Knowledge Keepers

Making Space for Family Knowledge in the Classroom

A Family Engagement Project

Amber Kraus
August 2015

ECUR 898
Debbie Pushor
University of Saskatchewan

When I sat down to start this project, I really struggled. Not because I have
any internal conflict with parent engagement and embracing that notion in my
classroom, but more because I am not yet at the place where I can completely
figure out how to involve parents in the co-planning and co-teaching process. Last
year was my first year of beginning to understand and try out the idea of
involvement versus engagement. After a year of great activities, I feel many of the
things I tried were still closer to involvement than engagement. So I am currently
sitting in a place of reflection and trying to determine how I can make this year
better in my classroom in terms of making parents feel welcome and finding a
meaningful way to include them in their childs education. When I started thinking
about this project and was looking through my curriculum, I was struggling to find
a place where I felt I could have parents be co planners. Nothing in my social
studies spoke to me and while health felt like it might be a good option that is a
subject I wont be teaching this year due to another teacher providing coverage in
my room. I didnt want to make up a pretend assignment that would be handed in
for this course and never used again. As teachers we spend enough of our own time
putting effort into what we have to do. So instead of trying to pick an outcome and
plan an activity to fit with that, I chose to instead pick an activity and afterward
find a curriculum outcome to match. I have always wanted to explore the idea of
building community within the classroom and relationships between myself,

students and their families. I think there are so many untapped sources of
knowledge in our parents, grandparents, guardians, etc. I had one great experience
last year where a grandfather came in to my classroom and shared about his life as
an RCMP living in Norman Wells. He shared his experiences living with the
Aboriginal people, sharing the meaning and significance behind the artwork that
came from that area, and compared how different life is there compared to what
my students know living in Saskatchewan. He spoke for nearly three hours and not
one student was off task the entire time. It brought to life many of the concepts we
had talked about in class previously. Additionally, I wanted to plan something that
helped foster curiosity and creativity in my students; something I feel kids are
lacking in todays generation. One of the most disheartening experiences Ive had
as a teacher was on the playground one lunchtime when I was supervising. I had
noticed the snow had drifted and packed solid in one spot on the playground and I
grabbed a piece and started carving it with my hand. Something I had spent hours
doing with my sisters as a kid. I was amazed at how many students approached me
and asked what I was doing. None of them had every done something like that
before. The lack of imagination and reliance on technology to entertain became so
apparent to me in that moment. So this project stems from a personal sense that
something is missing for many kids in the community where I teach.

My idea is something I am going to call Knowledge Keepers for now. The

name may change at some point, but that is a minor detail. Due to the nature of the
school in which I teach, I feel it is important not to assign a specific day for this to
occur. There is always the opportunity for flexibility in my classroom schedule to
accommodate the schedules of parents, which is important as many of my students
come from situations with both parents working out of the home. I think it is also
important in terms of hospitality and being a guest host. I would never expect my
friends to only visit on a set day that had been assigned since the beginning of the
year, and so in turn I think that flexibility is important in encouraging parents to
become a part of the classroom. The end goal of Knowledge Keepers is to bring
parents or guardians in as guest teachers to the school and allow them to share
whatever area of knowledge they feel is important. I envision this being things
such as a grandmother coming in to teach the class the basics of knitting or an
uncle coming in to teach the students about his job as a registered nurse. I will
come back to this later on when I detail the plan in full.
I think the most important part of this is to have activities that lead up to the
invitation to share their knowledge in the classroom. Many parents may not feel
that they are welcome at the school. This may be due to past experiences with
teachers and other schools as well as their own personal story of schooling. Even
with having an open door and inviting parents in, I have noticed they are often

unsure if they should cross over that invisible line that has historically separated
parents and classroom. Meetings will also be held on neutral ground as opposed to
at the school for these reasons.
Here is a brief overview of how I envision the school year looking. Below I
will detail some of the specifics and reasoning behind the chosen activities

Family Engagement Plan of Action

Month
September

Activities
Initial contact with parents via email with invitation to
check out class website
Second contact with parents asking them to share their
hopes and dreams for their child this school year
First Family Night; Fall Potluck

October

Three Way conferences

November

Family Night Co-planning meeting

December

Family Night; co-planned with parents

January

First meeting with parents about co-teaching

February
March

First session of Knowledge Keepers

Second session of Knowledge Keepers

Parent meeting to look at how the program is going

April
TBD based on meeting
May
TBD based on meeting
June
Celebration with student presentations
September
Initial contact with parents via email with invitation to check out class website
Second contact with parents asking them to share their hopes and dreams for their
child this school year
First Family Night; Fall Potluck
I think this first part is the most important. It is the foundation that will allow the
Knowledge Keepers plan to be successful. Without a strong foundation, the plan will likely
just be a floundering mess or something that will be one of those extras that gets shoved to
the side when life gets busy. I think about it like dating. I would never feel safe entering
someones home if I hadnt taken some time to get to know them, understand what they are
about and ensure it is a safe place for me. I imagine parents sometimes feel the same about
the school and our classrooms.

