Family Literacy and Social Justice

Abstract

The new Common Core State Standards are shifting education in a powerful way. Specifically, they are now tasking university teacher educators, K-12 administrators, and teachers to equip students with lifelong literacy skills. Students must learn skills such as how to develop effective argumentation and analyze and interpret complex texts. While such tasks can be quite daunting for the average monolingual speaker, they are even more challenging for children and families who do not speak English as a first language. This chapter examines the development of an eight-week intergenerational family literacy program: Teaching the Acquisition of Language Through English and Storytelling (T.A.L.E.S.). Through the use of the arts and storytelling, families were able to cultivate their bilingual voices and celebrate their multicultural identities. This chapter explores how such programs may be used as a vehicle for social justice, designed to integrate a community literacy model in which all stakeholders are accountable.