Included below are some questions to explore your background knowledge of literacy prior to reading the rest of this textbook. Thinking about your background knowledge will help you connect what you are about to learn with the funds of knowledge that you bring to learning more about literacy research and practice.
- How does research contribute to what teachers do in classrooms with their students?
- How do young children learn how to recognize words and comprehend texts?
- What are some similarities and differences in how writing is taught to young children versus adolescents?
- What influence has the digital age had on literacy teaching and learning?
- What instructional strategies are most beneficial for English language learners?
- What do the terms “multimodality” and “new literacies” mean in reference to literacy teaching and learning?
- How do race, ethnicity, gender, disability, and linguistic factors impact the literacy opportunities of students from dominant and traditionally marginalized groups?
If you did not know how to fully answer most of the questions, then this textbook will provide you with a wealth of information that you will need to know and be able to use to become an effective teacher of literacy. Even if you have a great deal of background knowledge related to literacy, this textbook will provide you with helpful examples for how to use that knowledge in your teaching. See the “Questions and Activities” section at the end of this chapter for ideas for how to create a learning plan to prioritize what knowledge and experiences you may want to acquire to become or remain an effective teacher of literacy.