As applies to all areas of my life, improvement is my favorite word and concept. Suitably, improvement is at the heart of my wonderful chosen profession: teaching. For the culminating adventure in earning my Master's degree in Education from San Jose State University, I have carefully constructed my thesis action-research question because I think investigating such will address one of my biggest "areas for growth" as a teacher: family outreach.

These past two years teaching in a Title I school I have dedicated most of my working time and efforts specifically to my students and the quality of experiences they have during the school day. However, there is more to my idea of a teacher! The vision of "teacher" toward which I aspire embodies one who not only serves children, but serves families. By organizing and facilitating a Family Literacy Program for the four second grade classes at my school, I will be reaching above and beyond my previously-occupied role educating students, and I will be reaching out to educate families. In turn, I hope these families will be better able to support their children's learning at home.

In my teaching experience, I have come across students who did not have a single book in their homes. With limited opportunity to listen to or engage in reading, acquiring the gift of literacy is often a much greater challenge for these students. Through researching children's exposure to reading as it relates to a family literacy event, I hope to learn more about the families of my students. I hope to learn more about what might motivate or empower the families of my students to make literacy a part of their family time and family culture.

Taking time to read with the family is an important first step for all parents to take to support their children's future. But it is also important that parents exercise good reading practices such as modeling emotional reactions to the text, asking children to make predictions as to what will happen next, asking children to make inferences as to why a character or the author made a certain decision, and engaging children in conversations about the text that may lead children to make connections to their own lives. As Richard Rothstein (2004,Classes and Schools, p. 22) sums it up, it is significant not only that parents read with their children, but how they read with them.

I intend for the Second Grade Family Literacy Event at my school to cover the many needs the families at our school have related to literacy at home. I would like for families to leave the event with books, to know where and how to get more books, to have increased understanding of the importance (and pleasure!) of reading with their children, and to have useful skills and strategies for enriching the experience of reading at home.

And my research question is
What happens to children's exposure to reading when their parents come to school to be involved in a family literacy event?