Classroom Isolation

Quote:
"Additionally, in contrast to the households and their social networks, the classrooms seem encapsulated, if not isolated, from the social worlds and resources of the community." 

Response:
Although I have not had a lot of experience in the classroom, I do work with middle school girls on a daily basis each fall semester. It amazing too because the first year, I simply coached the girls the sport and didn't really give them any reason for playing other than to be on a team. However, the next year in October, I bought pink ribbons and tied one in each girls' hair and I brought in a couple people who had breast cancer and invited them to the next game, where we honored those who were dealing with or had already survived breast cancer. It was amazing to see how this touched the girls.
It was funny because it was like a switch went off at this game and they had a reason for playing and so they did their best and worked hard and each of them were having a good time out on the floor. In the same manner, you have to get kids interested in learning in school. Pull from the community resources and events that are occurring around the community at particular times in the school year.
Children should also always be asked to share their thoughts and their stories so that we can get in touch with what's going on. It's amazing how much you can learn about a student and his or her background simply by journaling, but allowing the parents to come into the classroom and teach about something that is important to their family is also an awesome way to join both school and home.
If children don't feel that these two things are connected and their home was their "first love", they are always going to put up a defense at school. The home, community, and school all need to be conjoined in some way so that students feel a particular amount of comfortableness in each place. As teachers, we may not be able to ensure that in the homes except to bring their homes into the school the best we can.

Related Media:
This video is a good way to physically see how you can use the community to teach math skills. But the community should be used in this manner to teach all subjects.

References:
Moll, L. C. , Amanti, C. , Neff, D. , & Gonzalez, N. (1992). Theory into practice. (Vol. 31, pp. 132-141). Taylor & Francis Ltd. 
(2010). (n.d.). Funds of knowledge. (2010). [Web Video]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFJE_8mAeqA&feature=related