Harriet Tubman

In our practicum project at Apache Elementary School in Farmington, students in Charlotte Bradshaw's fourth grade classrooms have had the opportunity to become Chautauqua characters from their own families. In the Spring, fourth graders focus on the writing process by interviewing family members who they consider Heroes and write their stories, which are published in a book. UNM Teacher Preparatory students beome writing coaches in guiding 4th graders through the process from beginning to end. Each semester's project culminates in a Family Night with fourth graders performing their family character or reading their Family Hero story. We honor the stories sudents bring from home and build from those funds of knowledge as the content and context for teaching. In this way, we model for UNM students how to become culturally relevant educators where they can draw from students background knowledge and connect with curricular concepts.