Funds of Knowledge

Funds of Knowledge are groups of knowledge established in cultural practices that are

part of a families’ daily routine, individual cultures, and work experience. It is the knowledge

and ability that students and family members have within their roles as families, cultures, and

communities. Building connections with your students and families should be number one on

your to do list. Children that have strong connections from home to school, thrive and have

positive experiences for a foundation for a better future. Utilizing the Funds of Knowledge

structure is a great place to start this method. I observed quite a few different ATLAS videos

and I noticed the teachers included prior experiences into the lesson, cultural and language

background, and used the subject matter to real-life incidents to engage learning within the

students.

The case videos that I witnessed, each teacher included prior experiences and interests of

their students into the lesson plans. In case #858, these 6th grade students were discussing a story

called “Eleven”, which is about a girl named Rachel who was having a bad day on her eleventh

birthday about a red sweater. Her teacher believed another student saying this ugly sweater

belongs to Rachel, but Rachel was trying to say it was not hers. The teacher in this case study

wanted all the students in her class to think about a time in their lives when no one believed them

and how did it make them feel. The class had a group discussion about their prior experiences

with either family, friends, or other teachers in their lives.

The case videos also included cultural and language backgrounds from the teachers

amongst the students. In case #1644, this classroom setting had many 6th grade students coming

from a Hispanic cultural and language environment. They all lived in rustic farming
communities. Students that go to this school come from three different towns, which brings a

distinctive and abundant experience to the school district. The teacher put her students into

groups and had each group pick out of 5 different novels to read and make a presentation for the

class. The novels like “We Shall Not Be Moved: The Women's Factory Strike of 1909”, The

Dairy of Anne Frank, and “Esperanza Rising” focused on immigration and discrimination.

These presentations let the students make connections within their cultural background.

Finally, these lessons in the case videos were able to use the students’ family or

community background or connect the subject topic to real-life engaging for students to learn. In

case #858, this class of 8th graders were analyzing and discussing the similarities of the book

“Hunger Games” to real-world events. The teacher asked each student to take part at least 3

times in the group discussion and reference this novel to real-world incidents. One student

mentioned that District One from the book was a connection to the Holocaust during WWII.

Another student said that the government in the book was like our own government today, in

where they dictate what the citizens can or can not do living their lives.

Incorporating funds of knowledge into classroom activities creates a stronger and higher

platform of a learning experiences for students. This helps teachers induce these skills into their

classrooms to improve the understanding of academic content, while also motivating them

throughout classroom activities. One goal I will set up within my curriculum on the insights of

funds of knowledge will be to learn about my students’ cultural backgrounds, its practices,

rituals, and common approaches to teaching and learning. This allows opportunities for all the

students to engage in the various styles, which can help all students access the content.
 References

https://atlas.nbpts.org/cases/

Cases:

#858 #859 #1644 #188 #520