How Do We Incorporate the Social & Cultural Contributions of Family & Community Into Schools?

1. How Do We Incorporate the Social & Cultural Contributions of Family & Community Into Schools? NCCRESt National Forum Leadership for Equity and Excellence Washington, D.C. February 8, 2007 Ellen Chernoff, Bil.Prof. Dev. Specialist echernof@gw.neric.org

2. “The students’ cultural diversity and the families lived experience need to become part of the school, but more importantly they must become part of the classroom environment and the development of the curriculum .” (McCaleb, 1994) Goals ( Intro to 5 Strategies) • Parents as Partners/Authors (families’ stories) • Using biography & autobiography to make connections • Tapping hidden community resources • Incorporating culture through the Arts • Selecting & Using Materials

3. Warm-Up Getting Started • What are your earliest memories of learning? • How/What did family members teach you? • What are the oral traditions in your family?

4. Parents As PartnersBuilding Communities of Learners:A Collaboration among Teachers, Students, Families and CommunitySudia Paloma McCaleb (1994) Worked with 1st grade teachers & Parents to create books for classroom reading Began not with books but with dialogue: In what ways do you feel you teach your children? Talk about the ways school reflects or negates what you teach your children at home? Publishing Dialogues led to: • Being authors • Literacy partnerships • Writing authentic families stories

5. Using Biography & Autobiography to Make Connections ABC’s of Cultural Understanding & Communication (P. Schmidt) • Begin with autobiography • Share with someone (parent) from a different culture through interview • Create Partnership • Use with children

6. Tapping Hidden Family & Community Resources Luis Moll (U. of Arizona) under utilized community resources (1994) • Expertise within the community (mining, medical knowledge, masonry, etc.) • Create thematic unit • Invite experts from the community • Design assignments for student based on content

7. Incorporating Culture Through the Arts • Arts as a means by which a people express who they are (music, dance, song, drama, visual art) • Attaching value (Bode quote) • More “hidden resources” • Examples from different cultures & activities for the classroom

8. Selecting & Using Materials Select materials connected to the students’ home culture Conveys respect & appreciation for “gifts” from different cultures Examples: • Family Pictures (Carmen Lomas Garza) • A Chorus of Cultures (Alma Flor Ada) • Honoring Our Ancestors (H. Rohmer ed.)

9. Applications (time permitting) • Honoring Our Ancestors • The Woman That Outshone the Sun

10. Summary Quote “…for all children it is not enough for educators… to develop a discrete set of academic skills. Rather education is about creating partnerships with families and communities so that our children reach their full social, artistic, linguistic, academic, and intellectual potential, while acquiring the cultural competencies needed to live in a multicultural society.” (Chernoff, 2005 in Preparing Educators to Communicate and Connect With Families and Communities)