If You Were a Bird: A Young Immigrant Girl’s Creation of Third Space

• In Event: Roundtable Session 19
  In Roundtable Session: Urban, Immigrant Elementary Students’ Writing Practices

Abstract

This study explores a third grade Mexican immigrant girl’s evolving understandings of self and world through her own creation of third space via writing activities. The study took place in a rural community in Pennsylvania for six months in 2012. In the community, where the majority of residents were White and English-speaking, the participant was placed in the subordinating position. However, she redefined her self and her position in the community through her poem. In the poem, she creatively used metaphors, drawing on resources from the first ( e.g. school) and second space ( e.g. popular culture). The study suggests the possibility of children’s voluntary and active creation of third space in informal spaces.

Authors

• Kaoru Miyazawa, Gettysburg College

• Grace Enriquez, Lesley University