This week's readings reminded me of the material we covered
in my ESL Education class last night. We read an article that discussed about
how home visits impacted the way teachers started to approach the curriculum
and their students. Four teachers were recruited to do this research and study
the households of their students. Instead of doing the typical home visits
(visiting parents because there is a problem with their child), teachers went
to their students’ homes to gather the “funds of knowledge” by each household.
The article defined funds of knowledge as accumulated strategies (skills,
abilities, ideas, practices) or bodies of knowledge that are essential to a
household’s functioning and well-being. For example, a teacher learned how one
of her students had family obligations once she got home from school. This
allowed for the teacher to understand that homework wasn’t a priority, at least
to this child. There were family obligations to do before schoolwork. Other
teachers learned how certain households had daily routines in order to get
chores done. Teachers were exposed to the real lives of their students which helped
dispel any myths in their region. One myth that the article provided was on how
teachers believed that Mexican immigrants had limited work experience. They found out that some parents had once been
bank executives or international salesmen. By doing these home visits, teachers realized that homes were
rich in social and intellectual resources. These teachers wanted to adapt the
routines and understand how to connect the material better. These
households had more to offer than just culture. These teachers learned that their students had more than just one role at home.
In relation to
Espinosa’s experience, she found out what had happened to Jasmine, because she
visited her home. She learned why Jasmine was always so angry. It also
helped Espinosa dispel any assumptions she had of Jasmine’s mother. She was
also able to see the sweet version of Jasmine.
These home visits can help teachers so much, because they can provide
information that teachers do not know of their students since they all come
from different backgrounds and experiences. In my experience, it is not enough to
just make the content relevant and ignore all the other needs of students. There
has to be a connection between the content and students’ needs.
Now my main question to all of you is:
What are the pros and cons of doing home visits? (Some
schools do require home visits.)
Think about schedules/ neighborhoods/students’ invasion of
privacy
I agree with you completely on your emphasis on learning more about our students and establishing connections between the content and the students' needs. I also see the immense potential in making home visits. Some of the pros include getting a sense of the community in which your student lives in, getting to know the students' families, understanding the roles students play outside of schools, as well as learning about possible hobbies or things that interest them which are not clearly noted during school. With every pro however, it seems as though there is a con to follow. Cons may include visiting a neighborhood which is unfamiliar to you and inadvertently become a hostile sight to the people of the community (such as wearing rival gang colors which you were unaware of), parents may blame, get upset, or even retaliate against the child for bringing over the teacher. If there is a gray area, inconsistency, or unclear school policies on home visitations, you may be doing more harm to yourself or the students than you are aware of. I feel it is a matter of understanding what school and neighborhood you are in, as well as school policies regarding home visitations, before determining whether or not home visitations are feasible. However, if possible, I do believe that teachers should attempt to make home visitations if the pros outweigh the cons.
ReplyDeleteHi Guadalupe,
ReplyDeleteI agree with the sentiment of your post in that getting to know our students is one of the first things we must do in order to be able to have any chance at teaching them. I do not believe students will learn anything from you if they don't believe you know them and if they do not respect you.
To be honest, until this reading, I had not thought about home visits as part of my responsibility as a future teacher. And my first reaction is that it seems like something that would take some getting used to. Although I am absolutely willing to do whatever it takes in order to make sure I am on the same page as my students, obviously making multiple home visits to different students adds up to a lot of time that frankly as teachers, I don't know that we'll have. I think home visits should be something that are decided on a case by case basis, depending on the needs of the student/family. I believe as a teacher, I'll know if making that type of a visit is the necessary thing to do.
