The Harvard Family Research Project separated from the Harvard Graduate School of Education to become the Global Family Research Project as of January 1, 2017. It is no longer affiliated with Harvard University.
Using Storybooks
Family involvement in children's learning is important in promoting children's literacy and school success. Family members can be involved in their children's learning in a variety of beneficial ways. Reading and sharing storybooks is one effective way.
The Family Involvement Storybook Corner is unique because it introduces the idea of reading and sharing storybooks that have family involvement content. The stories themselves are about the many ways that families participate in and support children's learning at home, at school, and in the community.
The Family Involvement Storybook Corner is also unique because it introduces the concept of using these storybooks to promote family involvement. Parents sharing these storybooks with their children reinforce for themselves and their children the importance of family involvement activities. Sharing these stories in other contexts, like schools or teacher training programs, can also bring to life for different adult audiences the many ways that families can support children's learning.
Benefits of Using Family Involvement Storybooks
Family involvement storybooks can be used to promote awareness, discussion, and practice of family involvement among families, educators, and others who work with children or families. These storybooks can be used across a wide range of educational settings, such as early childhood and elementary school classrooms, parenting education programs, family literacy programs, and after school programs. They can even be used to train teachers and others in family involvement.
Using family involvement storybooks offers many benefits for teachers, families, community-based family providers, and trainers. These stories can help all who are involved in children's lives to recognize and talk about the importance of family involvement to children’s learning, and they can help young and old to explore new or challenging involvement issues. The following are some benefits for the different groups of people who use family involvement storybooks:
Families and Children: Using Family Involvement Storybooks to Actively Participate Together in Learning
Through reading family involvement storybooks together, families and children can learn about family involvement. Through these storybooks, parents can:
- Reflect on how they support their children’s learning.
- Recognize children as active participants in family involvement and bring them into conversations about involvement.
Through these storybooks, children can:
- Recognize the important contributions of their families to their learning.
- See themselves as active participants in the family involvement process.
Educators and Other Professionals Who Work With Families: Using Family Involvement Storybooks to Connect and Reach Out to Families
Educators and community-based providers can use family involvement storybooks to:
- Reach out to families to forge connections across home, school, and community organizations through the story's message as well as the very process of sharing books.
- Facilitate outreach to families with low levels of print literacy, families who are beginning to learn English, or families who are immigrants and new to the ways of U.S. schools, by providing accessible and informative learning tools.
Teacher Trainers: Using Family Involvement Storybooks to Promote Understanding
Those who prepare and train teachers can use family involvement storybooks to:
- Impart specific lessons about family involvement.
- Promote understanding of the many ways that different families support their children’s learning, especially through the use of culturally authentic storybooks.
Developed by Ellen Mayer, December 2005