The invitation to the website is important for me because it is something I use for all
communication throughout the school year. Everything from important dates to curriculum
outcomes are posted there. This year I am choosing to add a new section called
Expectations for Parents. This came after reading one of the chapters in an article for our
class as well as feeling that last year parents werent clear on my expectations. This

section is basically going to outline my rules for parents. Things such as:

-you are welcome in the classroom at any time. Please dont wait for an invitation
-if you are at the school, please feel free to come into the classroom and have a seat. You
dont need to knock
-if something happened at home and you are worried about how your child is doing, send
me a text and I will happily check in with you

This idea is still processing so it is still rough in presentation. The wording and list will
surely change, even though I am quickly running out of time, but I think it is critical to be
very specific in your intentions. Last year I felt like I presented an open door to the
classroom but still found that parents waited in the hall and responded awkwardly when I
invited them to come in. I think this is a first step in helping parents recognize that I want
them to be a part of the classroom and that there isnt an invisible line dividing us.

Last year, thanks to my colleague taking your summer courses, I was given the idea to send
parents an emailing inviting them to share their hopes, dreams and any other information
they thought was important. Those letters back from parents gave me insight that would
otherwise take a full year to learn. Not only that but rather than having my stories about a
family, they were providing me with their family story. It helped me understand some of the
things that have caused me frustration in other years. This year I hope to be more diligent in
responding to all emails. I think that is a vital part of forming the foundation of a
relationship with parents. I always love each and every one of my students, but I am not
sure that love was always as evident to parents as I would like it to be and I hope this is one
way to articulate that.

I wont go into much detail about the Family Night other than I think it is important for the
teacher to plan the first one. To make it a genuine invitation of hospitality. Last year my
grade partner and I hosted family nights in our classrooms on the same night. We sent home
paper invitations addressed to the family and provided juice, coffee and treats. It was a
chance for us to get to know the families better and for families to get to know each other
better. It was amazing to see the connections that were made that night, especially with a

family that was new to the community. This year the change I will make is having it within
the first couple weeks of school instead of waiting until the end of September. I feel that
waiting a full month is giving up too much valuable time in the short ten month period we
have to get to know our families.

November
Family Night; co-planned with parents
Last year one of the aspects of my family nights that never sat well with me was that I was
always the one planning them. While the task of planning itself was something I was
happy to do, I felt like it was still asking the parents to be involved rather than engaging
them. Here is the night, here is the time, here is what we are doing. Now, show up and
enjoy it. My plan for November is to extend an invitation to parents who are interested in

co-planning our December Family Night. The meeting will be set at either a local coffee
shop or a space like the public library. As I mentioned in my introduction, not all parents
will feel comfortable in the school space due to a variety of reasons. By having the
meeting on neutral ground, my hope is to make those people feel comfortable to attend.

My goal for this is that the parents will take leadership with me acting as a facilitator.
Someone who can potentially provide access to the use of the school or to coordinate the
invitations. Not the one who determines the what, where and when. My hope for this
approach is that it will allow parents to feel they have a voice in what happens in the
classroom, which is a foundational piece needed before they can be invited to participate
in the Knowledge Keepers program.

January
First meeting with parents about co-teaching

I am hopeful that by leaving this until January, parents are feeling like they have a place in
the classroom. We will have gone through one set of conferences and report cards, two
family nights and various other activities together. Much like the Family Night meeting, I
will invite parents to attend a planning meeting with a brief pre explanation of what the
project will look like. I will also open this up to grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc who may

be interested in sharing in the classroom. Again this meeting will be at a neutral location,
as opposed to the school

My hope is that at the end of this meeting, we will have a plan for how to invite families
into the room and what that will look like. Additionally, I hope that parents are the ones
who will make these connections rather than me, as the teacher, contacting people.

Knowledge Keepers
I find this part is a bit of a challenge. I dont want to lay out a complete plan at this point
because my hope is that this will be a co-created plan with the parents who are involved.
However, for the sake of this assignment and for my own hopes and dreams, here is how I
envision the project working:

Each month there will be a scheduled day where family members, friends and community
members are invited in. They will have been previously contacted by a parent of the
classroom. Speakers are invited to share whatever area of expertise they feel they are able
to. It will not be specific to any topic but rather something in which they feel they hold
knowledge. In my hopes I picture an uncle coming in to share about his job welding in the
oil field. An older sister coming in to talk about her experiences as an interior designer. A
grandmother coming in to demonstrate how to make your own flour. The possibilities are

endless. When I think about the skills that reside in my family alone, I can imagine endless
lessons on those topics alone.

Ideally I would like to see between 4-5 Knowledge Keepers in the classroom at a time.
The reason behind this is I would like to have the students choose which speaker they
would like to listen to ahead of time. That way the groups are smaller and it will allow for
sharing among the students (I will touch on this later). I would like this to occur before
lunch as that would allow for at least 3 hours of time, as well as time for a scheduled break
according to our school day. The break is important because it would allow time for
relationships to be formed and further connections to be made.

