Funds of Knowledge
Write a reflective paper that is no more than 2 pages (double-spaced 12 pt Times Roman with a minimum of 1 page complete. APA formatting is required. In the paper, you must state "What does the term "Funds of knowledge" mean and answer the following questions as a narrative.
How would you as a school leader of a linguistically diverse school ensure that your teachers tap into students' "funds of knowledge?"
How would this be monitored?
How could you help your teachers to better understand the importance of "funds of knowledge" to the academic success of linguistically diverse students?
Funds of knowledge is defined by researchers Luis Moll, Cathy Amanti, Deborah Neff, and Norma Gonzalez (2001) "to refer to the historically accumulated and culturally developed bodies of knowledge and skills essential for household or individual functioning and well-being". When teachers shed their role of teacher and expert and, instead, take on a new role as learner, they can come to know their students and the families of their students in new and distinct ways. With this new knowledge, they can begin to see that the households of their students contain rich cultural and cognitive resources and that these resources can and should be used in their classroom in order to provide culturally responsive and meaningful lessons that tap students' prior knowledge. Information that teachers learn about their students in this process is considered the student's funds of knowledge.