Part of the course "MÁLÖRVUN BARNA Í FJÖLBREYTTUM HÓP á leikskóla- og grunnskólastigi" organized by Móðurmál on september 2014.

1. Bring ideas to life
VIA University College
School-home cooperation and activating parent ressources
1: Theory and illustration
Reykjavik September 12th 2014
Barbara Day bada@via.dk

2. Why involve parents?
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1.Parental involvement in the educational process is a key factor in pupil’s succes.
2.Collaboration between schools and families bring encouraging results both for the students’ commitment at school and their understanding of school goals.
3.It helps to value children’s various languages and cultural backgrounds, which boosts their self-confidence.
4.Experiences of plurilingual and intercultural activities carried out at school with the involvement of families have been found to have a strong impact on curiosity towards the languages and cultures present in their social environment and social integration of parents of foreign origin.
5.It encourages children to use all their knowledge and experiences in order to learn.
IPPIE : Involving Parents in Plurilingual and Intercultural Education (a project under the European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML), Council of Europe)

3. The situation ? - when teachers teach ”other people’s children” (Delpit 1995)
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–Teachers often see cultural otherness as a problem rather than a potential.
–White middle class teachers lack insight into the experiences and daily lives of minority students and the linguistic and cultural ressources in these students and their families.
–Many teachers have a deficit approach to minority students.
–Many minority parents do not experience that they can participate actively in their childrens’ schooling.
–Many minority students do not do as well as they could because teaching does not provide the means for them to build on their linguistic and cultural ressources.

4. Questions & answers
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–How do we transform teaching so that it can effectively reach children and youth from diverse backgrounds by drawing on understandings of cultural complexity ?
PLURALISM
–How can teachers learn what they need to know about their students’ knowledge resources and local practices in order to develop more constructive relations with parents and create more culturally relevant learning environments?
“FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE”

5. Pluralism - a didactic approach (way of teaching)
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Activities involving several varieties of languages and cultures
(plurilingual / intercultural)
–Using pluralistic approaches doesn’t mean that you prompt students to compare between languages or cultures – but that you highlight and investigate links and relationships.
In contrast to ”singular” approaches which take account of only one language or culture
– or take account of several languages and cultures considered separately - dealt with in isolation.
http://carap.ecml.at/

6. Plurilingual and pluricultural competence
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Background:
(Common European Framework of Reference p. 168)
“a given individual does not have a collection of distinct and separate competences to communicate depending on the languages he/she knows,
but rather a plurilingual and pluricultural competence encompassing the full range of the languages available to him/her”.

7. Developing competences
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–With cognitive and social aspects
–Which activate knowledge, attitudes, and skills through reflection and action
2 types:
1.Competence in mangaging linguistic and cultural communication in a context of otherness
2.Competence in the construction and broadening of a plural linguistic and cultural repertoire.
See more: http://carap.ecml.at/Descriptorsofresources/tabid/2654/language/en-GB/Default.aspx

8. 8
S 3. 10.4
Can compare different cultural practices
A 3.1
Curiosity about a °multilingual / multicultural° environment
K 14.3
Knows that one can have a °multiple / plural / composite° identity
S 5
Can use knowledge and skills already mastered in one language in activities of °comprehension / production° in another language
A 4
Positive acceptance °°of °linguistic / cultural° diversity / of others / of what is different°°
K 6.2
Knows that each language has its own, partly specific, way of °perceiving / organising ° reality
Examples

9. Funds of Knowledge
Theory based on
1.Basic principles of learning
–We learn by establishing links to what we already know and already can do.
–It is important for students to be able to connect new knowledge, skills, and attitudes to already known experiences and concepts.
2.Everyday knowledge in the home represents linguistic and cultural resources.
–All parents can help to activate their childrens’ experiences and make connections between school and home spheres.

