This guide introduces teachers to an anthropological framework and to a research and practice base that will help them be more successful in teaching students from various immigrant cultures. The book focusses on home-school communication and parent involvement.

A professional development resource for teacher educators and staff developers to help pre-service and in-service teachers become knowledgeable about cultural differences and understand ways of bridging the expectations of school settings with those of the home. In a non-threatening, cognitively meaningful way, the module is based on teacher-constructed and tested strategies to improve home-school communication and parent involvement. These innovations were developed as part of the Bridging Cultures Project, which explores the cultural value differences between the individualistic orientation...

This text provides background information for users of the "Bridging Cultures: Teacher Education Module", but can also be used by education students or others as an adjunct to the module. Each of the six sections covers a particular issue, including the seven points of home-school conflict.

Bridging Cultures in Early Care and Education: A Training Module is a resource designed to help pre-service and in-service early childhood educators, including infant-toddler caregivers, understand the role of culture in their programs. It is also intended for professionals who work with children and their families in a variety of other roles, such as social workers, special educators, and early interventionists, and for use in college courses focused on early childhood education and child development.

The module explains and illustrates how early childhood educators can use the...

How does the home culture of Latino immigrant students differ from the "mainstream" culture of U.S. schools? Why is it important for teachers to understand the differences? How can educators take advantage of students' cultural traits to improve classroom management, student performance, and school-parent relations? Carrie Rothstein-Fisch and Elise Trumbull answer these and many other questions by drawing on the experience and collective wisdom of teachers in the Bridging Cultures Project, a five-year action research study of elementary classrooms with high percentages of immigrant students.

Bridging Cultures Between Home and School: A Guide for Teachers is intended to stimulate broad thinking about how to meet the challenges of education in a pluralistic society. It is a powerful resource for in-service and preservice multicultural education and professional development. The Guide presents a framework for understanding differences and conflicts that arise in situations where school culture is more individualistic than the value system of the home. It shares what researchers and teachers of the Bridging Cultures Project have learned from the experimentation of teacher-researchers...