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Volume 28, Number
4, April 2001
Understanding Students' Home Cultures: The Teacher-Librarian as
Collaborative Partner
Stephen Piazza
As school populations become more diverse, the opportunities
educators create to connect home and school cultures are critical
to student success. The teacher-librarian has a major role in
gathering vital background information using books, cameras,
and a wide range of technology.
At a time when educational goals seem relatively clear (e.g., decrease
the digital divide, improve literacy across grade levels), the map
to get to them is not. In fact, the ever-changing classroom climate
provides new challenges to educators before theyve even been able
to adjust to existing ones.
This article serves, then, to focus on issues relative to these
ongoing changes, and then highlights an effective project that recognizes
and employs elements of emerging cultures of learners to the advantage
of teachers, and ultimately, students. The PhOLKS Project (a play
on the words "photographs" and "folks") is a
project where students take cameras home in order to share their
home cultures through stories resulting from pictures they take.
Teachers learn more about the assets students bring to class and
how these assets can best be used to contribute to student learning.
And finally, as the teacher-librarian can play an important role
in such projects, a discussion on the teacher-librarians perspective
follows.
Merging the Understanding of Home and School Cultures
Educators and the public often hearken back to "the old days" when
teachers taught homogeneous groups of students and all students learned.
The assumption that all students come from similar environments (nuclear
family, neighborhood consisting of similar families sharing similar
experiences, etc.) dominated the thinking that went into teacher
planning.
That paradigm of uniformity was never really accurate, however,
and is even less true today. Classrooms contain students coming from
very different backgrounds bringing with them very different experiences.
Educators now must know more about each individual student, their
strengths and weaknesses, their learning styles, and their preferences,
if students are to learn at all. We've come a long way from "Okay,
class, please open your readers to Page 72".
For some time now, a classroom has been considered a "community
of learners." And to serve each member effectively, the teacher
cannot make assumptions about the background of the students he or
she serves. Background means a number of things (family dynamics,
ethnicity, language, previous educational experiences, learning style,
etc.), and all of these things influence the student, while the student
influences the learning community at the same time.
Thus, today's successful teachers equip themselves with resources
to meet the increasing demands of the classroom. One of the resources
that is vital to success is background information as described above,
as it provides a teacher with "funds of knowledge" about
each student and their home life (see Moll et al, 1992). From these
funds of knowledge, the teacher is able to design classroom practices
to accurately match students needs and thus make for an effective
learning experience (Voss, 1993; Peregoy and Boyle, 1997).
Funds of knowledge can be gathered in a variety of ways, such as
interviews or questionnaires. But, of course, the more student-centered
and innovative the method, the more meaningful the experience is
for the student.
The PhOLKS Project
An excellent method for gathering "funds of knowledge" is
one suggested by the PhOLKS Project. In 1999, two University of Georgia
researchers, Dr. JoBeth Allen and Dr. Linda Labbo, both with the
School of Teacher Education, developed the PhOLKS Project where teachers
send 35mm cameras home with students to take pictures of home and
neighborhood life. Allen and Labbo, with the help of a grant from
the Spencer Foundation, organized a group of educators to develop
activities in their very own classrooms. The Spencer Foundation provided
participants with three cameras each and a budget to purchase and
develop rolls of film taken by students.
During the 1999-2000 school year, the PhOLKS participants met monthly
and supported each other. The diversity of this group is key to learning >from
the pictures. The group includes men and women; European-American,
African-American and Hispanic cultures; Jewish and Christian religions;
and a range of rural, urban, and suburban growing-up experiences.
Participants teach in a variety of grade levels (PreK-5) and settings
(an ESL classroom, a rural school, and several suburban schools),
and have a variety of perspectives. The teachers brainstormed ideas
and shared photographs and "funds of knowledge."
Enthusiasm created its own community, and the first year of the
project produced a wealth of knowledge. For example, one participant
(a third-grade teacher) was able to use the photographs to encourage
parents own written responses, and thus learned more about what motivated
the students. Another participant (an ESL teacher) noticed that students
took pictures of their favorite television shows, so now she watches
the shows to understand the students a little better. The same teacher
also shared that through the photos and subsequent stories, confidence
and trust has developed between herself and her students, as her
students have begun to share with her important issues in their lives.
