Please post your questions for the author here!

Dreams and Possibilities for YES

Homework....dialogue journal with parents/students/teachers
Writing Journals; send home books, read with parents, parents write in journal how child did.
Beginning of the year "Tell me about your child"
Question home easch week: "Ask me about____" or "We are learning about____ "
"Book Bag" take home activity with questions or activity to do after reading
Student interviewing parents about the story of their name
Family Keepsakes
"out of school" meeting (McDonald's, Ft. Yargo, etc)
Community involvement/Service Learning projects (Relay for Life, visiting nursing homes, etc)
Opportunities created for every parent to be in the school and interact/participate with learning

Wrapping It Up

I loved working with such a great group of educators and I appreciate the open minds and enthusiasm you have brought to this professional learning group!

Here are just a few housekeeping items to keep in mind so that you can receive full credit
(10 hours/1 PLU) for your participation.
1. You will receive .75 hours for each group meeting you attended. This will equal 5.25 hours if you attended all meetings.
2. You will receive .5 hours for each post and quiz scoring 70% of higher. This will be your credit for reading, as well. (total: 5 hours)
3. I will be assessing the posts tomorrow at 9 am. Therefore, any posts after this time will not be counted towards your total hours.
4. Additional time, up to 1 hr, can be earned (or made up) by meeting with me and completing an approved activity.

Your certificate will be sent to you later this week via interoffice mail.

Thank you again for such a great experience!

For Monday, March 30

This will be our last meeting! :(
Please read your assigned chapter (given Wed. 3/25) and come ready to discuss in Jigsaw groups on Monday. Remember to use some of the "Action Opportunities" to help you think-through or guide your discussion.

Chapter 8: "Engaging Families"

Parents, teachers, what aspects of "engaging families" would be beneficial to your children? What are the opportunities for ongoing communication during the year that focus on the child's learning? How could families be involved in assessment in ways that help the student as a learner? What kind of forum would facilitate sharing family stories? Dream, create, risk, revise. Make it your own. pg. 115

Chapter 7: "Creating Dialogue Throughout the Year"

In thinking about your school, what kinds of on-going (as opposed to one-time) opportunities might be most beneficial to your extended learning community? Parents reading aloud to children? Family writing and sharing workshops? What are you doing now that draws families in that you might modify for more regular involvement of adults and children learning together? pg. 99

Remember no meeting today

Please read Ch. 7 and 8 for Wednesday

Chapter 4-6 Jigsaw

We met and shared our readings from Chapters 4-6. Please choose one of the 3 prompts below to respond to. It does not have to be the same chapter you focused on:
Chapter 4, "Developing Photography and Other Avenues to Learning with Families"
"The most important part for me in the commonly used KWHL process-What do we know, What do we want to learn, how can we find out, what have we learned-is the how. So take a little time now to brainstorm--how can we learn aspects of culture in our school and community that could make a difference for students? Who are possible cultural informants in the school and community? How else can we learn together-what can we read, with whom can we talk, what media (movies, tv shows, etc) might lead us to deeper understanding of each other?"pg. 60

Chapter 5, "Engaging in Genuine Dialogue"
"...Dream a little. Teachers, write Every Teacher's Dream of Parental Involvement. Parents, write Every Parent's Dream of Involvement in my Child's Education. Brainstrom Every Child's Dream of Parents and Teachers Working Together. What features are the same? Different? Possible? Which features would have the most impact on student learning?"pg. 73

Chapter 6, "Inviting Dialogue at the Conference Table"
"Discuss what parents, teachers, and students might gain by including students in conferences. What are the challenges? How does including students fit with your curriculum, depending on what kind of standards, materials, and instructional process you use? What are the pros and cons of some teachers versus the whole school moving in this direction? Who is already involving students in conferences that could serve as a resource? How would you prepare yourselves? How would you prepare your students?" pg. 87

Chapter 3: Learning With and From Families

What is your response to the discussion of culturally relevant teaching and "funds of knowledge"? In what ways do you see these being "tapped into" in the classroom and/or school level? What possibilities do you see for these to be further developed in the future, either individually in your classroom or in the school as a whole?

Chapter 2: Cultural Memoirs

"Like Susan, we have all grown up with cultural blinders. Sharing cultural memoirs-oral or written-gives each of us an opportunity to explore what we have missed because of those blinders, and what difference it might make in coming together as a diverse school community to see our cultural influences through fresh eyes." (p. 38)
After creating and sharing our 'cultural maps' this afternoon, what new insights into your own cultural influences do you have? As our community becomes increasingly diverse, how may exploring and/or sharing these memoirs affect the school community?

Using the Past to Understand the Present

In chapter one, Allen discussed how memories of school, both positive and negative, can influence who we are as learners, teachers, and parents. After writing about your own school memories, and sharing and listening with others, how do you see "school memories" shaping your own current beliefs or expectations? How may "school memories" be shaping the experiences of students in your classrooms?

Quiz questions 3

Allen weaves stories and real-life examples throughout her writing. Choose one of the examples from the introduction or chapter 1 to respond to briefly. Which example did you find most powerful? Why did this story stick out to you? What does this example remind you of?

Making Up for Lost Time (Mar 2)

In order to "make up" the time we missed by not meeting on Monday please submit a response to the "Action Opportunity" on pg. 10.

Welcome!

Thank you for joining us for our first Book Study meeting! I can already tell this is going to be a dynamic and fun group to work with! Please email me if you ever have any questions about the study or the blog: rwilliams@barrow.k12.ga.us