This dynamic book provides powerful ideas to guide pedagogy and a curriculum model for helping students connect with issues in their lives while meeting standards. Vivid portraits of K-12 classrooms illustrate how teachers used a human rights framework to engage students in critical inquiry of relevant social issues, such as immigration rights, religious tolerance, racial equality, countering the effects of poverty, and respect for people with disabilities. The book shows how a group of teachers worked together to develop a critical content frameworkusing the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Chapters highlight lively classroom and community action projects.

This engaging and rich resource details how schools and diverse families throughout the country have formed partnerships that support and enhance student learning. It is designed for teachers who care deeply about students and welcome diverse families as partners, for parents who want to be active partners in educating their children, and for administrators in diverse schools or districts who know there is no quick fix for building lasting partnerships among families, schools, and the community.

This honest, clearly written, and accessible book shows how to use Family Dialogue Journals to increase and deepen learning among students in grades K-12. Written by teachers who have been implementing and studying the use of weekly journals for several years, the book shares what they have learned and why they have found these journals to be an invaluable tool for forming effective partnerships with families. Learn from first-hand accounts how students write weekly about one big idea they have studied, and then invite a family member to participate in the discussion by asking him/her to write a response to the student's question about the topic in the journal. Through these journal entries, students share their family knowledge with classmates while actively engaging with the curriculum. In turn, teachers extend the academic discussion by writing to each family and incorporating the family contributions into classroom lessons. Family participation in journal entries is remarkably high across ages, ethnicities, and diverse economic backgrounds.

This honest, clearly written, and accessible book shows how to use Family Dialogue Journals to increase and deepen learning among students in grades K-12. Written by teachers who have been implementing and studying the use of weekly journals for several years, the book shares what they have learned and why they have found these journals to be an invaluable tool for forming effective partnerships with families. Learn from first-hand accounts how students write weekly about one big idea they have studied, and then invite a family member to participate in the discussion by asking him/her to write a response to the student's question about the topic in the journal. Through these journal entries, students share their family knowledge with classmates while actively engaging with the curriculum. In turn, teachers extend the academic discussion by writing to each family and incorporating the family contributions into classroom lessons. Family participation in journal entries is remarkably high across ages, ethnicities, and diverse economic backgrounds.