Building Nourishing Collaborations

This session explores redefining family engagement from a deficit-based model to one that recognizes and validates the rich literacy practices already happening in homes and communities.

Nawal Qarooni challenges educators to move beyond transactional approaches (like “read 20 minutes a day”) toward authentic collaboration that honors diverse family structures, languages, and cultural practices.

Central to this approach is expanding our definition of both “family” (through constellations of care rather than traditional family trees) and “literacy” (recognizing visual, emotional, cultural, and multilingual literacies). Qarooni introduced practical strategies like Family Lab Sites, low-stakes classroom invitations where families partner with their children in learning activities, and emphasizes the importance of understanding our own language journeys and biases before engaging with families.

“Caregivers and educators do the same thing. Our roles, our jobs, and our goals with children is the same. So that caregiving and educating is synonymous.”

“None of my language story lives in the classroom... They all exist as authentic literacies outside of classroom spaces.”

“Family engagement is literally collaborating with their kids in literacy. Talking to their children in any language. Living alongside their children is a kind of family engagement.”

• Reflect on your own “text lineage”—what books, music, conversations, or cultural practices shaped your relationship with language and learning? How does this change how you view your students’ home literacy practices?
• How might shifting to Qarooni’s model—where schools first learn about and validate existing family literacy practices—change the power dynamics between educators and families?
• Imagine implementing Family Labs in your context—what would be one authentic literacy strategy you could model with families and students together? How might this approach change family perception of their role in their child’s education?

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