Literary Gaps
I am an African American Pre-K teacher at a private school which offers learning to children using diverse learning ways. I am passionate about transforming the lives of children by helping them to acquire literacy skills. There is nothing more gratifying than watching a little boy or girl come to school without any idea on how to read and write and later leave our watch to go to the next education level fully equipped with these life-changing skills!
However, despite our school, my colleagues and I doing our best at imparting these important literacy skills onto our students, lack of family engagement in their progress seems to stand out as an obstacle that creates a gap in their learning. During school hours, many children seem to be doing very well by the end of the day when they leave to go home but seem to have forgotten everything they had learnt when they come back to school the following morning.
Close observation points this ato lack of family involvement in reinforcing the literacy skills they have learnt. Family members, especially parents and guardians, must recognize that the learning process requires active involvement of both the teacher and the family. Children should be encouraged to practice what they have learnt at school when they go home. Practical examples include making helping the children to spell, read out loud and writing (Kendra, 2014).
Parents of the African American descent are known for prioritizing working over spending time with their children. However difficult it is, they should try their level best to get involved with the learning of their children. Currently, most children view learning as an activity that begins and ends within classroom walls. Instead, they should view it as a continuous life process that happens everywhere with no confines (Dearing et al, 2006). Furthermore, children love to impress and by seeing the family is interested in their progress, they are likely to be more motivated to grasp literacy skills.
References
Dearing, E., Kreider, H., Simkins S. & Weiss, H. B. (2006). Family involvement in school and
low-income children’s literacy: Longitudinal associations between and within families.
Journal of Educational Psychology, 98 (4), 653-664.
Kendra, F. (2014). Bridging the Gap: The Potential of Family Engagement. Stanford, CA: John
- Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities.