CULTURAL QUILTS AND HOME VISITS
Having students recognize and accept differences among themselves and others develops social justice within the classroom. By doing cultural quilts with my small group of students, it allowed me to see how diverse even just 4 students are. When thinking in whole-classroom contexts, the diversity amongst classrooms is extreme. This should be celebrated and recognized in the classroom. Conducting cultural quilts gave me an understanding and appreciation for my students’ culture, heritage, and home life. I got a glimpse into their lives and how they see themselves. By doing so, I recognized the differences of readiness based on Herrera and Murray’s accommodation readiness spiral. As a class, the cultural quilt reflected on the first 2 levels of readiness; the mindfulness of readiness and practice as well as the readiness for students and families. In connection with the bio cards and cultural quilt, the home visits fell into the 2nd level of readiness.
Some benefits of conducting home visits include:
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Partner with student caregivers
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Collaborate with extended family members
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Encourage native language support
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Better understand home cultural mores and expectations
Home visits lie within the 2nd level of the accommodation readiness spiral. Though cultural quilts recognize, explore, and maximize resource of funds of knowledge, home visits extend that practice with CLD students. Herrera, Murray, and Pérez support home visits by stating, "participating teachers, through home visits, eventually built the capacity to involve the family in helping CLD students simultaneously build increasing proficiencies for both their first and second languages" (Herrera, 2008, p. 159).
From the cultural quilts and home visits, I determined best teaching practices for my students. For one of my students, I learned baseball is a big part of their family. After discussing with my mentor teacher, we developed tasks for this student that centers around baseball. Especially for writing and language, we found ways for this student to bring in background knowledge to support his writing. Though a small change, this student will have content that is interesting to him and he will be engaged with the instruction more. As for my other students, family was a huge part of their cultural quilts and home visits. Their familial capital from their community cultural wealth is much larger than other capitals. Teaching to this capital means involving family and having students reflect on their families as well. I would love to include family into my classroom and do so by conducting home visits and cultural quilts. Encouraging teachers to conduct home visits develops great parental and teacher communication. A home visit gives teachers the opportunity to observe and ask questions about the students. During this time, teachers should involve the parents as much as possible. Not only is this time to learn about family history, but to get to know the family. Having parents communicate with you about their hopes and dreams for their child and their concern is great communication topics for home visits. Having a home visit questionnaire such as: ( ) keeps the parents as much involved as the teacher. Follow-ups with the parents are also key to great relationships. The document also serves a ‘contract’ for teachers to refer back to during parent-teacher conferences and other meetings.
Teachers that align their instruction based on students' cultural quilts and home visits exemplify:
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Teacher Quality Standard II, Element E: Teachers provide proactive, clear and constructive feedback to families about student progress and work collaboratively with the families and significant adults in the lives of their students.
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After establishing positive contact with parents, teachers will be able to connect with CLD families on a deeper level. We can explain to families how we've adapted our instruction and how it has impacted their students' second language acquisition.
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TESOL Standard 2: Culture as it Affects Student Learning: Candidates recognize that language and culture interact in the formation of students’ cultural identities. They further recognize that students’ identities are tied closely to their sense of self-worth, which is correlated to their academic achievement. Candidates know that all students can learn more readily when cultural factors are recognized, respected, and accommodated, and they demonstrate that knowledge in their practice.
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Establishing home-to-school connections in our classrooms and instruction promotes cultural readiness for our CLD Students and Families. Teachers should recognize and promote cultures in our classrooms. Developing effective SLA should involve our students' home cultures and families.
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