I think home visits are great but the problem is that not every student or parent may be comfortable with that and on top of that do you really have the time? Although we would love to only have our students and our jobs as teachers the fact is that eventually we all will have families of our own and such. I think this idea that some students don't prioritize homework is key and as teachers there are ways to adapt. For me I am thinking that an inverted classroom is something I would like to try. Basically it's a classroom where you record your lectures and have students watch them at home hen in class is where you do the actual work. I understand that it isn't for everyone but I can't wait to try it.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteSome of the pros I can think about when it comes to home visits are that it can build connections and positive relationships with the parents and the student. The parents can understand their child’s strengths and weaknesses and therefore can contribute in maximizing their learning process. However, negative relationships with the parents and their child is also a possibility to home visits. For instance, if I were to imagine my teacher coming to my parents about how I was doing in school, the only thing my parents would focus on are the critiques. In response, my parents would give me a lecture and send me to an after school program to study more. Although, it would still be a response to overall help my learning, I think it would put a strain on my relationship with my parents. Also, safety would be another factor to consider with home visits.
I think home visits would be a great way to get to know our students. Like one of the other posts said, I have never really thought about home visits before. I think there are many pros to doing them. You get to understand another side of the students you may not have understood without the home visit, such as: how their home life is, who their parents are, what responsibilities they have outside of school, and how many siblings they have. Like another response said, one con is time. If teachers have roughly 100 students in a year, that is 100 home visits. How would we ever have time to visit that many homes and do all of the other stuff that is required of us?
ReplyDeleteWhile reading this, I keep thinking... are we therapists/probation officers? I can see how home visits would be really helpful in understanding the students, and getting a more well-rounded picture of them, but can this be done in asking them questions about their life and being engaged with them? Home visits see extreme. And maybe in seemingly hopeless cases, they are the right answer. But I think, for the most part, the information gained in a home visit could be gained in a conversation with the kid as well. As long as we are involved in the school's community, and we aren't like a foreigner to their region, we should have a good idea about where they are coming from.
ReplyDeleteHome visits such as the ones described in the article are fine. I just think that some parents may believe that their child is in trouble if you visit them at home. What is great about these visits is that it dispels that mindset. Parents would trust you more as a teacher since you appear to care about their student (and you do care, I know). It also seems like a way to get to know that student who does not speak often in class.
ReplyDeleteJust as Jacki mentioned above, I had never really thought of home visits to possibly be part of my responsibilities as a teacher. With that being said, I'm sure it's very common for teachers to get so wrapped up in how their students are doing in the classroom that we may sometimes forget that their are a lot of outside factors that can affect our students' progress in the classroom, especially from their home environment. I think home visits can be very beneficial as a pro of them would be giving the teacher a chance to more deeply understand their students as they get a more in-depth look into their lives. This can also show students that their teacher truly does care about them as individuals. However, home visits may not always be welcomed or understood by all families. As mentioned above, some parents think home visits mean that something is wrong with their child, which may not always be true in all cases. I'm still unsure of how I feel about home visits because I feel it really depends on the school and the students and how much it may be needed or if it is even required. I would never want a family or student to feel that I am invading their privacy, but I also want to know as much about my students as I can so that I can better address my students' needs so that they are able to reach their full potential in my classroom. So as far as home visits go, I currently have mixed feelings about them.
ReplyDeleteI do believe home visits can be a great tool for getting to know the students, and understand different aspects about them that may hinder their progress during school. It can also help get the students out of an potential danger they could be in. It could also let the teachers see what exactly is working at home that may help within the classroom. It also shows that the teacher is trying to get to know the students, and can help build a better relationship with the students. I'm not quite sure how much I am in favor of these house visits. I see how it can work for students who are in danger of failing, but I also believe we can get to know our students through school time very well. What boundaries should we have as a teacher? As stated in class, there are so many things that people expect from us, but where should we draw the line?
ReplyDeleteI see the a lot of pros to home visits, but I do think it would add more to the already lengthy work load of teachers. Also, I do see this as a little dangerous. I think schools should have somebody or a department designated/assigned for home visits on an as-needed-basis for certain students. I don't think, as teachers, we are equipped to deal with some of the hostile situations we may witness. I, however, do see the benefit of home visits-they would help us learn more about the students-and, ultimately, help us understand their behavior, interests, priorities, etc.-knowing these things would, in turn, help us more adequately teach each of our students.