And the "wealth" is beginning to spread in a number of
directions between parties not previously communicating. Participants
reported students associating with other students, parents with teachers,
and parents with other parents. These growing resources stand as
a benefit to all in the community.
This past summer, Drs. Allen and Labbo presented some of the groups
work at various national conferences, including the Whole Language
Umbrella Conference in Nashville, TN. And, as the PhOLKS Project
begins its second year, the group is hard at work revising, refining
and expanding activities in order to build upon that wealth. The
group also has several publication projects in mind centered on learning
from photographs, families and children. The groups also plans to
develop a web site to showcase both students' and participants' work.
A Teacher-Librarian's Perspective
Yet, not all of the participants are classroom teachers. I am a
teacher-librarian at Winterville Elementary School, part of the Clarke
County School District in Georgia, and I found myself intrigued with
the PhOLKS project for a number of reasons.
In line with Information power: Building partnerships for learning (AASL,
1998), one of my roles as teacher-librarian is to develop collaborative
relationships in and outside the building. The PhOLKS project has
provided me with the potential for a perfect fit with a number of
these relationships with other professionals: teachers, university
researchers, parents, administrators, and committee members. Also,
as the technology coordinator in the building who is largely responsible
for encouraging, providing, and publicizing staff development, I
revisited the use of an older technology (the camera) in new ways
(helping students document their out-of-school lives).
The teacher-librarians involvement with activities stemming from
The PhOLKS project is quite different than that of the classroom
teachers. Whereas other project participants discuss what they're
doing in their classrooms, I focus on how it contributes to the overall
library media program, and how I facilitate it in the building. Decisions
about level of involvement are worked out collaboratively during
the planning process, and I contribute a more global, building-wide
perspective to the funds of knowledge. In sum, my role in such an
activity allows me to:
- participate in planning sessions;
- provide equipment;
- provide books for introducing the project (e.g., photo essays,
the art of photography);
- develop routines (e.g., scheduling student camera checkout, establishing
procedures for film collection and development;
- provide project orientation;
- give instruction in camera operation;
- offer strategies in picture-planning and shot-taking;
- integrate technology by assisting students with multi-media production;
- perform analysis of student experiences and presentation;
- develop staff development opportunities, such as training on
using the camera and integrating technology with the curriculum.
These responsibilities reflect the tenets of Information power,
allowing me to participate as instructor, instructional partner,
information specialist, and program administrator.
A Sample Activity
To illustrate the process, what follows is a piece from my project
journal outlining the procedure I used with Susan Cardins Grade 4
class who had difficulty with reading and writing. It's given here
to serve as a model for interested teacher-librarians to get started.
Mrs. C. and I sat down several times and discussed our plan of action.
We decided to do this project with her students, who were struggling
readers and writers, and thought that we would have them start with
a shoot and then make a storybook. We would use three cameras a week,
using the Thursday through Monday format. I would then take the film
to be processed on Monday, and get the pictures back to them by Wednesday
so that they could discuss them as a class.
Once we received the cameras purchased with Spencer funds, we sent
home permission slips, and waited for all of them to return. This
took a little time, as such details often do.
Once all slips had been returned, Mrs. C. and I introduced the project
to the students. Using the overhead, Mrs. C. went through all the
logistical details (when cameras were to go home, when they should
be returned, how many pictures to take, etc.). The students were
attentive and asked good questions: "Should I take the film
out?" Then she talked about what to take pictures of. They brainstormed
some ideas on this theme: "Things that are important to you." The
suggestions included "family, friends, home, area around home,
pets, clothes, toys, things that you have, bus, teacher, yourself,
books, things you do."
Before I showed them how to operate the cameras, I had to caution
the students about taking pictures of school. I know that school
is a very important part of their lives, and the urge exists to use
their shots up before they leave the building. I suggested they use
only one or two, and then save the rest for home. After all, they
only had 12 shots each. I also talked a bit about planning before
shooting, and I shared with them some strategies how to "map
out" subjects for their photographs. Then I demonstrated how
to operate the cameras.
Students asked what would come of their pictures, so Mrs. C. explained
that they would be putting the developed pictures into spiral notebooks
and write about each one. She also encouraged students to ask parents
to write in them as well.
