About This Webinar
Literacy and the Science of Reading is a continual hot topic in education as nationally our literacy scores remain low. Culturally responsive instructional approaches in the classroom benefit all students and are easily adaptable across content areas. However, culturally responsive literacy is a more complex approach as it relies on the literacy practices and history of students’ cultures to engage the brain to perform the act of reading. For many Native American students, literacy is grounded in oral tradition, Native languages, and centuries of storytelling which are not typically reflected or valued in Westernized literacy education and standards. This session from the National Indian Education Association will provide an overview of Native literacy history and best practices with an emphasis on oral literacy and storytelling and their alignment to literacy standards. While this session is Native-specific, oral literacy and tradition is deeply rooted in many Indigenous communities and is beneficial for all students.