Rodriguez, T., & REIS, D. S. (2012). “Ms. Morales Needs to Go Back to English Class”: Narratives of a Bilingual Latina Preservice English Language Arts Teacher in a Diverse Society. The New Educator, 8(3), 202-221. (original) (raw)
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Although the English Language Learner (ELL) student population is steadily increasing, the American teaching workforce remains mainly white and monolingual. This sector has yet to reflect the change in ELLs and teachers of color, who will be able to adequately provide culturally responsive instruction to these students. There is an urgent need to recruit and train teachers in culturally responsive pedagogy with the purpose of providing educational, cultural and social supports for the growing ELL population in the country (Farahnaz, 2012). Because of this, the American educational system is revamping some of its earlier pedagogical approaches, including the introduction of more culturally responsive pedagogy during instruction, as well as attempting to attract a more diverse teaching workforce (Farahnaz, 2012). The focus of this qualitative study was to investigate the reasons for the lack of minority teachers given the large K-12 ELL Hispanic student population within a school dist...
2016
I did not believe I would be the “great Latino savior. ” I would be me. I decided to teach in the public school system where I felt the students would need someone like me. As it turned out, I ended up where I belonged, in the Mexican community, helping nurture young minds and giving comfort and confidence to those that need it. In a way, I am... a “savior, ” but to myself, not the students. (Retana, 1997) The prevailing situation in which students of color represent over one-third of school enrollments, yet teachers of color represent merely one-tenth of the nation’s teacher force (Clewell & Villegas, 2001b; Ladson-Billings, 2005), is an important yet rarely considered factor amidst the constant claims of teacher shortages. Urban and rural schools struggle with an inadequate supply of teachers, but shortages are more concentrated in selected fields such as bilingual education and special education. In urban school districts that are majority children and youth of color, students ha...
According to the United States Census, Latinos are the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population. By 2050, it is predicted that the population of school-age Latinos will soar to 28 million and surpass the number of non-Latino White students. As a result, this demographic shift will considerably alter population trends and needs in the K-12 educational system. Despite the fact that Latino students enter schools with rich cultural, linguistic and schooling backgrounds as well as comprise a significantly large segment of the emergent bilingual and English Language Learner (ELL) population in the K-12 public school system, Latino youth continue to be underserved in the U.S. Research reports reveal that in the past 10 years Latino ELLs have continued to underachieve in literacy and mathematics as compared to their monolingual White counterparts. Moreover, Latino ELLs represent the group with the highest high school dropout rates in the public school system. Much of the concern in the K-12 school system has been the preparation of teachers for new realities in school, and consequently, teachers' readiness to effectively address the needs of Latino ELL populations. The relationship between Latino ELLs' academic achievement and teacher education programs that prepare pre-service teachers for working in Latino ELL contexts has not been at the forefront of the research literature to date. A review of research studies on teacher education reveals that a low percentage of teachers are well prepared to teach Latino ELLs. In fact, teacher education programs nationwide tend to gloss over the learning needs of culturally and linguistically diverse students in K-12 schools settings. Studies affirm that the dearth of quality coursework and teaching practices specifically in contexts with Latino ELLs has had a lasting impact on teachers. Those who serve in the frontline (teachers) can ultimately influence the academic trajectories of youth in the public school system. Without quality preparation, student teaching experiences and critical inquiry, new teachers entering public schools may continue to perpetuate deficit views of Latino ELL students—views which can ultimately impact the academic attainment of Latinos. Further, new teachers as well as practicing teachers who know little about ELLs and have no experience with Latino communities, families, and children may have a deleterious impact on future Latino ELL populations. A particularly relevant finding from a review of studies associated with Latino students contends that the academic achievement of Latino students is predicated on the development of caring relationships between students and their teachers, counselors and other school agents. That said, Latino youth are currently all too often confined to classrooms in which teachers cannot or will not cross cultural or linguistic boundaries to affirm students' identities or engage in pedagogy that promotes academic and personal success. Latinos are more likely to attend schools with newly prepared teachers, and teachers with little experience in culturally relevant teaching. In a related manner, schools with a high concentration of ELLs often employ teachers with provisional, emergency or temporary certification. This special issue of the Association of Mexican American Educators Journal presents a series of articles that focus on issues that we believe are central to the educational success of Latino ELLs and teacher education. Further, this issue highlights and examines the various ways teachers are prepared through teacher education
