Please post your annotated bibliography for two articles for the Community Connection strand here by Wednesday, May 25. Be sure to explain your rationale for selecting these articles as useful to your reflection, as well as providing bibliography information in appropriate APA format and a two to three sentence summary of the article. Bring a copy of each article to class next week.
By Friday, May 27, please respond to at least two other classmates about articles they have posted that may be of use to you. See you all Saturday; call or email with questions!
Carol
Iowa School Board Foundation. (August 2007). Information Briefing, vol. 1, no. 6. Family, School and Community Connections. Retrieved 23 May, 2011, from www.ia-sb.org/assets
ReplyDeleteThis article is a local take on the comprehensive literature review "A New Wave of Evidence: The Impact of School, Family and Community Connections on Student Achievement" (Henderson and Mapp, 2002). It reiterates that when community groups and schools develop educational partnerships that focus on student learning, many positive results follow. These include: upgraded school facilities, higher quality learning programs for students, and increased social and political capital for participants. Our neighborhood elementary school is very dedicated to this type of endeavor and the results are very positive for students in the area.
Jordan, C., Orozco, E., and Averett, A. (2001). Emerging Issues in School, Family and Community Connections. National Center for Family and Community Connections with Schools, SEDL, Austin, Texas. Retrieved 24 May, from www.sedl.org/connections/resources/emergingissues.pdf
ReplyDeleteThis article has been helpful this week as I prepare my presentation for Saturday. It poses the idea that Community Connection is a difficult topic to present as a singular idea; the problem with the research is that many activities fall under this heading and therefore pooling them all into one data group is problematic. This heading could include the following, for example: a formal partnership between a school and a local organization, students "leaving" the school to go out into the community to participate in real-life experiences, or looking at the role of the school in the larger community.
Here are the articles for the Community Connection strand:
ReplyDelete#1
Ford, Donna Y. (Winter 2010). Culturally responsive classrooms: Affirming culturally different gifted students. Multicultural Issues, 33 (1), 50-53. Retrieved on May 23, 2011 from http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/EJ874024.pdf
In this article Ford addresses the reality that classrooms today are more culturally diverse than ever before. In order to successfully meet all culturally-diverse student’s needs, Ford presents 5 strategies to creating a culturally responsive classroom: teacher’s aware of their own culture philosophy, learning environment, curriculum, instruction and assessment. I like that Ford has broken how to teach a culturally diverse classroom into these 5 categories making it clear that these are the main areas to focus on while creating lessons, building relationships with students and designing a classroom environment. Being aware of your own personal culture belief and how you feel about teaching in a diverse classroom is important reflective teaching to drive your lesson planning that adheres to state standards and school curriculum.
#2
Catapano, S. & Huisman, S. (Summer 2010). Preparing teachers for urban schools: Evaluation of a community-based model. Perspectives on urban education, 80-90. Retrieved May 24, 2011 from http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/EJ894470.pdf
A community based model project, with many similarities to our Capstone, was completed in an urban setting with the purpose of introducing student teachers to the student’s culture outside of the classroom. This article does a nice job of reiterating what we already know (the importance of understanding the cultures of our students) and what we are doing (the research project). I choose this article because of the project’s similarities to the Capstone and how it connects what we are currently doing to what previous student teacher’s have done and to read their reflections about the project. Long article, but interesting.
I am interested in changing demographics in suburban schools and how educators adjust to these changes.
ReplyDeleteShifting demographics change suburban schools [Public Radio Station]. (2009, December 15). Retrieved May 24, 2011, from WBEZ website: http://www.wbez.org/pisode-segments/shifting-demographics-change-suburban-schools
Suburban schools across the country are struggling with demographic changes. Teachers are facing a wider range of academic and social needs. According to Sonia Nieto many suburban school districts are not prepared for change. Article specifically discusses Chicago’s suburban schools.
Nelson, S. W., & Guerra, P. L. (2007, Fall). The journey to cultural proficiency is a sizeable challenge. JSD, 28(4), 59-60. Retrieved from http://www.learningforward.org//.cfm?articleID=1547
Educators need cultural proficiency to address the needs of a diverse student population and understand students and families from backgrounds different than their own. Teachers who are aware of their own personal beliefs and develop cultural proficiency are mindful of how their beliefs guide their practice.
Moll, L. C., Amanti, C., Neff, D., & Gonzalez, N. (1992). Funds of Knowledge for Teaching: Using a Qualitative Approach to Connect Homes and Classrooms. Theory into Practice, 31(1), 132-41. Retrieved May 22, 2011, from ERIC database.
ReplyDeleteThis article explaines a research study conducted by the authors to develop innovations in teaching by linking together ethnographic analysis of homes and classroom pedogogy. The focus is on poor, Mexican families which ties directly to my puzzle of practice.
I have my second article but I am on the go...will post it later this evening.
#1
ReplyDeleteTurning Up The Heat: Summarized Suggestions for Initiating Rapport Building in the Communication Classroom.