ReplyDelete“These teachers learned that their students had more than just one role at home.” A powerful reminder to us all I hope. Each person is a small universe with a history that is invisible to us. How much goes unseen depends on many factors, including the connection and bond that you share with the person you are trying to better understand. As much as I would love to prescribe to the notion that home visits should be part of our strategy as educators, I can’t help but feel it’s an unachievable ideal. How many home visits would you have to conduct before you actually understood a students’ situation? Just think of all the friends you’ve met in the past that required lots of time and trust before they would open themselves up to you. How much of that time was just keeping up with pleasantries and feigned interest? I mean, eventually those feeling build up to something wonderful, but building connections is not like switching on a light; they require time and effort. Maybe it’s just the rain today, but I don’t see it as an achievable goal for the majority of us who have responsibilities that extend beyond the classroom.
ReplyDeleteI agree with many of the pros and cons mentioned above. The main pro I feel with home visits is for those situations when parents are not able to come to open houses. Teachers should know parents and vice versa. Since it seems as teachers we are required to email and or call on a regular basis, it would be nice to have a visual with whom we are corresponding. I also strongly feel that the principal should also be making these home visits and administrators in charge of curriculum. After all, we are all in this together to foster a community. But this seems a tad unrealistic. I feel the argument would be that that is what an open house is for. But, as my mentor teacher shared with me a couple weeks ago, hardly any parents came to the open house. If parents, principals, and administrators do not feel the need to connect, it seems unfair to place it all on the teachers. But in the end, we'll do it, because we care for the students.
ReplyDeleteGuadalupe,
ReplyDeleteI agree that as teachers we must make every effort to develop an understanding of the forces--both within the school context and without--that shape and impact the lives of our students. If handled properly, home visits, as you've suggested, may prove an effective component of a broader strategy aimed at allowing us to learn about our students, their home lives, and the funds of knowledge from which they as learners are likely to draw. That said, it is important that we consider the ways in which these visits and our objectives as observers will be interpreted by the families of our students. Just how intrusive is the practice of home visitation? Also, how reasonable is it to expect teachers to accept the additional burden of regular home visitations?
I think it is important to make connections with your students. In some situtations, a home visit may stregthen your connection with a student. My mentor teacher has stressed the value of making sure that each student feels like the teacher is there for him. She said students may not know it, but they want structure and for the teacher to push them to the best of their ability. Last year, she had a student that never completed his work. Eventually, as the teacher and student formed a connection and after a home visit, the student began to complete his assignments. He would say, "Ms. Holmes, this is for you! I finished this for you!" At first, she allowed him to say this because at least he was completing his work, but eventually his thinking needed to be changed. She began to tell him that he was not doing his work for the teacher but for himself.
ReplyDeleteExtra ordinarily tricky. I agree with Andrew and love Amanda's comment: "While reading this, I keep thinking... are we therapists/probation officers?". If it's part of a school wide approach that has widespread parental approval/support then ok (though how much time do I have for this? on top of regular lesson planning and preparation? typically teachers have say 5 classes... let's assume 25 students per class.. we're talking about 125 home visits. How long are these visits? 30 minutes is fairly short, but we are already talking about 62.5 hours... not taking into account commute,. etc. Seriously?? Do I get to live at least a partial life? What happened to good old parent teacher conferences with the student participating in school? Frankly, as a student, I would find such visits incredibly intrusive (even though I was an "achiever"). I would think at least certain parents might find such visits very intrusive. The deep rooted libertarian in me revolts at such an approach (now.. being INVITED to a students' home is DIFFERENT story though even that becomes problematic as one may then be accused of favoritism towards the students whose homes you may have visited.
ReplyDeleteFinally, I want you to consider the results of one currently VERY popular potentially hare brained scheme among freshly minted teachers and their researcher professors. Including and incorporating "social media" is the hot/in thing right now. Many of us have had to deal with it.. how did that go in CI_504_404 last semester?
