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SIGNATURE ASSIGNMENT By Hannah Lorona

NOVEMBER 29, 2017

PROFFESOR LLIANA REYES
hannahlorona@email.arizona.edu
 Field Notes
My home engagement family had some challenges arise in the midst of this

assignment but after meeting a few times at school and once at home, I was able to

complete this assignment.

Some notes from recordings:

 Vanessa 4 years old parents Mom and Dad has an older sister 6 and brother 23

both not home!

 Mexican American family. Mom was born and raised in Tucson and her family

stays close. Brother moved to Oregon 3 months ago but his sons live here and

visit every weekend. Dad is not as close with his side of the family his family is

from Mexico and California.

 Vanessa is very dependent on her older sister Sister. Sister likes to pretend she

is the mother and helps Vanessa get ready for school.

 Dad works on and off for the city but we didn’t go into detail on his job

 Mom is a hairdresser but works very far from home so she sometimes does hair

at home

 Because we are at a HeadStart, parents are super involved in Vanessa’s

schooling.

 Usually mother takes her in and works with her on morning activity.

 Both parents attend meetings and conferences

 The family is in counseling “they live like a divorced family”- unsure what she

meant because she then went on to say she doesn’t get along with her
 husband’s family but not her husband so they will be spending Thanksgiving

apart but doing something small on Wednesday.

o I did not feel like I had the right to ask questions on expanding this but

by observing and asking my mentor teacher I learned that the parents

are still together and are working on it. They are very close friends but

want to rebuild their marriage. Mom finds it hard because her husband’s

family doesn’t speak to her.

o Vanessa doesn’t seem to notice, her parents work very well together and

don’t fight in front of the children. Vanessa does understand what a

fight is and she asks questions about what causes them but she knows

that when someone is angry that they can go be alone to relax.

o Mom and Dad said when Vanessa gets upset she goes to watch a princess

movie or read a princess book. When I asked Vanessa she explained that

she does what mommy does and reads and stays quiet till she’s better.

 They do therapeutic family boxing sessions, an activity my teacher checks in on

o This is a great activity for them and they try to do it regularly but

sometimes it is hard to find time.

 They are Christian

o However, they do not practice religion. They enjoy participating in

Easter and Christmas but use these holidays as more of a family

gathering event then a celebrating of their religion. They are not against

it. The parents explained that as time went on through their lives they

lost interest in the practice and that they think when Vanessa gets older
 they can have an open discussion with her and if she wants to learn

about church and start attending they will all go as a family.

 Attempting plan a trip to Oregon for winter break

 Vanessa really wants to see snow!

 Vanessa is bright and her parent’s involvement is a huge part of that

 Her parents work hard to make sure the children have a good education and

work hard in school.

 They are very close with their neighbors, who have one boy that is five.

 Besides that, they are very family oriented and involved.

 Their support network is mainly the school and their family. My mentor teacher

is like an aunt to Vanessa.

 Funds of Knowledge for the Family

o The family is an extremely close family. This means that their funds of

knowledge are family based. They value trust and bonding, they value

encouragement and support. In order for them to be a close family, they

must all support an encourage each other even in tough times. The

mother, Mom mentioned that even though her and Dad don’t always see

eye to eye or get along that they both will do anything for each other in

a time of need and they hope that projects to her children because then

they will be selfless.

o Their main funds of knowledge is togetherness or bonding. They make

traditions based around family time. Whether it is sitting together at

night to eat, therapeutic boxing class or weekly movie nights. Mom and
 Dad both wish their parents raised them as a closer family. Because of

this, their main goal is to constantly be involved in their children’s lives.

This causes their traditions and values and funds of knowledge to be

themed around that.

o Although the parents are in therapy for their marital problems they are

strong and close. They are like a machine they said. They still value

bonding and no matter the circumstances they make sure to show an

environment that is together. This is very good for Vanessa.

Reflection on House Visits

 I found these home engagements to be challenging and very beneficial for both

me and the family. Having never even heard of them before it was a new experience.

I was very lucky to be paired with such a great mentor and family. Because of their

bond and participation in school, I wasn’t very awkward. I enjoyed getting so close to

the family and after the first engagement that happened in the classroom, was no

longer nervous. I didn’t use my time to interview or question the family but instead I

tried to discuss myself and then mention Vanessa. I think by doing this I allowed more

casual conversations and less awkwardness. When I would bring about subjects, either

of the parents or both would chime in with a family information, history or a story.

Vanessa enjoyed sitting in on these engagements and listen to what we had to

say. The family made me feel very welcome and Mom mentioned that she enjoyed

getting to know me because I will be around Vanessa all year. Because she said that, I

felt like this was no longer an odd activity to do but more of a experience that will

teach me how to reach out and speak to families in my future teaching career. I am

interested in continuing these engagements over the next semester and I am excited

for what is to come.

Final Critical Reflection and Analysis

A) As future teacher’s our goal is to successfully help children reach their full

potential. It is instrumental for us to educate ourselves of the cultural and

linguistic funds of knowledge for different diverse groups because this is the

first step to a successful classroom. In order to properly educate our

students, we ourselves must be properly educated. Funds of knowledge is

one way to help us bond with each student and each family. By gaining this

knowledge by reading and educating ourselves, we can start to see that our

students have rich cultural and diverse backgrounds and have unique values

and traditions. “This enhances my teaching as I allow children and parents

to feel valued and use their knowledge in developing curriculum” (pg. 150

Norma Gonzalez). Without educating ourselves on cultural diversity and

funds of knowledge we would be unable to truly teach our students.

B) It is critical to know about how sociopolitical issues related to race, culture,

ethnicity and language diversity impact education because we will work in

the education field. In our book and in our class, we have spent time

analyzing the positive and negative ways that these can impact education.

If as educators we don’t recognize these issues, this can drastically effect

children in their early years. An example is that If we don’t recognize a

student with a home language and instead negatively react to this student’s

home language this could not only cause the student start declining from

speaking the home language but also form a negative bond with the

student. If you don’t form a positive bond with a student who doesn’t speak
 the classroom language then this will cause many challenges for the student

to learn the classroom language. It is very important that we know how

race, culture, ethnicity and more effect a classroom because our future

classroom will be effected by it.

C) I have learned so much through the reading and through class. I think one of

the most important things I have learned is that teaching and immersing

children as young as possible in a cultural and racial positive environment is

so important. Teaching children about being different and that society is a

diverse community which teaches children how to be social. It is so

important to me as someone who praises all cultures and enjoys diversity

and all the world has to offer that all my students learn about cultures and

the world. I want to have a culturally diverse welcome environment where

everyone feels safe and welcome.