Other Kinds of Families: Embracing Diversity in Schools / Edition 1

by Tammy Turner-Vorbeck, Monica Miller Marsh

Overview

Turner-Vorbeck and Marsh contend that the vast diversity found in schools and society today suggests an urgent need to reconsider the ways in which families are currently represented and addressed in school curriculum and culture. In this important volume, they provide critical and theoretical analyses combined with narrative experiences to address such issues as multigenerational views of the schooling experiences of immigrant families, the educational needs of gay and lesbian families, the representation of adoption and adoptive families in children’s literature, and the experiences of homeless students and their families with the educational system.

Essential reading for everyone interested in building more inclusive communities, this book:

• Looks at families that diverge from the so-called norm, including single parent, multiracial, foster, adoptive, blended, LGBTQ, and immigrant families.
• Features a varied group of authors, including teachers, students, parents, principals, school counselors, and professors.
• Offers examples of how both school and university personnel have responded to incorporating all family types into the school community.
• Provides guidance to help readers effect positive and appropriate change in their own classrooms and communities.
• Includes questions for reflection and discussion at the end of each chapter.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807748381
Publisher:	Teachers College Press
Publication date:	11/23/2007
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.54(d)

About the Author

Tammy Turner-Vorbeck is a visiting professor of teacher education at Wabash College. Monica Miller Marsh is an associate professor of education at DeSales University.

Table of Contents

Introduction     1
Diverse Families: Narratives of Experience
Hegemonies and "Transgressions" of Family: Tales of Pride and Prejudice   Elizabeth Heilman     7
Immigrant Families and Schools: The Need for a Better Relationship   A.Y. "Fred" Ramirez     28
From the Principal's Desk: Making the School Environment More Inclusive   Teresa J. Rishel     46
A Welcoming Tone in the Classroom: Developing the Potential of Diverse Students and Their Families   Lisa Rieger     64
Wards of Wisdom: Foster Youth on a Path Toward Postsecondary Education   Ilyana Marks     81
Representations of Family in School Culture and Curriculum
Evolving Images: Crafting Family Lives in Colonial Pennsylvania   Monica Miller Marsh     103
Doing the Difficult: Schools and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, and Queer Families   Janice Kroeger     121
What Makes a Family?: Representations of Adoption in Children's Literature   Lesley Colabucci   Matthew D. Conley     139
Emerging Faces of Homelessness: Young Children, Their Families, and Schooling   Tracy Thoennes     162
From Textbooks to the Teachers' Lounge: The Many Curricula of Family in Schools   Tammy Turner-Vorbeck     176
About the Editors and the Contributors     193
Index     195

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Other Kinds of Families will help teachers to avoid making mistakes in their work with many different types of family diversity, and will provide the knowledge and ideas important to working with all families.”
—Carl A. Grant, University of Wisconsin-Madison

“Teachers, researchers, and policymakers will find thought-provoking ideas, engaging stories, and practical strategies for including those who have typically been excluded from the conversation.
—Sonia Nieto, Professor Emerita, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

“Other Kinds of Families will enlarge your sense of humanity, encourage you to rethink the meaning and importance of our most intimate relationships, and change forever the way you see families—everyone else's and your own.”
—William Ayers, University of Illinois at Chicago