"...As Soon As She Opened Her Mouth!": Issues of Language, Literacy, and Power

"The degree to which you do not experience these extensive uses of print in your young life is the degree to which you do not know / understand the concepts that are so crucial to making sense out of beginning reading and writing instruction in school." pages 125-26

I had a strong reaction to this statement written by Victoria Purcell-Gates in her text on literacy knowledge in young children. I work at a local elementary school with an after school program, Boys and Girls Club of America, and I interact with kindergartners for "power hour". Power hour is a 45 minute time period where the students have the opportunity to complete homework and if they have no homework there are folders with worksheets they can complete based on what they have been learning in the classroom. After reading the text by Purcell-Gates, the kindergartners popped into my mind when I read about experience and prior knowledge to be successful in knowing how to read and write proficiently. The lower class being the individuals who lack the appropriate skills needed to succeed, and the middle-class individuals being the ones who do succeed. I have to agree with the author of this text in saying the problem with some children lacking the literacy knowledge does not necessarily mean they can't learn based on their socio-class or being poor. I have observed among my kindergartners that all of them appear to come from middle-class homes, but there are some that are outstanding in knowing their "popcorn words" and others who have no clue even though we review the words almost ever day during the time needed for homework. The children who do not their words have told me they practice at home and their parents read to them and work with them with writing and reading. Then the children who struggle are the ones who have told me their parents simply do not have the time to work with them in practicing the words or reviewing with them. Thus, this goes back to the idea of experience and culture of which the children live and are growing up amongst. I believe it doesn't matter whether a child is poor or rich, it all comes back to experience and how much the parents or guardians are paying attention to them and providing them with knowledge and practice outside of a classroom or school. Without experience in doing anything, no person could possibly have the knowledge to understand the concept of how to do it or learn it. Piaget even though no mention of culture had the idea that students and/or children learn best through experience.