Family Partnerships for Literacy Learning

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Family Partnerships forLiteracy Learning

• SERRRA 2009
• Savannah Georgia
• JoBeth Allen jobethal_at_uga.edu Jessica Chunn
  jessica_chunn_at_gwinnett.k12.ga.us

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Creating Welcoming Schools

• A Practical Guide to Home-School Partnerships
  with Diverse Families
• Published by
• Teachers College Press
• International Reading Association

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Parent Involvement at Your School

• Working in groups of three, make a list of
  everything you do - formally or informally,
  individually or collectively - to invite
  parents/family members to participate in their
  childrens education.
• Share the practices that you think are
  particularly effective as you list them.

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Partnerships that Matter

• Mattingly, Radmila, McKenzie, Rodriguez, and
  Kayzar (2002) analyzed the evaluations of 41
  parental involvement programs. They concluded
  that what the programs counted as parental
  involvement didnt necessarily improve student
  achievement.
• Why do you think that is? What usually counts
  as parental involvement?

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Partnerships that Matter

• Anne Henderson, Karen Mapp (2002)
• 80 studies on parental involvement, preK through
  HS, throughout US
• The evidence is consistent, positive, and
  convincing many forms of family and community
  involvement influence student achievement at all
  ages (p. 7) and across cultural groups.

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Partnerships that Matter

• Family and community involvement that is linked
  to student learning has a greater effect on
  achievement than more general forms of
  involvement.

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Partnerships that Matter

• Practices that engage families in supporting
  their childrens learning at home are more likely
  to improve student achievement.

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Partnerships that Matter

• Families of all cultural backgrounds, education,
  and income levels can, and often do, have a
  positive influence on their childrens learning.

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Partnerships that Matter

• Henderson and Mapp (2002) concluded When
  programs and initiatives focus on building
  respectful and trusting relationships among
  school staff, families, and community members,
  they are more effective in creating and
  sustaining connections that support student
  achievement

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Parent Involvement atYour School

• Put everything on your list in one of three
  columns
• Leads to increased learning
• Deepens relationships
• Does neither (but we keep doing it)

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Paulo Freires Conditions for Dialogue

• Love
• Humility
• Faith (which leads to trust)
• Hope
• Critical thinking and action

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Opportunities for Dialogue

• Issue genuine invitations
• the hand-off
• Tell Me About Your Child
• dialogue journals, weekend journals
• family storytelling

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Jessica Chunn Home Reading Journals
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Strategy Family Funds of Knowledge

• Incorporating family funds of knowledge and ways
  of learning can lead to culturally relevant
  teaching
• Funds of Knowledge Theorizing Practices in
  Households, Communities, and Classrooms, edited
  by Gonzáles, Moll, and Amanti (2005) is a must
  read!

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Family Funds of Knowledge

• Getting beyond group identities to human
  relationships, one family at a time
• Teachers learn family funds of knowledge through
  out-of-school relationships at home, ballgames,
  religious and family events

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Family Funds of Knowledge

• Primarily a shift from deficit thinking - what
  parents and families dont/cant/wont do - to
  what they do, how they do it, and how their kids
  are involved
• Funds of knowledge include work in and out of the
  home, religious and cultural traditions, home and
  vehicle repair, child care, medicine, language
  and knowledge of home country, musical ability,
  entrepreneurial ventureswhat else?

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Your Familys Funds of Knowledge

• Write down 3 things your teachers probably
  didnt know about your family funds of knowledge,
  things that your family knew a lot about,
  talents, interests, work, etc.
• Share them with each other.
• How can you learn about family funds of
  knowledge in your community?

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Strategy Variations on Funds of Knowledge

• Photographs of Local Knowledge Sources (PhOLKS) -
  by teacher researchers in Allen et al., 2002
• Preparation - photo essays, photo practice
• Writing from photos - children families
• Learning from photos - group mediation

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Student-led, Parent-involvedConferences

• Examine parent-teacher conferences
• include students,
• honor parent knowledge, and
• beware of ghosts (Lawrence-Lightfoot, The
  Essential Conversation)

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Intergenerational Literacy Project

• Parents as Classroom Storybook Readers Project
  (Jean Paratore, 2002)
• Parents selected books to read to class
• Practiced with staff (preview, predict, discuss,
  join, retell, etc.)
• Read in either Spanish or English
• Carry-over to home reading interactions
• Parents also created portfolios of learning at
  home and shared at conferences

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Classroom Family Engagements

• Authors in the Classrooms (Alma Flor Ada Isabel
  Campoy)
• Read texts on topic, e.g., Relationships
• Share texts with families
• Teacher writes book or poem on topic
• Students and families write
• Celebration to share all writing (maybe introduce
  next topic)

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Collaborating for a More Just Society

• Of all the civil rights for which the world
  has struggled and fought for 5,000 years, the
  right to learn is undoubtedly the most
  fundamental.a right to an education so students
  may judge the world not as it is, but as it might
  be. W.E.B. DuBois, 1949/1970 (p. 230)

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Collaborating for a More Just Society

• Parent-Kid-Teacher Investigators
• Collaborative investigations
• Multiple literacies and research skills
• Real issues in the community
• Action that grows out of research
• What action research issues in your community
  might teams of parents, kids, teachers,
  preservice interns, and you explore?

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Collaborating for a More Equitable Education for
All

• Patagonia Elementary School, Susan Stropko,
  Superintendent
• School-wide instructional themes and
  celebrations Fall Harvest, Night Skies, and
  Celebrating Community
• Workshops focusing on student learning -
  multi-age classrooms, 6th graders stay in PES

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Collaborating for a More Equitable Education for
All

• Ownership, mutual support, school as cultural
  center of the community AND
• Increased learning and improved AIMS from
  2000-2003
• 3rd grade 53 to 67 passing reading standards,
  47-100 in writing, 33-50 in math
• 5th grade 27 to 75, 9-75 in writing,
  27-63 in math

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What will you do?

• What strategies have been most effective in
  working with faculty and staff at your school?
• Together how might you move current practices in
  the 3rd column to
• 1) increase student learning, and/or
• 2) build deep relationships with families

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Action Plan

• Share the one action, shift, or idea that youve
  developed this afternoon that could have the most
  impact on student learning.
• Good luck - and let us know how teachers,
  students, and families respond! JoBeth Jessica