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“I CAN REALLY RELATE TO THE FAMILIES”: AN EXPLORATION OF K-3 TEACHERS’ PERSPECTIVES AND APPROACHES TO BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS WITH FAMILIES FROM SHARED CULTURAL, LINGUISTIC, AND IMMIGRATION BACKGROUNDS

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2020

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“I CAN REALLY RELATE TO THE FAMILIES”: AN EXPLORATION OF K-3 TEACHERS’ PERSPECTIVES AND APPROACHES TO BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS WITH FAMILIES FROM SHARED CULTURAL, LINGUISTIC, AND IMMIGRATION BACKGROUNDS Tiffany P Williams, Ph.D. George Mason University, 2020 Dissertation Director: Dr. Marjorie Hall-Haley Teachers’ interactions with students and families are shaped by beliefs, thoughts, and feelings of teachers, which often are not shared by the parents (Gibbs & Powell, 2012). Guided by Social Exchange Framework of Family Engagement and supported by concepts of Intersectionality, the purpose of this research study was to explore teachers’ perspectives on their role in family engagement, and to understand how shared language and culture, between teachers and parents, shaped these relationships. The study included nineteen classroom teachers, in grades kindergarten through third grade, and one parent liaison. Eighteen teachers were Latina and one participant was White. While most of the participants were born in the United States, many were bilingual Spanish and English speakers. With teacher demographics closely matching parent-student demographics, at the research site, many participants shared common experiences with students’ families. Qualitative interview data indicated that teachers identified their connections with families through shared language, culture and personal experiences. Additionally, teachers expressed an understanding of how shared identities, between themselves and parents, cultivated many benefits in ways they related to parents. Despite the empathy, trust and respect that these common experiences created, teachers were unable to translate these common experiences into deeper relationships with parents. When exploring ways in which their connections with parents could be extended beyond family engagement norms, teachers reverted back to the traditional tools of engaging families that reflected their comfortability and security with school centered activities. Implications centered on creating community focused activities that spark authentic interest from parents and the importance of teachers understanding how multi-layered identities influence decisions in approaching and developing relationships with families.

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