Action Reflection Two should cover all the material in Modules 3 and 4 and please use the template to do the assignment.
Module 3
Learning Objectives:
1. Describe ways that teachers/schools can foster collaborative relationships with families.
2.Define “Family Literacy.”
3. Identify the four critical perspectives on family literacy programs.
4.. Identify the eight emerging principles for family literacy programs.
Part I: What is Parent/Family Involvement?
How Do You Define “Parent Involvement?” I would like for you to consider how you define parent involvement in the schools. Please take a few moments to respond to this question. Draw on your memories and experiences in any of your school related roles; as student/child, as parent or guardian, and as a schoolworker. Consider how your own experiences have shaped your beliefs and perceptions regarding this topic. We will use this as a springboard for our discussion.
Teacher Attitudes: Examining and Adjusting Your Own Some of the biggest barriers to communicating and working effectively with families are the attitudes of teachers toward families and families’ attitudes toward teachers. Some teachers have a bias against parents- setting themselves above the group with whom they are supposed to work. This may be an unconscious attitude, but it comes out in behaviors. It also shows up in language when professionals generalize. Conscious or unconscious stereotypes can get in the way of forming partnerships with parents.
Here are some helpful approaches:
Become aware of when you are generalizing and catch yourself. When one parent is making things difficult, it’s not uncommon for a teacher to complain to a colleague about parents in general.
Avoid stereotyping. Just by living in a racist, classist and sexist society, we unconsciously take in stereotypes. The media is full of them – for example, making fun of people with accents or of people with differing abilities. Become aware of your own stereotypes and try to move beyond them. Making an effort to know individuals from a group that you have a tendency to stereotype will broaden your viewpoints.
Building Collaborative Relationships (From “Developing Collaboration with Culturally Diverse Parents” by Edwards and Danridge, 2001) Although the research literature strongly advocates for home-school partnerships, teachers have only had minimal success forming and maintaining these kinds of collaborative relationships, particularly with parents from diverse ethnic, racial, linguistic, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Why? Consider this question in your discussion posting.
The authors believe that one important reason for teachers’ inability to create these collaborative relationships with parents from diverse backgrounds is their strong reliance on traditional methods of parent-teacher interactions (i.e., open houses, conference, special school events). Because these forms of communication are deeply rooted in academic, middle class discursive practices, parents from poor, minority, or immigrant communities might feel alienated and inferior.
Let’s take a few minutes and consider these ideas. Why might some families not feel welcomed by a school? What other obstacles or difficulties might deter parents from being “involved” in the school? Examine this poster that I created for a conference presentation. see link: Poster presentation.ppt
Collaborative relationships between teachers and parents can be reinforced and nurtured by enlisting the support of people who work in local community agencies and institutions. Open and honest communications between teachers and community leaders can provide a great deal of information about the social, economic, cultural, and educational needs of communities, as well as suggestions for appropriate ways to interact with parents.
A Partnership is different from parent involvement because it implies equity and shared power rather than one side dominating the other. In a partnership, roles and responsibilities may differ, but both sides have rights. At the heart of a partnership lies the welfare of the child. Each partner – family member, teacher and community stakeholder brings different strengths and skills to the partnership.
Let’s consider some examples of “Full-Service” schools on the Coalition for Community Schools website. How do these schools connect to families in “nontraditional” ways? Let’s brainstorm some ways that every school could be a resource for families and services. Examples from your experience? What are some strategies that teachers can use to collaborate to improve situations for families they serve? Check out the two links below:
http://www.communityschools.org/ (Links to an external site.)
http://www.edutopia.org/whats-next-2008-community-services (Links to an external site.)
Part II: What is “Family Literacy?”
Examine the document linked here: Family Literacy .pdf
Begin to develop your vision of supporting the literacy development of your students and their families.
Module Four Learning Objectives:
1. Examine a broad definition of Family Literacy.
2.Identify a wide range of literacy practices that contribute to children’s development.
3. Identify challenges to constructing a family literacy program.
4. Identify approaches that contribute to success.
For Week 8 please read the article at this link: Constructing a Family Literacy Program.pdf
Although the program described in this journal article is from Australia, it closely mirrors what you would typically expect in a similar community here in our own region of NC or elsewhere in the U.S.
I especially like this article because it includes the best “definition” of family literacy that I have seen. Read it in the context of the article and now revisit it here:
Family Literacy — “The literacy events in which children are immersed outside the classroom. These events may include a range of reading, writing, speaking, listening, computer and viewing activities, with a range of people of different ages, either related or unrelated to the literacy learner and will be shaped by the cultural environment in which the literacy learner is located” (Jay and Rohl, 2005).
The reason I like this definition so much is that it is broad and includes a wide range of literacy practices that are sometimes devalued or neglected in schools.
My own experience working with families is that when asked about literacy practices the are most likely to define them in a very narrow sense; as reading books and writing as compositional text. In other words families (and especially the ones who you are working hardest to reach) have come to believe that “school literacy” is what is valuable and the kinds of things they are doing on the home-front don’t count as literacy.
And where have they gotten this notion? Well, from school teachers, ones they remember from their own childhood and the ones who are working with their own children.
Who tends to do well in school? Those kids who were good with reading, writing, math etc.
Who tends to struggle in school? Those kids who we fail to engage as readers and writers.
What kinds of literacies get valued in school? Primarily reading and writing and listening.
There is a fairly narrow band of literacy practices that get reinforced in schools and many other practices that are neglected, marginalized or discouraged.
What is required by us is to expand our notion of what counts as literacy, recognize and value a wider range of literacy practices and then work to empower parents to take a more active role in supporting literacy growth in school and at home.
