Parent and School Connection
“We
cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity
for our community…Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations
and needs of others, for their sakes and for our own. You are never strong enough that you don’t need help.”
-Cesar
Chavez
As teachers, I think one of the greatest challenges we face is working with families from different cultures. Overcoming the barrier of language and developing an awareness of the cultural nuances that often influence our students’ perspectives takes a great deal of time and effort. Trying to forge relationships with the families of such myriad backgrounds can be an intimidating and exhausting endeavor. At the same time, creating these relationships and making real connections with our school community is what will ultimately make our job less overwhelming and more rewarding.
Parent
Expectations
In a study conducted among 43 Hispanic families, the following perceptions about the community school and its faculty were revealed:
- Hispanic parents perceived teachers and principals as being distant and impersonal
- Use of English by staff and monolingual teachers felt discriminatory at times
- Differences in linguistic backgrounds among students caused tension
- Even in bilingual programs Spanish was not recognized adequately
To read this study go to http://www.ncbe.gwu.edu/pathways/effective/slide5.htm and click on any related publications.
How Do We Connect
With Our Parents and Children?
Because of factors like Proposition 227 or the mandates given to us by school administration, sometimes our hands feel tied over how to incorporate student language and family culture. Check out some photos below from my 3rd grade class. We did a culture/family study of where we were from and culminated the project with a “Culture Museum” for the families and school community.
Students enjoying taquitos, pupusas, and empanadas The El Salvadorian Exhibits
A question I made my students ask themselves Selenia showing off her exhibit on Mexico
Jose teaching a 2nd grader how to make tortillas
Bilingual
Education
Most Mexican children have far more educational doors open to them than their parents did if they grew up in Mexico. It is our job as teachers to give equal access to these opportunities to all of our students, no matter where they come from. One very controversial topic, especially in California, is access to native language instruction. To learn about why it is important to maintain a student’s native language go to
http://www.ncbe.gwu.edu/askncbe/faqs/12native.htm
To read about 10 common fallacies of Bilingual Education go to
http://www.cal.org/ericcll/digest/crawford01.html