As a student teacher, I have become increasingly aware of why it is essential to nurture family-school partnerships, or 'home-school connections'. As discussed in previous blogs, children bring with them to school different cultures, backgrounds and beliefs which all influence on their literacy learning. Each child brings with them different funds of knowledge and different 'lifeworlds' within their 'virtual schoolbag' (Thompson, 2002). This week we explored the vital importance of understanding these different backgrounds and skills, and how it is important for teachers to create a learning environment which creates meaning and a sense of belonging for students (Louise, 2013).
However, teachers may often have assumptions about children's funds of knowledge and view some students, such as the non English speaking, the disabled or poor as 'deficit' (Comber & Kamler, 2007). It is clear that teacher's must move outside of deficit discourses to move ahead. So how do home-school connections tie in with these assumptions? Well, by developing connections with student's home life, we obtain an insight into the student's life and what particular literacies they experience on a day to day basis. The different funds of knowledge are resources which teachers can tap into to learn how student's learn and to develop productive pedagogies which accommodate to different literacy learner abilities (Allen, 2009). Therefore this relationship ensures both parents and teachers can monitor children's development and progression through learning literacy. It is important that parents and teachers maintain this strong relationship to set their student's up for success in the classroom.
Whilst on my student teacher practicum in prep, I have been observing these home-school connections. I discussed the topic with my teacher, and she explained to me that her way of communicating effectively with the parents and/or guardians of her students was mainly via text message. This also astounded me as it related to the advancing technological communication of literacies in the 21st century. She also explained that the class had a whiteboard on the door to inform parents of any changed or dates to remember. The teacher was informed about every child's individual home life and their funds of knowledge. I also observed that after class every day she would discuss the behaviours of children with their parents, whether they were on task or off. It is clear that this strong relationship between parents and teachers is vital in ensuring the success of every student.
References:
Allen, J. (2009). Diverse families, welcoming schools: creating partnerships that support learning. In C. Compton-Lilly (Ed.), Breaking the silence: recognizing the social and cultural resources students bring to the classroom (pp. 125-140). Newark: International Reading Association.
Effective Strategies for Parent-Teacher Communication, [Youtube], (2012) Retreived from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWNUM-XGpnU
Kalantzis, M., & Cope, B. (2012). Literacies. Australia: Cambridge University Press.
Parent-teacher connections, [image] Retrieved from (http://www.namgis.bc.ca/Pages/Complete-List.aspx)
Parent-teacher connections, [image] Retrieved from http://mrstophamscorner.blogspot.com.au/
Phillips, L. (2013). Literacy in Primary and Middle years Contexts: Lecture. Multimedia Presentation University of Queensland, St Lucia
Thompson, P. (2002). Schooling the rustbelt kids: making the difference in changing times. Crows nest: Allen and Unwin.
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment