Migrant+Children+in+the+Classroom+Research

Migrant Children  =Research=    Gonzalez, N., Moll, L. C., Tenery, M. F., Rivera, A., Rendon, P., Gonzalez, R., & Amanti, C. (1995). Funds of knowledge for teaching in Latino househo  // lds. Urban Education, 29  // (4), 443-470.   In this research report, Gonzalez and her colleagues report on key findings from their ethnographic study of household funds of knowledge and the development of teachers’ beliefs about immigrant families. The four teachers who participated in the study conducted a series of home visits to learn about their students’ funds of knowledge. They then met in an after-school lab setting with university researchers to share their findings and develop ideas for applying them to curriculum development. The challenges of creating curricula based on the information gleaned was acknowledged, but the teachers asserted that the relationships developed with students and families allowed them to make more personal connections to these students in school which increased their ability to teach them effectively.   <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One unique aspect of this article is the inclusion of teachers as researchers and as co-authors. The teachers’ voices were central to the article and it was clear that the home visits had been powerful sources of learning and reflection for these women. The women described the ways in which the project helped them to view their students in new and more positive ways as opposed to seeing them simply as hopeless and helpless victims of poverty. The study demonstrated that even bilingual, Latina teachers with good intentions may have deficit views of students and families that may persist if they are unexamined and go unchallenged. <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left; display: block;">**<span style="font-size: 120%; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Connections to Course Concepts & Implications for Teaching  ** <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left; display: block;"><span style="font-size: 120%; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“I did not realize it at the time, but I used to believe that my students had limited opportunities in life. I thought that poverty was the root of many of their problems, and that this was something too big for me to change as a teacher…. This fatalistic obsession of mine has slowly melted away as I have gotten to know my students and their families. I believe this transformation is the most important one I have made” (p. 451-452). <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left; display: block;"><span style="font-size: 120%; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Contributed by Shanan Fitts, 2/15/09
 * <span style="font-size: 120%; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Combats deficit views of Latino families
 * <span style="font-size: 120%; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Home visits are conducted in order to  **//<span style="font-size: 120%; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">learn   //**<span style="font-size: 120%; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">from families
 * <span style="font-size: 120%; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Knowledge and skills of families and parents positioned as important resources
 * <span style="font-size: 120%; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Knowledge construction—Teachers were actively constructing their own knowledge about students’ backgrounds.
 * <span style="font-size: 120%; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Prejudice reduction— became aware of some of the negative assumptions made about families
 * <span style="font-size: 120%; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Empowering school culture: teachers were positioned as producing essential knowledge and reflection in lab sessions rather than simply absorbing information from professors.