Latina Agency Through Narration In Education

Drawing on critical and sociocultural frameworks, this volume presents narrative studies by or about Latinas in which they speak up about issues of identity and education. Using narratives, self-identification stories, and testimonios as theory, methodology, and advocacy, this volume brings together a wide range of Latinx perspectives on education identity, bilingualism, and belonging. The narratives illustrate the various ways erasure and human agency shape the lives and identities of Latinas in the United States from primary school to higher education and beyond, in their schools and communities. Contributors explore how schools and educational institutions can support student agency by adopting a transformative activist stance through curricula, learning contexts, and policies. Chapters contain implications for teaching and come together to showcase the importance of explicit activist efforts to combat erasure and engage in transformative and emancipatory education.

This collection presents life writing projects that explore or represent the racial dimensions of life writing research in diverse educational spaces using diverse methodologies and inquiry approaches. We believe this collection is long overdue. To quote Melva R. Grant and Signe E. Kastberg’s succinct phrasing (this volume) “racialized inquiry matters.” While some rich texts explore the racial aspects and anti-racist potential of social science research (Blee, 2018; Lopez & Parker, 2003; Sefa Dei & Johal, 2005; Twine & Warren, 2000), and include examples from educational contexts, there are no collections which focus on the intersections of life writing inquiry as educative projects that highlight racial dimensions of the work and lives under study. Drawing from Toni Morrison’s enduring wisdom, a visionary writer whose work has explored the racial dimensions of culture and lived experience, we centralize race in life writing in this collection rather than obscuring it or leaving it as a lurking, absent presence in the craft. Racial Dimensions of Life Writing Research offers a wealth of ideas and perspectives from which scholars, teachers, and students can draw to support their work. The 14 chapters in this collection attend to national, international, and local concerns, include varied theoretical and methodological approaches, and reflect a range of ethnic and racial heritages. Chapters consider practical, theoretical, ethical, and educational issues involved in projects concerning under-represented educational actors important for the terrain of life writing. The authors include established and emerging scholars— university researchers, directors, and professors, academic advisors, graduate and undergraduate students, activists, and former elementary and secondary school teachers. It is our hope that this volume will spark conversation, debate, and reflection and will be a valuable resource that inspires scholarship about how race and its intersections shape the life-writing inquiry process. ENDORSEMENT: "This is an exceptionally important volume interrogating intersections of race, racism and life writing. Authors recenter life narrative as a necessary anchor for studying, teaching about, and learning through complex racial dynamics. This book should be read by any of us serious about studying and advancing knowledge on race and writing." — Richard Milner, Vanderbilt University

"Twenty-eight eminent essayists remind our nations parents, educators, school board members and politicians that our democracy is in jeopardy and that our nation's system of free universal public education is also under attack. If that attack succeeds, American democracy itself would be further imperiled. That is because American democracy rests on a belief that the power of our government comes from the people, and the diffusion of knowledge and the enlightenment of the people has been a cornerstone of our democracy since the founding of our republic. America's public schools, therefore, have a special mandate"--

An essential text on discourse theory and analytic methods, this book demonstrates the possibilities of using discourse analysis to better understand language, literacy, culture, and teaching. Each chapter provides coherent, extended examples of individuals engaged in the process of doing discourse analysis. The narrative approach highlights the individual experiences of the discourse analysts and provides a unique, inside-the-mind view of the process and choices along the way. Across the book, stories describe processes involved in analyses, including identifying aims, formulating questions, selecting discourse, transcribing oral and multimodal discourse, translating discourse, chunking discourse, choosing and applying discourse and other theory, generating and supporting claims, and communicating findings. Chapters also feature sidebars with key theories and methods, recommended readings, and additional resources. This book is ideal for courses on discourse analysis, qualitative research, or language, literacy, culture, and teaching. Readers are invited to imagine the possibilities for using discourse analysis to answer their own questions.

How can we continue to support educators who wish to design and facilitate social justice classrooms? What knowledge and tools do pre- and in-service educators need to teach about (in)equity, (in)justice, resilience, and agency across the curriculum in K–12 classrooms? The new edition of this compelling text synthesizes in one volume historical foundations, philosophic/theoretical conceptualizations, and applications of social justice education in public school classrooms. ● Part I details the history of the multicultural movement and the instantiation of public schooling as a social justice project. ● Part II connects theoretical frameworks to social justice curricula. Parts I and II are general to all K–12 classrooms. ● Part III provides powerful specific subject-area examples of good practice, including Multilingualism and Ethnic Studies. Social Justice Pedagogy Across the Curriculum, Second Edition includes highlighted Points of Inquiry and Points of Praxis sections that offer recommendations to teachers and researchers, and activities, resources, and suggested readings. These features invite teachers at all stages of their careers to reflect on the role of social justice in education, particularly as it relates to their particular classrooms, schools, and communities. Relevant for any course that addresses history, theory, or practice of multicultural/social justice education and teaching diverse groups of students, this text is essential reading for future and practicing teachers to understand and create resources for transformative, rigorous, and inclusive learning environments that support students from a range of backgrounds.

This critical volume provides accessible examples of how K–12 teachers use systemic functional linguistics (SFL) and action research to support the disciplinary literacy development of diverse learners in the context of high-stakes school reform. With chapters from teachers, teacher educators, and researchers, this book paves the way for teachers to act as change agents in their schools to design and implement meaningful curriculum, instruction, and assessment that builds on students’ cultural and linguistic knowledge. Addressing case studies and contexts, this book provides the framework, tools, and resources for instructing and supporting multilingual students and ELL. This volume – intended for pre- and in-service teachers – aims to improve educators’ professional practice through critical SFL pedagogy and helps teachers combat racism and anti-immigrant rhetoric by contributing to an equity agenda in their schools.

Learning from Latino Teachers offers insightful stories and powerful visions in the movement for equitable schools. This compelling book is based on Gilda Ochoa’s in-depth interviews with Latina/o teachers who have a range of teaching experience, in schools with significant Latina/o immigrant populations. The book offers a unique insider's perspective on the educational challenges facing Latina/os. The teachers’ stories offer valuable insights gained from their experiences coming up through the K-12 system as students, and then becoming part of the same system as teachers.

As educators and legislators across the country debate how to improve public schools, the most vital factor often disappears from the equation—the relationship between the teacher and the student. According to veteran educators Rita and Marco Portales, this relationship is the central issue in the education of students, especially Latino/a students who often face serious barriers to school success because of the legacy of racism, insufficient English-language skills, and cultural differences with the educational establishment. To break down these barriers and help Latino/a students acquire a quality education, the Portaleses focus attention on the teacher-student relationship and offer a proven method that teachers can use to strengthen the print and oral skills of their students. They begin by analyzing the reasons why schools too often fail to educate Latino/a students, using eloquent comments from young Latinos/as and their parents to confirm how important the teacher-student relationship is to the student's success. Then they show how all educational stakeholders—teachers, administrators, state education agencies, legislators, and parents—can work together to facilitate the teacher-student relationship and improve student education. By demonstrating how teachers can improve students' reading, critical thinking, writing, and oral communication skills across the curriculum, they argue that learning can be made more relevant for students, keeping their interest levels high while preparing them for academically competitive colleges.