General Family History and Funds of Knowledge

Each person brings a different perspective to the classroom. Cultural background, family size, family make-up, and family leisure activities are all important factors that provide each person with a unique perspective. As teachers, we need to build strong relationships with our students that allow us to understand something about each student’s perspective. Here are a couple of activities/questionnaires to help gain a little insight into those perspectives. As with most things of this nature, the magic is in the discussion...



Getting to know students and their families

This activity targets information tied to a basic background of students’ family lives, and offers a glimpse of some of the activities students participate in with their families. Information derived from this activity is easily incorporated into curriculum design in most classes, which enriches learning for the entire class. Distribute the questionnaire to students, and give them a few minutes to answer the questions. Let them know that they will be sharing in groups, and that they should not write anything they do not want the class knowing about.
After the class has had a chance to answer most of the questions, divide them into groups of four or five, and share their answers. Circulate around the room to check in with each group. When each person has had time to share with the group, collect the papers and have the groups share any surprising facts learned from the activity.


Name____________________

1) Where were you born (what city?)

2) Where were your parents born (what city?)

3) What are the names and ages of your family members?

4) Who is the oldest family member you know well?
Where does that person live?

5) Have you ever been outside of Utah?
The United States of America?
Where?
When?
Why?

6) What kind of things do you do with your family?
(leisure activities/recreation – Do you attend sporting events, concerts, parties...
Do you garden, spend time outdoors, camp, travel, etc…)

What’s In a Name?

This activity is represented in various incarnations across the web. The idea of this exercise is to find out about the origin of students’ names. While most of us think of our name as little more than the group of sounds we answer to, many names have deep personal and cultural meaning. The more culturally diverse a group is, the more interesting this activity will be. I borrowed some of the questions from Tressa Decker in Elkhart, IN. Her version can be found at –
http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3747244

Procedure –
Place the following questions on a piece of paper. Give each student a questionnaire and instruct them to have their parents or guardians help them answer the questions. Let students know that even if they do not know the origin of their names, a quick search on google can turn up some interesting information. During the next class period, break into groups or share as a class if time will permit, and discuss the origins of the names within the classroom.

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1) What is your full name?

2) What does your name mean?

3) Are you named after someone? Who?

4) What is the origin of your name? (for example, my name “Jeremy” is of Hebrew origin, and “Ivan” is of Russian origin)

5) What is your nickname? How did you get your nickname?

6) If you could change your name, what would you change it to?

Cheers,

Jeremy