Parent Stories: Connecting Home and School Literacies in the Classroom

• In Event: 60.084 - Roundtable Session 20
  In Roundtable Session: 60.084-22 - Teacher Learning About Parents and Families in Multiple Contexts

Abstract

The academic achievement gap attributable to differences in culture, and economics continues to persist (Taylor & Pearson, 2004). Thus, a pressing issue in the United States’ K-12 public school system is how to meet the educational needs of students from nonmainstream backgrounds. This “conceptual” paper session provides a framework for how teachers might advance their ability to meet the literacy needs of students from nonmainstream backgrounds by connecting their home and school literacies within the classroom space. We propose that teachers can collect and use parent stories to advance their knowledge about students’ home language and literacy practices and subsequently connect these out-of-school learning experiences to new literacy learning within the school context.

Authors

• Marliese Peltier, Michigan State University

• Patricia A. Edwards, Michigan State University