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Family Engagement in Literacy: A Dignity-Centered Approach to Family Engagement
By Laurie Elish-Piper
Document: Column
Introductory Paragraph: The past two years have been exceptionally challenging with a global pandemic, increased calls for racial justice, threats to voting rights, and divisive political rhetoric on many hot-button issues. Added to these challenges are the countless changes that students, teachers, and families have experienced with school shifting multiple times back and forth from virtual, hybrid, and in-person models. As a result, families have had to take on different responsibilities for their children’s educations as they helped them navigate remote schooling, supported their social-emotional well-being without the normal supports of in-person schooling, and prepared for yet another school year affected by the pandemic. In addition, many families have experienced adverse financial effects from the pandemic through job loss, layoffs, and the need to stay home to care for children due to closures of daycare centers and to supervise children during remote schooling. Families with adults who work in front-line jobs have borne an enormous burden, working countless hours while trying to provide support for their children and their educations at the same time. In this column, I normally discuss ways to involve families in classroom activities and school events and offer strategies to support learning at home, but I want to take this column to the beginning—to the very foundation of meaningful family engagement—dignity. For this column, I will discuss the role that dignity plays as the bedrock for family engagement. I was inspired to choose this topic after attending a workshop facilitated by J. Q. Adams, emeritus professor from Western Illinois University. At his suggestion, I read an article by Aida Mariam Davis (2021) that focused on how to create work environments where everyone feels they belong through the establishment of a dignity-centered approach. I also followed his recommendation to read Donna Hicks’ (2011) book about dignity and conflict resolution, which furthered my understanding of the essential role that dignity plays in all human interactions —including those with our students and their families.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.33600/IRCJ.50.1.2021-2022.45
Page Numbers: 45-49
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