The purpose of advocacy is to teach students how to navigate, and protest against, systemic injustice. In my students' case, this has taken the form of gaining knowledge about and access to our public library, as well as creating our own school library to combat low literacy rates in lower-income communities. Considering the fact that “literacy gaps in children from different socioeconomic backgrounds exist before formal schooling begins," it is essential for me as an early childhood educator to do whatever I can to prepare my students for literacy success (American Psychology Association, 2019). Since my students are very young, much of this advocacy project has been teacher-led, but I kept my students informed of what I was doing and why, while also using their input to inform decisions.
At the beginning of the year, we did not have a school library on our campus, and the majority of my students did not have library cards to access the public library. In this section, I detail how I helped my students fight this injustice by informing them (and their parents) about resources available through the public library as well as creating a school library on our campus.
While the public library is a resource open to everyone, when speaking with my students at the beginning of the year, I realized they were not utilizing it. In this section, I detail the steps I took to help my students and their families understand and access the public library more fully.
Libraries and access to school and public literacy resources are rights that children who attend wealthy schools rarely need to consider. Our campus, which is a K-1 campus, had no school library on it until this year when I took up the project. This section covers the steps I took to ensure my students' access to this crucial literacy resource. It also details how my students came to understand the injustice of not having a school library and advocated for sharing this resources with the community.
Part of empowering students through advocacy is teaching them about unfair access to resources. My students come from an economic background which could put them at risk of falling behind their wealthier peers due to lower literacy rates. Not having access to books at home and at school exacerbates this problem. By teaching my students about the importance of libraries, helping them take advantage of the public library, and creating a library at school, I have helped them understand the importance of literacy and self-advocacy while also providing them with a resource that can help close the literacy achievement gap.
References
American Psychological Association. (2019). Education and socioeconomic status. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/pi/ses/resources/publications/education.aspx.