Quote: "Children's understanding about the purposes of reading and writing reflects how written language is used in their community. Although reading and writing are a part of daily life for almost every family, families use written language for different purposes in different communities."
Comment: It is interesting to think about how each culture and even each family can use literacy, such as written language, differently. I have always felt that written language and reading would be a similar experience for everyone despite where they came from or how they grew up. But as I think about what we have found in history, cultures use completely different techniques. Some cultures used pictures to tell their stories, some used written words in their language, and others used sculpture or architecture to tell their tales of history. We see this also in individual families. Some families may put a focus of writing into journals and keeping a record of what occurances happen to them. Some families may just use written language such as check books, bills, important letters, and cards to keep track of past experiences. Everyone is different and we will encounter this in our future classrooms.
Question: How can we identify what type of experience each student comes from when it comes to literacy and what are some effective ways to bring the entire class of unqiue students together?
I like your thoughts on how everyone uses reading and writing differently. I feel that the best way to understand where each child comes from is to get to know each student personaly, this will build their trust and help them feel important. As to how to help all the students at once I am still working on it, but I would say to try putting them in groups in which the groups of students learn similar to each other.
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