home

Curriculum and Culture - Dr. Thao Winter 09 (The file to the left will always be the updated version) **Chapter 4 Outline** I. Introduction (quick connection to the chapter) II. Class Discussion with created questions. III. Connection to Trumbull article IV. Activity—Encouraging Parent Involvement in the Classroom through Cultural Fair.

**Chapter 4 summary** Parent involvement is key to bridging cultures between home and school. We need to think of new ways of relating to parents in order to strengthen the parent-teacher relationship. The strategies discussed in the chapter suggest ways to compromise between the individualism and collectivism orientations. Through the use of cross-cultural strategies, elements of both viewpoints can be weaved together to meet the needs of both cultural viewpoints. This will allow us to reach out to parents more frequently and in more personal ways. The authors suggest taking advantage of “everyday” interactions. These types of interactions include informal conversation and impromptu classroom visits. Research shows the desire of parents to have frequent interactions with teachers and other school personnel. The authors noted that school may be “unconsciously discouraging parent involvement,” particularly at the middle and high school levels. Although schools may have rules in place for safety of students, school personnel must recognize that prohibiting parents from entering campus freely may make parents feel excluded. Communication between administrators and parents can help to avoid misunderstandings. The importance of understanding parents’ viewpoints and cultural differences is emphasized in this chapter. Cultural differences may cause parents to react differently to school events, such as field trips. Teachers should allow parents to have opportunities to ask questions and participate in discussions when concerns arise. Formalized opportunities for parent-teacher interactions may be effective. One teacher noted the effectiveness of monthly parent meetings, which allowed for a formal discussion as well as time for informal interactions. These interactions were not to instruct parents, but rather to share information and seek input. These monthly meetings can also be a way for teachers to share information with immigrant parents about the US school system, the expectations of school and how they may be explicitly different from their home culture. Parent volunteers are encouraged in most schools. Immigrant parents may be concerned by their own lack of formal schooling, but teachers can find ways to involve parents from all cultures. Teachers can facilitate the volunteer process by educating themselves about the culture of the parents and working to build relationships. Teachers can take on the role of an ethnographer to get to know the families of their students. The information they obtain can be invaluable in helping to decide what types of volunteer opportunities they should construct for their parents. The key is to offer a variety of volunteer opportunities that offer explicit instructions, as well as, academic and non-academic tasks.

**Questions:**

I have a possible activity for each of five countries... many of the activities relate to a religious holiday in that country or dress, and I can find something to do for food in one of the countries instead of an activity if we choose. At this point the 5 countries I have are: Mexico, Ghana, China, France, and Brazil. I found a lantern craft for Chinese New Year, a paper maraca craft for Carnaval in Brazil, a monk craft or a castanets craft for all saints day in Brazil, a dress up activity for traditional Ghana clothing, and maybe for Mexico we could teach the parents how to make a traditional food like tortillas or churros and chocolate' Do those sound like feasible projects to try or do to include parents? I have a copy of the flags for each of the countires and some cultural papers that talk about the land,people,schools, and food for each country. Is that what we were hoping for, or should I head in another direction? Just wanted to run it by everyone. Have a good night all. Erin

The summary is great. It hits the main points of that chapter. I had a rough idea for an activity. Let me know what you all think...

Since our chapter is about parent involvement, I think our activity should focus around that concept. I found an article by Trumball (Parent Involvement in Schooling—According to Whose Values?) and was thinking about the section that calls for parent and teacher changes (p.53). We could take the three main changes suggested (Increasing proximity to families, designing new classroom practices, and exploring new roles) and break the class up into groups. They could read their short section, pull out the ideas from the reading, plus add on their own ideas. They could do this on large pieces of butcher paper. Then we could have the groups rotate around to each topic to read what was written, as well as, add on any new ideas. Once they returned, they could share out whole group. We could compile the ideas and give a document to the class the following week. So they sort of have a whole list of new ideas on how to engage parents effectively. We could add a group also, like what not to do or how we are discouraging parent involvement. Just an idea, hope it is clear and makes sense. Let me know if you like it or not:) I attached the article too. Cheers! Jen