By: Glenn, Robert J., III. 1996 6 pp. (ED399601)
ERIC Search – Building Rapport
I believe that connecting your classroom to the community requires you to build rapport with the students in order to understand where they are coming from and what kind of community they live in. This article describes three strategies to initiate rapport in the classroom. Giving the students a voice is so important to building rapport and understanding them as members of the community.
#2
Connecting Curriculum with Community
By: Gonsalves, Susan. Education Digest: Essential Readings Condensed for Quick Review, v76 n6 p56-59 Feb 2011. (EJ918885)
ERIC Search – Connecting to the Community
I believe connecting the classroom to the community is so important in education today. This article describes connecting the curriculum to the community by service learning. It gives an example of a Spanish class taking time to be involved at a local dairy farm. There they interacted with the Mexican laborers in Spanish and volunteered their time. Getting into the community and interacting is so important to teaching the students that they are a part of a community and can make a difference.
Romo, H. D. (1999). Reaching Out: Best Practices for Educating Mexican-Origin Children and Youth. Washington, DC: Office of Educational Research and Improvement. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 432 432).
ReplyDeleteThis is an entire book available as a PDF file on ERIC. Chapter 2 - Cultural Perspective on Learning, and Chapter 5 - Creating Family/School Partnerships are a good read for the community connection project we will be working on next week. In summary...Romo writes about her field work with Mexican immigrants and Mexican families.
Hello, all,
ReplyDeleteI searched for articles that would take me into further depths with regards to family literacy and making the transition between reading at school and at home. I have a specific interest to the context in which it applies to ELL students and their families, as this was the population I worked with in student teaching.
Below are the APA formats for the articles I have found. Something came up tonight that demanded my attention, so the annotation to two of these will come tomorrow. The rest will give further substance to my presentation on Saturday.
1. Zeece, P., & Wallace, B. (2009). Books and Good Stuff: A Strategy for Building School to Home Literacy Connections. Early Childhood Education Journal, 37(1), 35-42.
2. Cook, M. (Jul2005). 'A place of their own': Creating a classroom 'third space' to support a continuum of text construction between home and school. Literacy, 39 (2), pp. 85-90.
3. Crawford, P. A. (Feb2006). All in the Family: Connecting Home and School with Family Literacy. Early Childhood Education Journal, 33 (4), pp. 261-267.
4. Karathanos, K. A. (Feb2010). Teaching English language learner students in US mainstream schools: intersections of language, pedagogy, and power.. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 14 (1), pp. 49-65.
5. Freeman, M. (2010). 'Knowledge is acting': working-class parents' intentional acts of positioning within the discursive practice of involvement. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education (QSE), 23(2), 181-198.
6. Souto-Manning, M., & Swick, K. J. (2006). Teachers’ Beliefs about Parent and Family Involvement: Rethinking our Family Involvement Paradigm. Early Childhood Education Journal, 34(2), 187-193.
7. Petriwskyj, A. A. (2010). Diversity and inclusion in the early years. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 14(2), 195-212.
I have an interest in learning about ways to help kids feel connected to their school. Through an ERIC search, I found a guide that was put out by the Oregon State Dept of Education that gives strategies to develop students connection to their school environment. It's not the most recent (2000), but it has really good information. It looks like it's long, but it has a good table of contents so you could just look at what interests you, and really a lot of it is references. I'm not exactly sure how to put this in APA format, but here is the information . . .
ReplyDeleteKeeping Kids Connected: How Schools and Teachers Can Help All Students Feel Good About School...and Why That Matters. (2000) Oregon State Dept. of Education, Salem. Retrieved on May 26, 2011 from www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/ED446873.pdf
I am responding to Kayleen's article about Culturally Responsive Classrooms.
ReplyDeleteI really loved this article! Easy to read and understand. I like the title "culturally responsive teachers" who are defined as student-centered and proactively and assertively work to understand, respect and meet the needs of students who come from cultural backgrounds different than their own.
I am responding to Alex's article, Teachers Beliefs About Parent and Family Involvement. I found this article really interesting. Reading this made me realize that my school has created a "school culture" that welcomes parent involvement.
ReplyDelete1. Borrero, N. (2010, September). Urban School Connections: A University-K-8 Partnership [Electronic version]. Catholic Education: A Journal of Inquiry and Practice, 14(1), 47-66.
ReplyDeleteThis article explains how university involvement can be a significant part of community building for K-8 education. I knew from my student teaching experience that the involvement of business organizations and sponsorships were helpful to public education as the outside influences gave more credibility to the school education. Likewise, the paper depicted how a post-secondary education was capable of reaching out to the public schools to bring about better learning environment.
2. Read, T. (2008). School, Community, Family Connections. Closing the Achievement Gap Series [Electronic version]. Annie E. Casey Foundation.
This paper emphasizes the importance of involving families, particularly the parents. It describes how the connection between school and parent can close distances between the two parties to better serve the students. Also, as it brings the community closer, it points that the connection may help increase struggling students' academic achievement, thereby close the significant achievement gap between students within the same community/district.
