LA’s 2018 What’s Hot in Literacy Report highlighted family engagement as an area
that needs more attention. Further, the area of assessment landed among the
top five hot topics. As an instructor in an urban teacher preparation program, I
wondered how we could rethink family engagement.
It led me to this question: What if teachers looked at family literacy practices
with an assessment mind-set?
We know that data should drive instruction. And research strongly
suggests that students’ families play a significant role in shaping their literacy
development. I believe we should bridge these two concepts. By asking teachers to
consider family literacy practices as additional data to drive their instruction, we
can bring family and community assets into our literacy curriculum.
The following are three steps for teachers who want to use family data to drive
literacy instruction and engage families.
Step 1: Learn about families’ practices
First, teachers should assess the literacy practices that exist within each student’s
family. This means gathering information about what families do together and
how literacy is involved. Teachers can seek out community- and family-centered
events to collect data around family literacy practices. Teachers can also send
home surveys to learn more about home literacies.
For example, teachers could identify practices such as telling stories, playing
board games, reading recipes and cooking, and visiting museums or cultural
events as practices that involve literacy. The key is to be intentional in learning
about families and their language, literacy, and cultural practices and to find
creative ways to gain knowledge about them.
For example, when I taught second grade in an urban public school, I
conducted several home visits to learn more about my students, their families, and
their communities. I found that listening to music, particularly pop and hip-hop
songs, was a common practice among many of my students’ families. Students
demonstrated proficiency in literacy, language, and memorization by knowing
every line of songs that came on the radio, and family members would sing along
with their children. I recorded notes of my observations and kept an individual
Steps to bringing family literacy practices into the classroom
CONNECTING
COMMUNITIES
AND CURRICULUM
By Jennifer Albro
Jennifer Albro
(jennifer.j.albro@gmail
.com), an ILA member since
2014, teaches graduate
courses in literacy at Johns
Hopkins University School
of Education in Washington,
DC, in addition to coaching
and mentoring teachers in
the Urban Teachers program.
Albro was a 2015 ILA 30
Under 30 honoree.
LITERACY
LEADERSHIP
By asking teachers to consider family literacy
practices as additional data to drive their
instruction, we can bring family and community
assets into our literacy curriculum.
8
literacyworldwide.org | March/April 2019 | LITERACY TODAY