Connections to Social Justice Standards: Identity, Diversity, Justice, Action
Strategies:
1. Family History and Heritage
2. Caregiver Service and Engagement Programs
3. Honoring Family and Community Wisdom in the Classroom
4. Adult Education Programs
5. Events for Caregivers
Partnering with caregivers is an essential part of honoring students’ lived experience. Educators who connect their teaching to students’ cultures, languages and heritage create classroom environments that value critical home-school relationships, affirm student identities and challenge stereotypes.
Family History and Heritage
Tapping into students’ family histories, backgrounds and cultures through classroom activities is a critical and empowering practice that allows students to explore and celebrate their heritage. (Keep in mind that not all students will have access to extensive information about their family, and classroom activities must be modified to accommodate that reality.) Importantly, when students share stories and hear about the lives of their classmates, their appreciation for the value of diversity grows. Providing space for historically underrepresented narratives and histories affirms students’ identities and caregivers’ experiences.
Additionally, allowing caregivers to see themselves as a valuable resource in children’s learning strengthens interactions between educators, students and caregivers. Strong home-school relationships equalize the power balance by treating caregivers as invested partners who want the best for their children.
Caregiver Service and Engagement Programs
Service projects can help educators bridge family and community engagement and classroom activities. Ideas for service and engagement programs include family volunteer action days; working together on neighborhood political and social issues; attending community events such as film screenings, Juneteenth celebrations or LGBTQ+ Pride events; or fundraising projects for community causes.
Honoring Family and Community Wisdom in the Classroom
After learning about students’ families and lives outside of the classroom, educators can honor caregiver and community wisdom through their instructional choices.
Honoring caregivers and communities in the classroom might look like:
- Incorporating what you have learned about students’ values and identities into your teaching and learning.
- Restructuring classroom norms and practices to reflect community dynamics and conversation styles familiar to students and their families.
- Incorporating local and cultural stories, histories and values into the curriculum.
- Asking families and caregivers to share their perspectives on historical or current events.
For example, stories of environmental education, like Edutopia’s “Building a Sustainable Future—One Classroom at a Time,” show how teachers across disciplines can help students focus on local sustainability efforts, analyze environmental injustice, and connect to familial or community practices.
Adult Education Programs
Adult education programs support the community and can help foster trusting relationships with caregivers. Such programs should align with the community’s needs and might include language classes, GED programs, Know Your Rights sessions or assistance with passing citizenship tests. Programs can also include back-to-school resource fairs, cultural events like watching films or listening to speakers, or discussions for families and caregivers on topics such as bullying prevention, identity development, racial experiences, gender expression, sexual orientation, learning differences and family diversity.
Events for Caregivers
Events that bring students and caregivers together might include potlucks, school carnivals, affinity events (for caregivers from groups that share identities or lived experiences, such as adoptive or foster care families or LGBTQ+ families), showcases of student work, student or community performances, and film nights or game nights. During these events, teachers can connect informally with families to share information and resources and to support one another in times of need.
The school can support these connections by prioritizing the planning and execution of schoolwide events. To keep equity and accessibility front and center in the plan, use these questions as a guide:
- How much does the event cost the school to host?
- How much does the event cost families to attend?
- What changes could be made to ensure that the event is free and accessible to all families, including families with disabilities, child care needs and transportation barriers?
- How much time will it take to participate in the event? Will adults who work in the evenings and on weekends have opportunities to participate?
- Will there be child care available, if needed?
- What language interpretation services will be provided to ensure all families can participate?
- Will food be provided? If so, does the menu or selection take into account dietary restrictions, including allergies and cultural or religious practices?
- Are there transportation options for families to and from the event?
- If the event is online, will any families be unable to access it? What are some alternatives?
