Fathers at Esperanza

Fathers' Day seemed to be an appropriate day to write about how we can involve fathers (biological, stepfather, adopted father, grandfather, and/or other male role model or father figure) at Esperanza.

I recently finished reading the book Principals Matter by Mavis G. Sanders and Steven B. Sheldon. There is a chapter in the book focused primarily on how to involve fathers and why it is important to do so. Research studies have shown that fathers have a unique influence on children and therefore, ignoring their place in the school and with their children would be a loss of a tremendous resource. For this reason, as we develop our School, Family, Community Partnership plan father involvement goals need to be part of the plan taking into consideration the different educational and ethnic/cultural backgrounds of the fathers.

Based on the determined vision and specific goal(s) for father involvement some of the following goals might be appropriate:

• "Donuts for Dads" biweekly or monthly held in the parent center where fathers can mingle together


• Implement FatherRead


• Implement the Hispanic Father/Son Program patterned after the program Dr. Josie Tinajero developed in Texas


• Arrange to have a night at a place such as Lowe's were fathers and children can do some project together


• Invite fathers to share their "funds of knowledge"


• Specifically ask to speak to the father when making friendly calls to the home


• Have a "fun night" at the school specifically for fathers and their children

It might take up to three years to develop a high quality program that involves fathers but the effort will be well worth it for the impact it will have on our Esperanza scholars and their families.

What Is Most Important

I just finished reading the English translation of Cien Años de Soledad (100 Years of Solitude) by Gabriel García Márquez. I had already read it in Spanish. I was reminded of a comment made by Dale Rees when he worked in the district office for Salt Lake City. He was speaking of students reading The Diary of Anne Frank in Spanish--He said that 10 years from now students wouldn't remember whether they had read it in English or Spanish, only that they had read it.

Too often people (sadly, even some educators) equate intelligence and knowledge with speaking English. Although our committed goal at Esperanza is for all students to eventually become biliterate--listening, speaking, reading, and writing--in both English and Spanish I don't want us to ever forget that English and knowledge/intelligence are not synonyms. Hopefully that will help us all to not become overly concerned when a student, especially in the early grades, may be seeming to lag behind in English OR Spanish. Growing and learning isWhat what is most important, no matter what language. Once the language is learned the knowledge can be transferred.

Celebrating Cinco de Mayo All Year Long

Happy Cinco de Mayo! Although we plan to celebrate Cinco de Mayo at Esperanza Elementary it is important to remember that one day celebrations are not sufficient if we desire to provide a multicultural education for our students.

Therefore, the following are some of our goals:

• Half of the books in our school library will be in Spanish or be bilingual, the majority of which will be written by Hispanic authors. We will also have a multicultural section in the library with books about other cultures.


• History will be viewed from different perspectives.


• The contributions of Hispanics--and other cultures--in the areas of art, music, science, government, literature, etc. will be celebrated.


• Students will be taught and given opportunities to be involved in making a difference in the community.


• The way things are done in other cultures will be recognized. For instance, the way division is taught, the number of continents, which day is considered the first day of the week, learning styles, grammar rules, etc.


• We will involve Hispanic parents in ways that are comfortable to them rather than demanding they participate in ways prescribed by the white, middle class. To help us achieve this, the Funds of Knowledge" concept developed by Dr. Luis Moll and Dr. Norma González will be incorporated.


• Labels and signs in the school building as well as all communications will be in both English and Spanish.

While doing all these things we will avoid stereotyping. Although we will do our best to better understand and respond to the Hispanic culture, we will also recognize that each family has its own unique culture. For this reason we will make a commitment to become acquainted with each family on an individual basis.

Celebrations such as Cinco de Mayo are fun but they will be even more fun when they are "icing on the cake" rather than the cake itself.