10. Parents can activate their child’s experiences and knowledge
Everyday concepts
Academic (school) concepts

11. We can’t teach what we don’t know (Howard 1994)
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Teachers need to know more about their students’ erveryday experiences and knowledge ressources in order to be able to help them make the connection between
•What they need to learn at school &
•What they know about and can do at home

12. ”By welcoming students´ home language into the classroom, schools actively engage English language learners in literacy.” (Cummins et al. 2005: 38) (and culture BD)
Research in optimal conditions that foster learning
→ 3 conditions for effective learning:
1.Engaging prior understandings and background knowledge
(not only information or skills previously acquired in formal instruction – also totality of experiences that have shaped the learner’s identity and cognitive functioning)
2.Integrating factual knowledge with conceptual frameworks by encouraging deep understanding
3.Supporting students in taking active control over the learning prcess
(when students take ownership of their learning → invest their identities in learning outcomes → active learning)
(Bransford, Brown & Cocking 2000; Donovan & Bransford 2005 in Cummins et al. 2005: 38)
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13. “Funds of Knowledge for Teaching” Moll, L. C., Amanti, C., Neff, D., & González, N. (1992)
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Collaborative pilot project: teachers work with me as a researcher and with each other in learning groups
1.Introductory meetings
2.Home visits where I team with 2-3 teachers and conduct ethnographic interviews in the homes of students that the teachers choose.
–Talk about the family’s migrant history, work experience, childhood and school experience, and daily practices
–Notes from the visits as well as field observations are the starting point for the teachers’ reflections.
3.Collaborative reflection that explores ways that new understandings and relationships with students and their families can lead to incorporating students’ cultural resources into classrooms as well as to further collaboration with the parents → co-production.

14. Findings (pilot project)
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…teachers express the deeply transformative nature of their experiences entering students’ communities as learners”. (Howard & Lipinoga 2008)
–In school we see what students cannot do – what does not function. When we visit them at home we see a whole lot that clearly functions well.
–It made a great impression on me to read the notes from the interviews. They show that there are many resources in the families and a lot that we can draw on in school. Lots of interesting things that the parents can work together with us on in school.

15. Next steps
1.Research and development at one school
–How to involve all teachers?
–Didactic work: How to develop curriculum based on new insight from families + pluralistic approaches
2.Larger research project

16. Pluralistic approach connected to ”Funds of Knowledge”
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Example: Teachers create a learning environment where
–Students’ prior knowledge of their L1 is acknowledged and validated
–The funds of knowledge represented in the community are sought out and incorporated actively as an integral part of students’ learning environment
–Students create products (e.g. writings,
illustrations, L1 math problem sheets) that
reflected a positve image of who they are
linguistically, cognitively, and personally,
and of who they might aspire to become
Chow & Cummins (2003:51)

17. Questions?
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–What did you find relevant in the presentation?
–What would you like to
know more about
or discuss? ?

18. References
Chow, P. & Cummins, J. 2003): Valuing Multilingual and Multicultural Approaches to Learning. In Schecter, S.R. & Cummins, J. (ed.) (: Multilingual Education in Practice. Using Diversity as a Resource. New Hampshire: Heinemann.
Common European Framework of Reference: http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/source/framework_en.pdf
Cummins, J. et al. (2005): Affiirming Identity in Multilingual Classrooms. Educational Leadership. September 2005, vol. 63, nr. 1., pp. 38-43.
Delpit, L. (1995): Other Peoples’ Children. New York: The New Press.
FREPA (Framework of reference for pluralistic approaches): http://carap.ecml.at/CARAP/tabid/2332/language/en- GB/Default.aspx
González, N., Moll, L.C. & Amanti, C. (red.) (2005): Funds of Knowledge. Theorizing Practices in Households, Communities and Classrooms. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
Howard, G.R. (1994): We Can’t Teach What We Don’t Know. New York : Teachers College Press.
Moll, L. C., Amanti, C., Neff, D., & González, N. (1992). Funds of knowledge for teaching: a qualitative approach to connect households and classrooms. Theory into Practice, 31(2), 132-141.
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