At Home With the Johars

I really thought this was an eye opening article for me. I think that I have that middle class mentality when it comes to home literacy practices. There is such a big push for parents to read to their children, from the media, the education system, and for me past experience. The big message is that parents who care should read bedtime stories. This article clearly shows a family structure that does not include that and the parents in it still value literacy. What's more is the children place a high value on literacy also. It is important to realize what biases you have before you start to teach. If you can't figure out how you feel about different issues then you won't have a clear picture on why and how you react to different situations. Knowing that I have this underlying preference for reading at home by parents helps me to make a conscious effort to find out about home literacy practices of all my students. Placing value on things that might seem unfamiliar to me will help my students feel that they are valued also.