It is not uncommon to hear me talking about Tan Huynh's blog or podcast when I am working with teachers. Huynh does a beautiful job making his point in a clear, concise way that never loses the essence of the message.
The interviewed guest, María Cioè-Peña, author of (M)othering Labeled Children: Bilingualism and Disability in the Lives of Latinx Mothers, says, "I haven't seen my mother described or talked about in the literature I have been reading... Where are these people? Where are these women? Where are their stories? Why aren't we talking to them?" As she digs deeper, she learns how immigrant mothers who feel othered adapt and overcome those obstacles.
In this blog post he provides clear examples of how to avoid the "broken" narrative to an assets-affirming narrative when discussing immigrant families.
We have all caused harm here because we are all conditioned, but the approach we have used to speak to and about families has been through a limited lens. As educators, what responsibility do we have to change the way we gather information and brilliance from the families we serve? How do we rebuild trust to let families know we value their experience and want to hear about it?
When I read how Tan Huynh framed his own mother's narrative as the contributions it provided to his education, directly linking them to curriculum strands, I felt inspired to practice framing my own community's experiences with an asset-affirming lens. We have had a narrow view of what family participation means and we are invited to try something new beginning tomorrow.
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