More interesting questions followed: "Will our good work appear
on the morning news?" "What if we go out of town that weekend?"
Mrs. C. then asked the final question: "Who is responsible
for the camera?" Students answered, "We are!" and
the session ended.
Students took pictures, wrote about them, assembled picture storybooks,
and then shared them with their classmates. The students were highly
motivated to write about and share their pictures, and Mrs. C. and
I felt we did learn about the students home cultures. For example,
Maurice shared with us a picture of his friends posing in his front
yard, but proceeded to talk about how his brother is missing because
hes working on becoming a rap singer, something the whole family
finds ways to support. Misha showed us pictures of her ironing some
clothes, an indication that she shares in some of the responsibilities
around the house.
Since the PhOLKS Project allowed us to learn so much about student
home lives, I've decided to expand the project to other classes this
next school year. I also plan to integrate other technologies by
introducing activities involving a number of software programs/applications.
Here's a list of possible ideas:
Kid Pix Studio Deluxe
Younger students can scan in their photographs, then record their
stories and decorate slides with stamps. Individual or class slide
shows can be created.
Power Point/Hyper Studio
More advanced students can include their photographs in Power Point
or Hyper Studio slide shows. Emphasis can be placed on class presentations,
and any ensuing interaction with audience.
Graph Club
Students can maintain records of how many students share pictures
of pets, family members, toys, etc., and then graph results. It's
fun and exciting for students to gather data and study and discuss
the findings.
Timeliner
Family histories are a natural by-product of picture-taking and
this software can assist students in exploring and sharing their
own.
Internet
From creating web pages to communicating with e-pals, the Internet
provides a number of opportunities for students to share their own
cultures and learn about others.
These are just a few examples of how technology can be used to learn
more about home cultures. The third dimension, of course, is a how
nicely all this ties into the curriculum.
Interesting Reading
During the brainstorming sessions with the PhOLKS Project group,
a number of participants shared books that they used for background
reading and/or part of their project in the classroom.
History comes home: Family stories across the curriculum,
by Steven Zemelman, Patricia Bearden, Yolanda Simmons, and Pete Leki
(Stenhouse, 2000) is a good place to start for a sense of the connections
between home and the curriculum. Other books focus on further connections
that lend themselves to the project, such as In two worlds: A
Yupik Eskimo family by Aylette Jenness (Houghton Mifflin, 1995), Georgia
to Georgia: Making friends in the USSR by Laurie Dolphin (World
Publications Press, 1994), and Pi-ata maker by George Ancona
(Harcourt, 1994). We flew over the bridge: The memoirs of Faith
Ringgold (Little, Brown, 1995) is a wonderful illustration of
a revelatory journey through personal photographs.
Several books shared by the group can be used directly in the classroom: Click! by
Gail Gibbons (1997, Little Brown), Daddy and me: A photo story
of Arthur Ashe and his daughter, by Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe,
(1993, Alfred A. Knopf), and My painted house, my friend chicken,
and me by Maya Angelou (1994, Crown Publishing).
Looking Ahead
Understanding the varying cultures of students entering the classroom
has become a priority for educators. This focus demands attention
by all stakeholders. Schools can and must commit to programs that
provide "real" information about our clients in order to
continue progress of the last few decades.
The significance of the teacher-librarian to the overall mission
of the school continues to evolve with the needs of the profession.
Programs such as the PhOLKS Project allow for the teacher-librarian
to make the major contributions we were trained to provide, thus
creating more opportunities for student success.
References
American Association of School Librarians and Association for Educational
Communications and Technology. (1998) Information power: Building
partnerships for learning. Chicago, IL: American Library Association.
Moll, L.C. et al. (1992, Spring) Funds of knowledge for teaching:
Using qualitative approach to connect homes and classrooms. Theory
Into Practice 31, 132-41.
Peregoy, S. & Boyle O. F. (1997) Reading, writing, and learning
in ESL. New York: Longman.
Voss, M.M. (1993, December) "I just watched": Family influences
on one child's learning. Language Arts 70, 632-41.
The project reported on in this article was made possible by
a grant from the Spencer Foundation. The views expressed are solely
those of the author.
Stephen Piazza is a teacher-librarian at Winterville Elementary
School in Winterville, Georgia. He can be reached at spiazza@athens.net.
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