This is the second of four in a series of posts that discuss a strategy to include families and communities in my efforts to educate their children. If you missed Post One, you can certainly start here as they are not presented in any specific order.

The second way that I would involve families into the classroom would be to ask that during the year each family come up with some type of lesson to teach the students. I was a substitute teacher for a wonderful second grade teacher that did this and while I was there a parent came in to give a lesson on Greece. It was really cool. I would encourage the families to pick something that is connected to their culture. I would invite the families to teach the lesson themselves or I would take what they give me and teach it to the students myself. It could be sharing a story, reading a book, cooking, crafting, history, geography, music, art, etc. The goal is to create an environment where a family can share a part of their cultural story with our classroom.