My sister in law is a teacher and she recently told me some freshly minted teachers in her school want the students to use social media in conjunction with school/academics and the kids are having NONE of this...They refuse to mix up their social media with "school". I recently ran into Prof. Phillips and told him this story and he laughed (because he knew this to be true from his own observations).
so. what does this mean? sometimes what on surface may seem like a great idea.. isn't a great idea at all, i
Home visits, if one takes even a small amount of time to consider the implications are something I am not interested in, unless in specific and special circumstnaces.
There was a guest speaker who came into my Hist 420 to speak to us about ESL students. The takeaway from her lesson was the conflict of language and comfort parents had. When there are barriers such as these, it becomes difficult to reach out to the homes. Sometimes, parents feel like they're on the outside of their kids' education and therefore there become this sense of hesitation and even anger. My mentor teacher expanded on this issue when commenting on one of his colleagues who experienced a very intense parent-teacher conference. There was such disconnect between parents, students, and teachers that the parents brought baseball bats to the school when attending their conferences.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how to fix this problem but I know there's a possible resolution.
NIce post!
Saarah Mohammed
This chapter should come with a disclaimer: likely to cause misanthropic thoughts shortly after finishing. I mean, how can you not feel like walking into the pages, grabbing Mrs. Hurtado and shaking her until she feels at least half an ounce of the horror that Jasmine felt after listening to the cruelty that stems from ignorance next store? This whole notion that "that is not my job," "I'm a teacher, not a therapist," is probably a symptom of the neoliberal emphasis on specialization, where we do a limited task, with a circumscribed focus, for an allotted amount of hours, pack it up, go home, sleep, and only wake to worry the same worry's we are expected to be concerned with. The fact that one would pass the buck to help a student in duress is an indication of the pervasiveness of the logic of specialization that turns us into anesthetized robots. So, yes, I am for home visits. I think we owe it to our students; they come into a space where they do not necessarily want to be all the time, but they do their best to play ball, to follow form and the like. I think shooting the breeze for a few hours is the least we who are interested in our students can do to get to know them outside of such stringent, contrived environments.
ReplyDeleteDISCLAIMER: Originally posted in wrong conversation. Lo siento.
ReplyDeleteHome visits are a very interesting concept. I, like some other writers here, was unfamiliar with this as a practice. Indeed, I even found it a little invasive…the expert knocking on your door and telling you to send your kid to counseling? This is a problematic practice in many ways. A teacher never came into my home, and indeed, I always thought that it a little odd that Miss Honey and Matilda had forged such a personal relationship, didn’t you? Hmm actually, if you’ll allow me the digression, isn’t it interesting that Miss Honey’s, let’s call it ‘invasion,’ into the lives of the Wormwoods is exacerbated when she sees the low brow family culture (game shows, ghastly things!) the gifted Matilda is forced to suffer? As any good civilizing agent would, she then invites (the child, remember) Matilda over for tea, gives her good canonical novels, and complains to her about how her inheritance has been stolen. How very British.
Meanwhile, with Jasmine, the opposite happens. The teacher is disabused of the notion that her mother is neglectful. And yet, she continues to intervene. Yes, this is for the good of the student….as the teacher sees it. But is there a line? If someone kept knocking on my door with cakes and spitting the same narrative of counseling over and over, despite my polite remonstrations that my daughter had declined counseling, I would eventually completely block the teacher out. Here, the mother relents. For the author, however, this is “the smallest of victories” (111). To her credit, she does get properly angered at the counselor’s cavalier suggestion that Jasmine go on medication. All hope is not lost.
When we walk into the home of a student we walk into a family sphere. We take our status, our supposedly expert opinion (is counseling ever not the answer?), and our cultural values into the space of another. I do think that forging relationships with families and with students makes us better teachers. Home visits for the express purpose of pushing bourgeois notions of how to “achieve” mental “health?” Decidedly not something I would do.