughout the text, I connected personally with several of the opinions and information provided. According to Delpit (2012), “educational policy [had] been virtually hijacked by the wealthiest citizen, whom no one elected and who [were] unlikely ever to have had a child in the public schools” (p. xv).I recalled many conversations with my colleagues pertaining to this very idea. How could someone, who had no idea what it was like to be in a classroom, dictate what I did in that classroom? Unfortunately, it seemed that the wealthy citizens in society

The ability to read and write has been considered the most powerful tool for emancipation and the realization of a couple of other things in the society. Education has been considered as the powerful tool against oppression and savagery, and as the adage confirms, “a pen is mightier than a sword.” Many writers out there have crusaded for the importance of education to the society and the importance of a nation educating its people, and especially the girls. Frederick Douglass is one writer from the America’s history of slavery who managed to learn to read and write under his master, his story “Learning to Read and Write,” explores his struggles as he tried to read and write under his master. Nicholas Kristof, a contemporary writer, penned an op-ed in the New York Times on “What’s So Scary About Smart Girls?” where he talks about the importance of educating the girl child. In this paper, we will compare and contrast the two articles, while drawing a cultural reference to the analysis, checking whether they are effective, current, or outdated.

Never before has the society we lived in possessed the level of inclusion and acceptance it does today. Voices that have been denied public forum for centuries can now be heard, relatively uncontested, and we have responded to this by consistently under-utilizing them in the classroom. We have a responsibility to students to do our best to present them with an education that engages them with the material and works to integrate their own culture and experiences. We need to walk away from terms such as “merit” and “great” in the classroom. With that we can facilitate the inclusion of more diverse texts in the school setting, and we can begin to bring the societal revolutions of today to the people they matter to most: the great authors, and thinkers, and movers, and shakers of tomorrow. Inherently, we can bring education back into the realm of the

See, great literature will bring up important topics like religion, racism, and sexism, and those topics should be talked about. However, in Francine Prose’s essay, I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Read, she argues that using literature to teach values is wrong because it takes away from the art of the text itself. Though books may present important topics that can spark discussions of values in classrooms, I agree with Prose that teachers should not use books

While there are children from many socio-economical statuses that may struggle with reading in general, there is a large percentage of children from poor families that have little to no money to spend on things such as books. Children raised in poverty, those who have limited proficiency in English (when taught in an English speaking school), parents' whose reading levels are low, and those with speech, language, and hearing handicaps are also at increased risk of reading deficiencies. Of the 16 million children living in poverty in the U.S., two-thirds don’t have a book to call their own (RIF, n.d). RIF encourages reading for any child not just children that are at risk they essentially cover every child, so there is no real influence to their intervention; they simply want to ensure that every child grows up with the opportunity to

As of 2003, studies showed that 1 in 7 adults in America were proven to be illiterate, meaning they were unable to read and write. More recent studies state that this statistic has shown little to no change in the last 10 years. The rate of literacy in adults is alarming in interest of the fact that children tend to be products of their parents or guardians. These are whom, in the beginning of a child’s life, they get most of their information from. Kids rely on adults for introduction to their home language among other things needed to begin school. The adult literacy rate is capable of directly affecting the child literacy rate. Literacy has been proven to have a significant effect on early child development. Minority children are at a disadvantage due to the fact that parents do not fully

Harold Hodgkinson (1999), a noted demographer, labels poverty as the “universal handicap,” with social class more important than race. Poverty is a reality in our world, and they are a lot of children that are affected by it. Low-income children have a hard time learning how to read because they do not have the necessary support at home. Most of this kid’s parents, work 2-3 jobs to provide their children with a house, food, etc. Since the teacher can control this situations happening at home, she/he needs to find ways to help the student in the classroom. However, this doesn’t mean that low-income parents do not care about their kid’s education. Most of them do value literacy, they just do not have the extra time to help their kids at home.

The anthologies, literary canon of “influential critics”(Landow) is lacking, for instance “Few women writers have managed to gain entrance into such anthologies”(Landow). Despite the fact that women are obviously a huge portion of society, and there are probably just as many female writers, their works are not included. Trapped in socioeconomic restriction, sexism, and racism, many good writers are not represented, despite the positive impact their works could have. Pirofski gives the example that “the use of African American folktales by teachers in the classroom can teach respect for African American culture”. Due to the “exclusion”(Pirofski) of certain works, common literature is therefore not “representative”(Eshleman) of society as a whole. It is ridiculous that “influential critics”(Landow) of “high culture”(Landow) should be able to determine what is read. Not only are they restricting non-mainstream writers but they are determining “what subject matter was “appropriate”(Eshleman)”(Greer). Required reading lists, predominantly of more privileged writers, and sensored subject matter negatively shape the classroom, as well as

In the second decade of the 21st century, cultural diversity has become an incredibly popular idea. The awareness of cultural diversity has integrated its way into all aspects of American society. America is one of the most culturally diverse societies in the world, containing a multitude of different ethnic and cultural groups. Though, success looks different to us all, some studies suggest that literacy skills are vital for cultivating a fruitful society. Children learn best when they can identify with the literature they are reading. The relevancy of the character’s, plot, and setting are especially important to early learners, thru literature they begin to absorb the world around them. That is why we must expose early learners to

“A Little child with such a big heart that will be broken en crumbled everything falls apart”. A literature poem that is beautifuly and creatvly assembled using words. This poem has a deap meaning about out society and how we indivaduals are so influnced by it. Eventually, society corruptes our purity and made us crumble until everything falled apart. In this world, literature is used and seen in many different forms, and through this forms we see profound effects in their time and even after that. We can see how literature influences modern society, and how most of the ideas were spread through some kind of literature form. We see the spark of cultural change through influential works of literature, and these works take the forms of writings, movies, or songs. These forms go on to change the core of culture, so we can see a different world every time. It causes us to be very manipulated by the message it spreads out. Literature does spark cultural change using influential works like the Bible, or the song ‘Fireworks’ by Katy perry and even poems like ‘Still I Rise’ by Maya Angelou. These kinds of influntial works tend to spark cultural change throught inspiration and knowledge.

As cited by ASCD (2013), Maranzo and Pickering (2005) delineate the role of vocabulary in literacy development by stating “ knowledge anyone has about a topic is based on the vocabulary of that information”. Students’ ability to utilize and expand their vocabulary base has tremendous implication on their reading aptness. During their elementary years, students from disadvantaged backgrounds augment their vocabulary by 3,000 words per year, albeit middle class students augment their vocabulary by 5,000 words each year (ASCD, 2013). These discrepancies manifest as persistent achievement gaps in reading ability (2013). Furthermore, what is evident is that students able to acquire a large vocabulary early on are in turn adept to learn new words

There are certain literary subjects that are made necessary and become staples in a classroom setting. Many of the topics and stories an English class has to offer, are basic and shallow. This past semester, our Honors English class has covered a plethora of topics via the brilliantly written short stories placed in our corportly compiled textbook. Paying attention to the different pieces of literature within the textbook it becomes clear that there's a certain criteria that is being taught to students. This sort of influence has the power to shape the young minds of the students. Fortunately, the stories within our textbook cover topics that support and celebrate diversity. Those stories that have the greatest impact are stories that become memorable and serve to educate students in a greater way. An excerpt from Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson, When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer by Walt Whitman, and an excerpt from My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass, are the three most compelling forms of literature that have influenced students by supporting individuals, teaching self education, and demonstrating the power of passion.