Some of my comments on “Equity and Literacy: The Challenge of the Decade”, wrote by Enid Lee.
This is a passionate article closely related to “equity and literacy” which we are exploring this semester. The author brings this issue to the educational realm and gives some recommendation to teachers about how to teach literacy. She argues that literacy should be viewed as a tool to bring about equity and be put into a historical context. According to Paulo Freire’s idea of critical literacy, we should not only read the words but also the world. Thus, while students are learning how to read, they should also be taught how to ask questions like, “Who is missing? How can we make a difference?” In this means, students awareness of equity could be raised. Another important thing the author mentioned is students’ prior knowledge should be respected. Everyone can read some codes even if they are not print. Literacy could be something presented when people break into the codes. Everyone has the ability to make sense of the codes. Teachers should try to access to the knowledge exist in students’ head and help them to make sense of the codes. She also shared her thoughts about language and students in classroom. She believes that language diversity in classroom should be appreciated, and student should see language as a smorgasbord from which they can select and create their own identity.
(To see the whole article, pls click below)
