Developing Knowledge Communities Through Partnerships For Literacy

Developing Knowledge Communities through Partnerships for Literacy explores the development of knowledge communities - safe spaces on the educational landscape - where research and professional development with literacy teachers and writers can unfurl.

Developing Knowledge Communities through Partnerships for Literacy explores the development of knowledge communities - safe spaces on the educational landscape - where research and professional development with literacy teachers and writers can unfurl.

Why have libraries and schoolsboth public institutions committed to community-based learningadopted new technologies in dramatically different ways? Exploring the differences in technology use between schools and libraries across the country, the authors describe ways that these two institutions can collaborate to improve teaching and learning while building communities. With a focus on literacy development, they investigate how new technologies are implemented and the lessons that institutions can learn from one another. Including case studies and surveys to illustrate concepts, the book discusses: The history and purposes of schools and libraries from the 1800s to the present; Leadership and staffing issues related to technology development; Differences in mission, structural approaches to literacy, and public expectations for schools and libraries; The uses of technology in both institutions to create stronger communities.

Young people develop health literacy skills in a variety of environments, facing critical thinking challenges about their health from school, home and family life, peers and social life, and online. To explore the development of health literacy skills in youth, the Roundtable on Health Literacy convened a workshop on November 19, 2019, in Washington, DC. Presenters at the workshop discussed factors relating to health literacy skills and ways to further develop those skills among youth from early childhood to young adulthood. This publication summarizes the presentation and discussion of the workshop.

‘A ground-breaking book. For years educationists have sought evidence of genuine partnerships between schools and homes – reciprocal partnerships where schools are as keen to foster home practices relating to literacy and learning as they are to tell families ‘this is what we do’ and ask that they should do the same.’ Eve Bearne, Cambridge University, UK In this new media age the potential for mismatch between children’s literacy practices at home and at school is considerable. Tensions exist between school conceptions of literacy as a set of self-contained skills and competences, and literacy as social practice. In indicating what families can do to support school literacy, schools often fail to recognise or build upon children’s lived experience of literacy, or available parental support for wider learning in the home and community. Based on the findings of a research project developed in partnership busy schools, Researching Literacy Lives explores how teachers, positioned as researchers, developed an understanding of the cultural, linguistic and social assets that children bring with them from home. It examines how the practitioners widened their conceptions of literacy, built new relationships with parents and children and sought to develop two-way communication between homes and schools. Key ideas and challenges explored include: positioning teachers as learners and researchers; understanding children’s everyday literacy lives and funds of knowledge; examining teachers’ own literacy histories, practices and identities; creating culturally responsive curricula; contesting implicit assumptions and deficit discourses about children and families; developing less school-centric ways of working with parents; constructing more equivalent, personal relationships with parents, families and children. Illustrated throughout with examples and case studies of the project teachers, Researching Literacy Lives challenges the profession to think more critically about children’s out-of school literacy lives and funds of knowledge, and to invest in cultural change such that curriculum and pedagogy build upon children’s assets for learning and new home-school communities are created.

Strengthen programs of family and community engagement to promote equity and increase student success! When schools, families, and communities collaborate and share responsibility for students′ education, more students succeed in school. Based on 30 years of research and fieldwork, the fourth edition of the bestseller School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Your Handbook for Action, presents tools and guidelines to help develop more effective and more equitable programs of family and community engagement. Written by a team of well-known experts, it provides a theory and framework of six types of involvement for action; up-to-date research on school, family, and community collaboration; and new materials for professional development and on-going technical assistance. Readers also will find: Examples of best practices on the six types of involvement from preschools, and elementary, middle, and high schools Checklists, templates, and evaluations to plan goal-linked partnership programs and assess progress CD-ROM with slides and notes for two presentations: A new awareness session to orient colleagues on the major components of a research-based partnership program, and a full One-Day Team Training Workshop to prepare school teams to develop their partnership programs. As a foundational text, this handbook demonstrates a proven approach to implement and sustain inclusive, goal-linked programs of partnership. It shows how a good partnership program is an essential component of good school organization and school improvement for student success. This book will help every district and all schools strengthen and continually improve their programs of family and community engagement.

The dilemmas and tensions uncovered directly from the perspective of teachers and teacher educators develop narrative inquiry as a methodological approach to examining teacher knowledge in cross-cultural teaching, providing invaluable findings for teachers, teacher educators, and educational researchers internationally.