Assignment: Family or Community Treasures Set Assignment
My directions for my audience: Pick a treasure that’s important and meaningful to you and your family and explain why.
This assignment is essential because I was able to see other people’s points of view when it came to describing their treasure. Before deciding on a treasure, I was having a hard time figuring out what it could be. A treasure to me meant physical objects, but it didn’t necessarily have to be physical. My treasure could be something spiritual like God or action-based like dancing, but that’s not what crossed my mind when I initially started this assignment. I began to think about something my family and I enjoy doing together, and it raised a question, what’s something me and my family have in common? By asking myself that, I was able to pick something.
The treasure I picked to describe my family was the stovetop coffee maker. This treasure is meaningful to my family and me because we enjoy coffee, and no matter how many decades pass by, we all make it the same way, using the exact coffee maker. I appreciate the coffee maker because of the way it can bring us together. It is the start of our day, the start of conversations, and an invitation to our home. Whenever people visit my home and other family members, we always offer coffee to our guests. This is something I learned as a child and still do to this very day. I will never forget and cherish stories about my grandmother being known for making the best coffee in her neighborhood in Santiago, Dominican Republic. Although she is physically not here, she is spiritually present to me whenever I make a cup of coffee.
While asking one of my audience members to pick a treasure that’s important and meaningful to them and their families and to explain why, I immediately made a negative assumption once she mentioned her treasure, which was money. Initially, my first thought was “that’s very materialistic.” She then further explained her reasoning behind it which was, “we all need that to survive, it helps us get food, and helps with important stuff like our health, and other important resources.” I felt guilty with the assumption I made, just with her system, I was able to see how money moves through my systems, and how it impacts many people differently. Another audience member mentioned that their family treasure was music, and her reasoning behind it was that “It sets the mood and brings us to have deep conversations with each other and, in turn, allows us to have a deeper connection.” I found this relatable and was impressed by her treasure choice. Her reasoning behind her treasure is exactly what I felt about it; it brings us deep conversations and connections.
(Keyes, 2002) mentioned, “If there is a consistent match between teacher and family cultures and values, the probabilities are greater for developing effective professional skills in working with parents over time.” (p. 180) This assignment relates to the class content by showing different family systems and making it a priority for me to try and incorporate the family systems. In the future, I look forward to utilizing this assignment with my students to help me learn more about them and also gain knowledge about their home and cultural dynamics. I can do a show and tell activity with my class where a few students during “Treasures of the week” will share their family treasure with the class. What are some of the ways my students will be interacting with each other? By listening to the presenter who is showing and telling their treasure, and passing it around for everyone to see. Some students might have questions, and I will too, but that helps us learn more about each other.
According to (Keyes, 2002) “Teachers are really the glue that holds the home/school partnerships together” (p. 179) As an educator we might make assumptions about our students and their family. Still, we don’t really know much about a person until we get to know them better through meaningful conversations, asking questions, understanding, learning about their different cultures, and sharing stories. We are the glue that holds home and school together, and it is our duty to make it a priority to build meaningful relationships with our student’s families as well. I look forward to utilizing this assignment in the future, and I am excited to see what treasures my students will pick.
file:///Users/elizabethaquino/Downloads/Elizabeth%20Family%20&%20treasure%20(2).pdf
Keyes, C. R. (2002). A way of thinking about parent/teacher partnerships for Teachers Le Partenariat parent/enseignant: Un autre point de vue una forma de reflexionar sobre la asociacio´n padre/maestro para maestros. International Journal of Early Years Education, 10(3), 177–191.
https://doi.org/10.1080/0966976022000044726