Kayleen,
ReplyDeleteAs a Careers and Technical Education (CTE) teacher candidate, I believe one of the most important goals for us is to help students identify their goals. The 5 strategies described in your article really helped me to review the ways to highlight students' talents and use them as motivation tools to lead students to success.
Heather,
ReplyDeleteYour article and summary helped me to re-think the basis of community connection. I think the very first step in community connection is to build rapport with students and your article effectively summarized the classroom strategies to just do that.
I would like to comment on Heather's "Initiating Rapport" article. I feel that this article goes hand-in-hand with getting kids connected to their school, which was my particular interest in this strand. The strategies for getting students involved serve both purposes - building rapport, and helping students feel connected. I liked the committees idea, though it may be a little unwieldy as described. I think I would tweak it a little bit. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI am responding to Kayleen's article on culturally responsive classrooms. Interesting article. One fact that I found interesting was that as much as the student demographic is changing, the teacher demographic is not. We need some of these students to become teachers!
ReplyDeleteI am responding to Kayleen's article about identifying gifted students in the culturally different population. Thank you for including this powerful article. Much of what we read in the research of culturally diverse students centers around setting up basic English Language acquisition classes. I have never seen an article that addresses the concern for devising culturally appropriate screenings for culturally different students in the Gifted Curriculum. Great find!
ReplyDeleteI am responding to Sara's radio article on Chicago suburban schools. Thank you for posting this interesting set of interviews. I was a bit aghast to hear the condescending tone in the veteran Anglo teacher's voice when she was discussing the economic background of her "newer" students. Hopefully our current teacher education programs are preparing us to embrace this new reality, instead of fighting against it.
ReplyDeleteResponse to Kayleen
ReplyDeleteThank you for the article I liked reading about the five strategies. I feel like articles that give solutions for the classroom are always very useful.
Response to Sara
The article on developing and being mindful of my own cultural values was very interesting. I think that would help me be more understanding of my students cultural values as well.
I was interested in learning what effect school-community connections have on student achievement. I also wanted to research ways in which schools foster relationships between the school and community in diversely populated areas.
ReplyDeleteArticle #1
Northwest Regional Education Laboratory. (2005). Focus on Effectiveness: Current Education Challenges School-Family Connections. Retrieved from http://www.netc.org/focus/challenges/school.php
The article speaks to effectiveness of family involvement on student achievement. The article states that family involvement has a greater impact on student success than does a family’s socio-economic level or racial and ethnic background or other factors. The article lists key findings and suggests several ways to build connections between families and schools.
Article #2
Ferguson, C. (2005, September) Reaching out to diverse populations: What can schools do to foster family-school connections. National Center for Family & Community Connections with Schools. Retrieved May 23, 2011, from http://cretscmhd.psych.ucla.edu/announcements/research%20and%20reports/rb5-diverse.pdf
The article speaks to how a school’s perspective and definitions of family involvement may not be the same perspective seen through the lens of families in the community. Differing viewpoints can send mixed signals and hinder community involvement. The article explains ways that a school can embrace meaning participation from the parents and the community. Suggestions from building on cultural values of families and fostering communication to helping the staff learn strategies for working with parents from all cultures. It also poses some scenarios and explains the rationale behind each.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSutherland, J., Waldman, G., & Collins, C. (2010). Art Therapy Connection: Encouraging Troubled Youth to Stay in School and Succeed. Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association, 27(2), 69-74. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
ReplyDeleteThis article talked about using art therapy to help students cope with their problems outside of school through self-awareness. As an art teacher part of my privilege and challenge is that I can get to see sides of students that most content area teachers don’t ever see.
Norman, L. (2009). Resources for Effectiveness: Collaborative Arts Partnerships in Schools. Penn GSE Perspectives on Urban Education, 6(2), 62-67. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Norman examined a partnership between a Chicago school and an art institute, which tried to build collaborations between the classroom and the college. However, the 2 institutions didn’t communicate nor did they assign clear roles, which created an imbalance of power. The college also didn’t quite comprehend the background and needs of the inner city students, which created problems.
Kayleen-
ReplyDeleteI read your first article and thought it had some great suggestions as to how to create a culturally different classroom. There are so many facets to explore when looking at community connection, that it is almost overwhelming. One of the key points that stood out for me, was to have materials and visuals that represented various cultures. Something as simple as having a crayon the color of your skin, would mean a lot to a child. An art teacher I worked with taught her students that to make skin color with paint you mix all of the skin colors together, brown, white, red, and yellow. Then you simply add more of one color to get your skin tone. I thought this sent a great message that we all have the same color pigments; just some are more prominent than others.
Heidi-
I read your second article; while it was overwhelming with the amount of information it accurately discussed how broad community connection can be. I can tell you really used a lot of the information from the article in your presentation, which created a very clear factual understanding of community connection. Because there is so much information that I think this article would be a great rule book or foundation for a principal to create community connections. However, they already have a loaded plate that I think schools need a community connection liaison just like they have a BRT. There is so much the CC liaison could do and impact that it would be nice to see it implemented soon.