Roving Readers

Summary

The 'Roving Readers' program by Teaching for Change underscores the importance of parental involvement in schools, highlighting a unique approach where parents are actively engaged in literacy education within the classroom. Initiated in 2003 by parents at a DC Elementary School, this program not only supports students' academic growth but also enriches cultural understanding through multicultural literature. Parents partake in reading aloud sessions, becoming literacy role models for their children, and fostering a community where teachers, parents, and coordinators work synergistically. This initiative fosters enhanced communication between school and home, promoting an improved academic and behavioral atmosphere where students, knowing their parents are involved, feel more accountable and supported in their education.

Highlights

• Parents in 2003 reshaped family engagement by reading in classrooms. 📚
• Roving Readers emphasizes literacy through multicultural stories. 🌎
• Program enhances communication, improving students' behavior and academics. 📈
• Parents gain confidence and feel valued as part of the educational process. 👏
• Children appreciate seeing their parents involved, enhancing their own learning experience. 🎉

Key Takeaways

• Roving Readers transforms parent engagement, making them active literacy role models. 📖
• The program started in 2003 at a DC Elementary School to support classroom learning. 🏫
• Multicultural literature is a key element, enriching students' cultural understanding. 🌍
• The program boosts student accountability and academic improvement. 💪
• Parents become more confident and active in the learning environment. 👨‍👧‍👦

Overview

The 'Roving Readers' program, created by Teaching for Change, revolutionizes the traditional approach to parental involvement in schools. Initiated by parents at a DC Elementary School in 2003, the program invites parents to actively participate in the classroom by reading aloud to students. This engagement has proven instrumental in not only supporting literacy but also in building a robust community bond among parents, teachers, and students.

A cornerstone of Roving Readers is its focus on multicultural literature. By incorporating stories that reflect the diverse backgrounds of students and parents, the program broadens cultural understanding and empathy among participants. This diversity in reading material ensures that students are exposed to a wide range of perspectives, fostering an inclusive environment where every voice is valued and heard.

Through consistent interaction, Roving Readers strengthens the communication lines between home and school. Students benefit from improved behavior and academic performance as they see their parents actively involved in their education. Parents, in turn, gain confidence and become more comfortable in the school setting, feeling respected and essential to the educational process. The ripple effects of this program create a nurturing learning environment where everyone is invested in success.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction and Mission of Teaching for Change Teaching for Change emphasizes the importance of parents as valuable resources for schools. It highlights the challenges that schools face in engaging and connecting with families. The focus is on transforming family engagement through strategies that value and actively incorporate parents into the educational process, fostering collaboration between parents and teachers. The goal is to create meaningful partnerships that enhance the educational experience.
• 00:30 - 01:00: Origin and Concept of Roving Readers The chapter 'Origin and Concept of Roving Readers' explains an initiative started by parents in 2003 at a Washington D.C. Elementary School. The Roving Readers program was designed to support classroom learning by involving parents directly. It combines read-aloud sessions and equips parents with skills to model literacy for their children, using multicultural literature. This includes stories about social justice and diverse cultures.
• 01:00 - 01:30: Cultural Exposure and Parental Involvement This chapter delves into the importance of cultural exposure and parental involvement in education. It highlights the role of families and authentic voices in introducing students to diverse cultures and backgrounds. The principal underscores the shared responsibility of teachers, students, and parents in the educational process. An example given is the 'roving readers program', which demonstrates how students look forward to parents coming in, illustrating the positive impact of parental involvement.
• 01:30 - 02:00: Impact on Student Behavior and Academics The chapter discusses the significant and positive impact of parental involvement on student behavior and academics. It highlights how students exhibit improved behavior and academic performance when they are aware of their parents' engagement and expectations. Effective communication between parents and students fosters accountability and a shared understanding of expectations, which contributes to these improvements. This dynamic is facilitated by the role of a parent coordinator, who helps maintain and support this line of communication.
• 02:00 - 02:30: Role of Parent Coordinator and Process This chapter discusses the role of a Parent Coordinator and their involvement in facilitating communication and collaboration between parents, teachers, and the school. The Parent Coordinator engages with parents to understand their needs and helps in organizing activities such as reading sessions where parents read to children in classrooms. This promotes a sense of community and enhances the children's learning experience.
• 02:30 - 03:00: Empowerment and Inclusion of Parents The chapter discusses how the program 'Rovering Readers' empowers and includes parents in the literacy development process of their children. It invites parents, who may not have been asked to participate or who might not consider their literacy skills sufficient, to engage in classroom reading activities. By doing so, it not only provides these parents with the opportunity to enhance their own literacy but also allows their children to view them as literacy role models. The program aims to make literacy instruction accessible to parents, enabling them to replicate these efforts outside the classroom.
• 03:00 - 03:30: Transformation in Student and Family Perception This chapter discusses the shift in perception among students and their families regarding education and their roles in it. It highlights how parents become more engaged and confident as they get familiar with teachers, and how students adopt a new mindset about themselves and their families' involvement in their education. The chapter emphasizes the positive changes in the relationships between the home, school, and the evolving norms in students' self-conception and family engagement.

Roving Readers Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 [Music] at teaching for change we believe that parents are incredible resources to their schools we know that schools often struggle to find ways to meaningfully engage and connect with their families call your mom and your we can turn the tables on family engagement with an approach that values parents and actively finds ways for parents and teachers to work together roing readers is a signature
• 00:30 - 01:00 activity that was started by parents in 2003 at a DC Elementary School who said well we want to directly support the learning that's going on in the classroom roing readers combines read aloud and equipping parents with skills to be models of literacy for their children with Multicultural literature so it's also reading stories about social justice reading stories about uh the cultures uh and the backgrounds of
• 01:00 - 01:30 the families who are in the room and also exposing students to new cultures and backgrounds through authentic voices as a principal I fundamentally believe that the work that happens within the school building is the responsibility of both the teachers the students and the parents and so that's what we work very hard to do every single day with the roving readers program we have students whose eyes just immediately go to the door when they know that the parents are coming in I
• 01:30 - 02:00 think the impact has been amazing in terms of students just lighting up so they know that parents are paying attention to what's happening behaviors improve but more importantly academics improve because parents know what's happening and students know their parents are going to be holding them accountable because there is the line of communication going back and forth so that everybody has the common expectation has a par coordinator my job
• 02:00 - 02:30 is talk with the parent about school about things they need so when I'm here they come to me that way we can work all together parent teachers and myself we picked the book we read before here then we go to the classroom we go like a three or four classroom at the same time right but the kids they love it and they like to see Mom read it for them they love that part and the parent
• 02:30 - 03:00 they feel like a important rovering readers invites parents who may not otherwise have been asked to come read in the classroom it invites parents who may not otherwise think that their literacy skills were high enough to have that experience for themselves and for their children to have the experience of seeing them as models of literacy we're making literacy instruction accessible to parents in ways that they can then replicate at
• 03:00 - 03:30 home and our parents feel more confident and more comfortable coming to the classroom they get to know the teacher that teacher becomes a familiar face and they also start to see themselves in a different way as far as how they can support their children I love seeing the the new Norm that we're creating in terms of how the students think about themselves how they think about their families and the role that they play in their education [Music]
• 03:30 - 04:00 father BM [Applause]