Quezada 1 Jessica Quezada LRC 411 December 16, 2013 Final Reflection The home engagements that I had

the opportunity to participate in were definitely a great learning experience. I will be using the knowledge acquired during these experiences in my only classroom in the future. I gained a deeper understanding of what funds of knowledge means, as well as how to use it effectively in the classroom. For these engagements I was paired up with a family that has a son in the TUSD school district at Hollinger Elementary school in the PACE program. They are family of five, which includes, mom, dad, ten year old boy, 4 year old boy, and a 10 month old girl. The student in my classroom was the 4 year old son. Both of the parents come form Mexico, which means that their first language is Spanish, but they are also proficient in English. The same is true for all of the children in this household as well. Mom uses a mix of English and Spanish when she is talking to her children, and for the most part the children only talk English. Even though her older son speaks both Spanish and English, he uses English more often. Mom does not try to force it on him, especially sine he has a harder time with using two languages because of his ADD. The only time that I heard him speak Spanish was when he talked to his grandmother. Even thought their grandmother does speak English she prefers that her grandchildren speak English to her. I did not ask her why she preferred it, but I feel it is due to the fact that she grew up with the language, and it is something that is special to her so she wants her grandchildren to learn it as well. The parents moved to the USA from Agua Prieta, Nogales in Mexico, when they were both relatively young (6 and 10 years of age). They have lived in the same area of Tucson since

Quezada 2 their move here and mom even attended the same elementary school that her younger son is attending at this point in time. They are not planning on moving away from this especially since a large portion of their family lives in the same area. Family is of great importance to them, they are a support system for them, and they spend a lot of time together. Whenever mom needs a babysitter, or help in any other way her family is always there to support her. Mom is very involved in her childrens lives. The PACE preschool program that her son is in requires her to be involved in their classroom at least two times a month, and her older sons classes require her to come in 4 times a month. All of this involvement means that she has to have a very flexible job. At this point in time she works as a secretary for a small carpet cleaning company. Because all of her work is done by phone this allows her to be with her children when there is a need. This is a job that is fairly new to her. Initially she felt she could handle it, but now she is not enjoying it since it requires a lot of work from her and she feels as though she is not paid a fair amount for the work that she does. The father is not as involved in their childrens lives as the mother. The father is the breadwinner of the family, which means that his job requires him to be out of the house every single day. He works in an apartment building as the person who maintains the building, and he has been working in this same field for a while. As far as I am concerned he has been working at the same job least since they moved in to their current apartment together. He is around his family during the evenings for dinnertime, as well as for the evening sports practices, and during the weekends. During my home engagements I did not have the opportunity to meet the father because of his work schedule. Sports are a very prevalent part of the students life. Even though none of the parents played sports in their youth, or are very interested in sports in general their 10 year old son has been playing sports since he was old enough to participate in them and he has played in a

Quezada 3 wide range of sports. Mom initially used is as a way to get her son to participate in an activity outside of school, but they are certainly more involved in sports now. The whole family goes to the 10 year old bothers sports practices almost every evening. On Saturday the main portion of his day is spent at sporting events, as well as any celebrations that are related to the sporting events. Sports is something the mother wants her younger son to be involved in as well. This coming January he will be starting to play tee ball. As far as education is concerned none of the parents have a degree higher than a high school diplomat. The mother did attend beauty school for a period of time but she found that she was not very interested in it so she did not end up completing her courses. Aside form the fact that during this period of her life she was going through a difficult time since her father was having medical issues. At this point in time she is contemplating going back to school to get a degree in the medical field. She is not happy with her current job, and she wants to be making more money that she is currently making. Her husband is not planning on going back to school at this point in his life. There was no mention of any educational goals that she has for her children. Since both parents are from Mexico, they traditions they have follow the Mexican traditions they grew up with such as going to church on a weekly basis. Mom says they all really enjoy going down to Mexico and spending time with their family down there. They dont go very often only because their immediate family is in the United States, but they still go to Mexico every so often for their own personal enjoyment. When mom was 17 years old she moved away from home, and into an apartment with her cousins. About a year later she found out that she was pregnant with her first son. From that point she moved with her then boyfriend, and they have been together ever since. Even thought they have been together all of this time they only got married this past summer.

Quezada 4 The students older brother has ADD, so he does not attend Hollinger Elementary School; instead he attends a school in the Sunnyside School District because she feels their inclusion program is better. Mom tells me that she struggles a lot to help her son in school. She often needs a lot of teacher assistance in order to be able to help her son at home. Even though she is not positive she also feels that her younger son might also suffer from ADD since he seems to be experiencing traits similar to the ones that his brother experienced when he was younger. Next year none of her children will be attending a school in the TUSD school district, instead they will both be moving to another school in the Sunnyside School District. During my time in these home engagements I also had the opportunity to see the relationship between the mother and her children as well as the relationship between the siblings. The mother is strict with the children; she expects them to listen to what she says. She is also very loving towards her children. She feels that if her children are working hard, and trying their best in school, sports, and their home duties they should be rewarded for their work. I could also tell that the children have a very good relationship. Even though they do fight on occasion they truly do love each other. One example of this is the fact that the brothers sleep together on the top of a bunk bed, even though they have the option of having their on sleeping areas. At this point in time the family is living in a two bedroom apartment. They have been living there for quite a while. The family just recently started talking about possibly moving into the mothers grandparents home. Both of them are suffering from a variety of diseases and they struggle to take care of themselves. If they agree on this living arrangement, the family will be completely remodeling the home completely since they feel it lack a lot of the amenities in our modern day homes.

Quezada 5 These home engagements were certainly a great learning experience. Prior to this engagement I knew about funds of knowledge, but it was not something that I had ever gotten to experience for myself. I learned to distinguish between funds of knowledge, and interest, as well as how to use this information in the classroom in order to create a classroom that is better suited for the students in it. The home engagement with this particular child gave me a better understanding of who he is. With this greater understanding I can use my acquired knowledge to create lessons better suited for him. This can also be done for all of the students in the classroom. Furthermore I also built a stronger relationship with the students mother. I am more comfortable talking with her, and I feel that she is also more comfortable talking with me. This positive parent teacher relationship can certainly be a useful tool in the classroom. At the beginning of the semester I was not comfortable with the idea of going into a strangers home, and asking them personal questions in order to learn about them. I was also nervous about the whole situation, I didnt know how I would keep the conversation going, or how to make sure that the conversation stayed on neutral topics that would not be uncomfortable to talk about. I overcame his quickly because of the openness that the family showed me, and by the second home visit I did not feel I needed any assistance. Now that I have gone through the experience of the home visits, it is something that I am certainly more comfortable with. The knowledge that I gained from this experience I will certainly be using to learn about my own students in the future when I have my own classroom. One aspect of these home interactions that really surprised me was the stories the family shared with me. I was not expecting for the parents to tell me very personal experiences of their life, such as the medical conditions that they suffer from as well as difficult experiences that they

Quezada 6 have gone through. I know that I would certainly not be as open to talking to a stranger coming into my home. This made me think about the way parents perceive teachers. They view us a people that are here to make a great learning environment for their children, and they put their childrens trust in our hands. Knowing this, I will make it my responsibility to create the best classroom for my future students.