Prior to this point, students will have had lessons on writing paragraphs so that they are
able to take jot notes that will be used later. Also, I think it is important that long before
this point, there have been conversations, talks and books that teach students how to be
hosts and welcome guests into the classroom. My hope would be that students are waiting
at the school doors as guests arrive and show them to our classroom. In addition to that, it
would be my hope that students had previously completed small gifts such as artwork or
poems that could be presented along with a thank you note when the guest is leaving.

Curriculum Connections
I will admit that at this point I am not ready to hand my curriculum over to parents and let
go of control. Part of it is the unsure sense I have of how to do that and how to facilitate
rather than lead. Hopefully through this project that feeling will change and I will start to
see places where I can invite parents to be co-planners and teaches of the curriculum in a
more direct way.

The curriculum outcomes that this project will meet come from my grade three ELA
curriculum. One from Comprehend and Respond and three from compose and create:

Outcome: CR3.3
Listen to and understand information, identify main ideas and supporting details, compare
different ideas and points of view, and explain connections made between texts heard.

Outcome: CC3.1
Compose and create a range of visual, multimedia, oral, and written texts that explore:
identity (e.g., Spreading My Wings) community (e.g., Helping Others) social responsibility
(e.g., Communities Around the World) and make connections across areas of study.

Outcome: CC3.3
Speak to present ideas and information appropriately in informal (e.g., interacting
appropriately with others to share ideas and opinions, complete tasks, and discuss concerns
or problems) and some formal situations (e.g., giving oral explanations, delivering short,
simple reports, demonstrating and describing basic procedures) for different audiences and
purposes.

Outcome: CC3.4
Write to communicate ideas, information, and experiences pertaining to a topic by creating
easy-to-follow writing (including a short report, a procedure, a letter, a story, a short script,
and a poem) with a clear purpose, correct paragraph structure, and interesting detail.

Students will be required to complete different writing assignments after each presentation.
I believe that offering choice is an important part of my teaching, and so while students

will have a list of items to complete (write a paragraph, write a letter, etc.) they will have
the choice of which task they complete for each Knowledge Keepers day. My hope is that
some of the parents or guests who were unable to participate in the first part of the session
can come in the room and help support the students in their work. However, this is
something I think I would leave for later sessions so that the bugs can be worked out of the
project.

The reasoning behind the small groups is to present the students with the opportunity to
share their learning on these days. I envision this being a combination of reports as a group
to the class, sharing with a friend from another group through a formal presentation and
even just as an oral story between groups. In my classroom we work on public speaking
from the very first week of school so I think this presents a good opportunity to apply
those skills. My final hope would be that toward the end of the year there would be another
family celebration where our Knowledge Keepers are invited back and each student has
the opportunity to share about something new they learned through this project.

Questions, Tensions, Concerns

As I mentioned I certainly have tensions about letting go of control over my curriculum. I
believe that I will get there, but I dont think I am ready yet this year, and it is something I
want to do mindfully and not haphazardly. That causes me a bit of tension because I
understand and recognize its a best practice but I also value myself and my personal
growth in knowing I am not at the place to properly execute a plan like that.

Something I want to consider with the project is the option of inviting in Knowledge
Keepers who are unable to be there in person. I know many students have connections
with people living all over the world from whom it wont be feasible to appear in person. I
know technology can build bridges, but I am also mindful of the challenges that presents
when dealing with out of date technology and limited bandwidth. This is something I am
going to have to continue to consider. Perhaps this is an ideal place to seek out parent
knowledge to see if someone has a better understanding in that field.

I wanted to be mindful of my project so that the set up didnt exclude any of my students.
Quite frequently I see colleagues planning projects that require students to interview
family members or determine the reason behind their name. Through readings for this
course I am coming to recognize how damaging that may be to students. What happens if I
set up the project so that each student was required to bring a guest in? How would the one
student who has no one willing to participate, feel? I hope that by not narrowing it that

much that I can help avoid those concerns.

Another concern of mine is specific to the community in which I teach. There is very little
diversity in my classroom and school as a whole. While I know there is a chance a family
member or guest speaker might represent diversity, I think it is important as the teacher to
make sure to invite someone who can provide information students may not otherwise hear
in their day to day lives. After having the opportunity to hear Lyndon Linklater speak in
our class, I have a new understanding and respect for the importance of oral stories. I
gained more understanding into First Nations culture and traditions in that short time than
I have in any of my teaching or university classes. While I knew about smudging, it was
something I had never experienced and I gained a much better understanding of its place.
With this being the first time in my life that Ive had the opportunity to hear someone
speak about their First Nations culture in person, I want my students to be presented with
the opportunity early in their lives. Not only from a First Nations perspective, but from
other cultures as well.

My other concern at this point is whether or not I will have enough people interested in
this project to make it work. I am sure this is a concern that will turn out to be unfounded
but it is still at the back of my mind. I think however, if after the first event there is little
interest, I would invite parents back in to meet again and figure out a new plan together

with them. I think things like this dont need to be a stress on the teacher. If we want to
encourage others to transition to parent engagement, it has to be something that doesnt
feel like a ton of extra work, but instead rethinks things we are already doing.