Through parents' eyes: An activist visual literacy project (original) (raw)
Related papers
Child Voice: How Immigrant Children Enlightened Their Teachers with a Camera
Early Childhood Education Journal, 2009
Changes in global patterns of residence mean that preschool teachers welcome immigrant children and families into preschools in increasing numbers. Many teachers report both anticipation and apprehension about having immigrant children in the classroom. Apprehension is related to concerns about a lack of enough knowledge about languages and cultures to sensitively work with children and families. To overcome apprehensions and challenges, teachers are encouraged to learn from the work of other adults. This study builds upon research that suggests that teachers can also look to the children as a source of knowledge. The purpose of this study was to explore how preschool immigrant children might use a disposable camera to communicate with their teachers. The participants of this qualitative study were immigrant and nativeborn students in a local preschool. Each child was given a disposable camera, instruction about taking photographs and the request to take pictures of what was important to them. Data were collected by recording each child telling the teacher about the pictures. Data were analyzed for themes, patterns and categories. Findings indicated that the messages that the children conveyed to their teachers included important information about language development and family cultural identity. Findings also identify teacher strategies that helped and hindered child ability to communicate during the photo-narration process. An implication of the study was a shift of child agency within the teacher child relationship during photo-narration activity.
Increases in immigrant children to U.S. preschools have introduced unique challenges to teachers. An awareness of disconnections between a homogeneous teaching population and the increasingly diverse student population calls for additional exploration of enhancing connections to facilitate the young im-migrants' learning process in the classroom. The purpose of this study was to explore how photo narrations in which preschool teachers listened to im-migrant children talk about their photos of their context outside of school would provide opportunities for enhanced connections between teachers and immigrant children. The findings revealed that by using the familiar tools of photos and stories, the immigrant children were given space for their voice to be heard, the teachers found their awareness of the cultural connections and disconnections they used during their interaction with the immigrant chil-dren heightened, and connection opportunities with immigrant parents were enhance...
2014
academic school year in a PK-12 school district, located in a small city in the mountain west region of the U.S. The findings in the project point to the important critical counter-narratives Spanish speaking immigrant parents present to the larger school community when given the opportunity to have their voices and perspectives heard and recorded in written form. The article provides teachers, counselors, administrators and support staff in schools and school districts with information and insight into the hopes and aspirations of Spanish speaking immigrant parents and highlights educational practices that address issues of equity and access, as seen through the eyes of the participants in the study.
International Journal of Multicultural Education, 2013
This article reports on the findings of a photography and literacy project the authors conducted with 117 diverse city students. Relying on a critical pedagogy framework, the foundations for this study include research on cultural relevance, literacy, and visual sociology. The authors used Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) and photo elicitation methods to allow young adults to document their impressions of the purposes of, supports for, and impediments to school. Through a multi-stage process of analyzing these pictures and writings, the authors discovered insights about what youth believe are literacy pedagogies that are relevant to their cultures and help them to achieve in school.<p> </p> <!--EndFragment-->
From Theory to Practice: Engaging Immigrant Parents in Their Children’s Education
The development of a series of theoretically based interventions for newcomer (immigrant)parents was undertaken over a 10-year period through an iterative method of designing and analyzing a series of ethnographic studies of its implementation. The results of three such interventions are reported here. The work was based on the critical theory of Freire and the post-Marxist and radical theories of Bourdieu and Cummins. Specifically, the interventions were designed to help immigrant groups of parents (of Latino origin) to understand their position of marginality, to help empower them, and to provide them with a basis for acting in support of their children’s education in the new host country. The findings of the interventions reported show how the research program evolved along with the dialectic refinement of practice and theory.
Indo-Pacific Journal of Phenomenology, 2006
The aim of the study presented in this paper was to understand the lifeworlds of children who experience immigration and whose lives are marked by dramatic changes in their being-in-theworld. More specifically, the study proceeded from the question: What does it mean for an immigrant child to enter school in a new country? Two methodological questions were also explored, namely (1) How does one conduct a phenomenological investigation of a childhood phenomenon when the researchers and the participants do not share a common language? and (2) How does one engage children in the research process so that they provide not only "thick" descriptions of their experiences using alternative, non-linguistic means, but also make meaning of these experiences? In the current study, still photography was used to help the immigrant children recall and make meaning of what they experienced on their first day of school in a new country. In the process, they were enabled to become conscious photographers who came to see the world in such a way that photographic seeing became phenomenological seeing. Two examples of the children's visual narratives in the form of fotonovelas are presented to illustrate a methodology that involves fusion of the horizons surrounding the children, captured images of situations they encountered as they entered the classroom, and how the viewer saw the created image. The expanded notion of text and the use of digital technology in developing the text opened a space not only for visual representation of the children's lived experiences, but also for phenomenological analysis of these experiences. It is suggested that, although the written and visual texts produced as a result of the study differ, they are similar in the way in which they allow for phenomenological reflection and in their ability to show the phenomenon so as to evoke the reader's "phenomenological nod".
Journal of Family Diversity in Education, 2018
This study examines a grassroots effort to work collaboratively with a group of immigrant students, their families, and educators at an urban high school. Using PAR as a methodological tool, we explore how a group of high school students along with their families resist racial stigmatization and marginalization. These young people and families were part of a university intergenerational collective, Family School Partnership (FSP) that worked along-side teachers in an urban high school located in Salt Lake City, Utah. This article focuses on how PAR can be a pedagogical tool to support immigrant young people and their families as they resist oppressions in schools while offering teachers, pre-service teachers and graduate students unique preparation experiences for working with and learning from immigrant students.
Multicultural Perspectives, 2018
With greater diversification of American society comes a need to forge intercultural connections that will promote and support effective education services for immigrant families. The intercultural approach taken in this community project goes beyond a paradigm of coexistence. Rather, the term "intercultural" implies an integrated society of diverse members who participate in skilled dialogues that promote shared goals and understandings (Barrera, Corso, & Macpherson, 2003; Kimmel & Volet, 2012) and build on the "funds of knowledge" (Gonzalez, Moll, & Amanti, 2005) of all involved. Exploring intersections of this dynamic was central to understanding immigrant perspectives on the meaning of education. The result was the creation and display of a tapestry and book created by immigrant community members. This article provides a brief description of how this community project came about and, then, describes community members' (hereafter referred to as "artists") tapestry squares and narratives. The perspectives gleaned from this project can be used to inform educators, students, and others about the beliefs, practices, experiences, and aspirations of immigrant families around the meaning of education. The purpose of this article is twofold: first, to demonstrate how an arts-based project can encourage dialogue on an educational topic, and second, to illuminate the immigrant artists' beliefs, practices, experiences, and aspirations related to education.