Voices From the “New American Mainstream”: Lessons for the Teachers of Today’s Immigrant Youth

Session Submission Type: Symposium

Abstract

Roughly 20 percent of students in U.S. public schools are either immigrants or the children of immigrants; by 2040, this percentage is expected to grow to more than 30 percent. Immigrant adolescents--owing to a unique combination of linguistic, socioeconomic, cultural, familial and developmental factors--possess unique vulnerabilities and assets in regards to schooling and healthy socio-emotional development for which secondary school teachers are mostly unprepared to address. Taken from a variety of schooling and geographic contexts and focused on immigrant youth from numerous different national origins, this symposium provides a view into the scholastic and home lives of the “new American mainstream.” Presentations will pay particular attention to drawing implications for teaching and teacher education.

Sub Unit

• Division G - Social Context of Education / Section 2: Education in Multicultural Contexts Within and Across Subject Areas

Chairs

• Michael Sadowski, Bard College

• Adam Sawyer, Bard College

Papers

• Habits and Attitudes of Successful International Students: Implications for Teachers and Teacher Educators - Michael Sadowski, Bard College

• "Don’t Be Like Me”: The Paradox of Strong Ethnic Identity Among Mexican American Youth in New York City - Francisco X. Gaytan, Northeastern Illinois University

• Whose Mainstream? Untangling Privilege and Adaptation Among White European Immigrant Youth - Ramona M. Fruja, Bucknell University

• White Teachers and Latino/a Youth: Toward a New Social Contract in California’s Breadbasket - Adam Sawyer, Bard College

Discussant

• Angela Valenzuela, The University of Texas - Austin