Freeman, Y. (2004, April/May). Connecting students to culturally relevant texts. Talking Points, 15(2), pp. 7-11.
By allowing readers the opportunity to connect to o their own prior knowledge, readers become more confident, read more, and thus gain proficiency. The author also suggests that using culturally relevant texts helps readers learn about who they are—confirming and rejecting identities. It is important to make the distinction between multi-cultural and culturally relevant. A text that is culturally relevant connects to the life of the reader, not necessarily to the reader’s race/ethnicity.
As a beginning literacy coach, and professional development presenter on the topics of content are literacy, this article is especially relevant when advising teachers and other educators about making recommendations about texts to entice or motivate those students who dislike reading or specific subject matter because they feel they can’t relate.
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