2016
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Unburying the Mirror: An Autoethnography of a Latino Teacher Who Left the Classroom
Pro quest , 2016
Despite the expressed need for bicultural teachers, research on teacher attrition has demonstrated that a growing number of bicultural educators are leaving the classroom. Bicultural male teachers, in particular, experience high rates of teacher attrition. Schools, unfortunately, are contexts in which Latino male teachers are constantly experiencing dilemmas related specifically to both their gendered and racialized positionality as males of color. Grounded in Antonia Darder’s critical bicultural framework, this autoethnographic study explored the complex factors that drive Latino male teachers out of the classroom, through an in-depth and grounded examination of a Latino male teacher who left the classroom. The study contributes to the conversation on bicultural teacher attrition, gendered relations, and their relationship to both teacher preparation and the education of bicultural students. Furthermore, the study explored how racism, sexism, classism, trauma, and heteronormativity mitigate the experiences of Latino male teachers, and how these manifest themselves through the hidden curriculum, asymmetrical relations of power, gendered essentialism, policing of behavior, the culture of silence, conditions of isolation, and disabling cultural response patterns. The implications of such factors in the life of one Latino male teacher are carefully analyzed and discussed, in an effort to consider their significance in rethinking teacher preparation programs, with respect to the needs of Latino males. Moreover, the study offers an engagement with critical autoethnography as a significant tool of reflection in the educational process and emancipatory process of bicultural teachers
Multicultural Experiences of Teacher Educators in the US: What Can We Learn from Them?
American society is becoming increasingly diverse, and this reality is reflected in the student demographics of the nation’s public schools. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, or NCES, the percentage of public school students who are from minority groups increased by 17 percent between 1972 and 2000; minority students now make up 39 percent of the total school population (NCES, 2010a). These students come from a wide range of family settings; for instance, aside from the diverse ethnic and cultural makeup of US the student body, more than half of school-age children do not live with both of their biological parents (Salend, 2001). Thus, students from numerous backgrounds enter the educational system on a daily basis. In contrast to this diverse student population, teachers in the nation’s public schools are from a predominantly female, white and middle-class upbringing (Brookhart & Freeman, 1992; Feiman-Nemser & Remillard, 1996). According to the NCES (2010a), 79 percent of the teaching force in the United States in 2001 was female; only 21 percent was male. In terms of ethnicity, 90.7 percent of the teacher population was white, 7.3 percent was African American and two percent came from other racial groups (NCES, 2010b). Because today’s teacher candidates will be working with students whose culture, ethnicity, primary language, and socio-economic background are significantly different from their own, a “cultural divide” (Zeichner, 2003) can be said to exist between teachers and their students; therefore, prospective teachers should be well prepared to work with a diverse learner population. In response to the increasing diversity of the US student population, teacher education programs have enhanced their curricula to educate student teachers with multicultural ideals. At the same time, the European Commission (2010) has specified four common principles for teacher education; one of these indicates that teachers should be educated to work with diverse learners. However, because teacher education programs in European Union (EU) member states need to be improved or changed in order to deal with matters such multiculturalism and gender issues more effectively (Buchberger, Campos, Kallos, & Stephenson, 2000), it is necessary for teacher educators in the EU to learn more about the experiences of preparing prospective teachers for multicultural ideals. This qualitative study focuses on teacher educators’ perspectives and experiences on preparing future teachers for working with diverse student populations. The following questions guided this study: 1. What do a group of teacher educators from a large US university do to prepare pre-service teachers for working with multicultural ideals? 2. What can we, as teacher educators from Europe, learn from their experiences?
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Journal of Latinos and Education, 2010
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