Critical Tahanan Connection Pedagogy: Teacher Participatory Action Research at Balboa and Philip and Sala Burton High Schools

• In Event: 35.071 - Making Filipina/o Students' Voices Matter: Pin@y Educational Partnerships' Teacher Participatory Action Research

Abstract

Objectives
Disengagement from school has become a common narrative among our Filipina/o American high school students. Disengagement among students of color is often misplaced as the burden of the student rather than a colonizing and hegemonic system of education (Yosso, 2005). Manulani Aluli Meyer (2003) points to the root of student disengagement as a systemic issue in which “We are still in the dungeons of standardized tests, intelligence quotients, classroom management techniques, homogeneous age groupings, and fifty-minute class periods.” PEP serves as a space to address the systemic issues that are plaguing our students of color in an oppressive system of schooling.

Theory
Our research focuses on the holistic (mental, emotional, and physical) engagement of students at Burton and Balboa in order for us, as critical educators and mentors, to best support our students’ learning experiences inside and outside of the classroom. Using critical educational theory and TPAR, we developed Critical Tahanan Connection Pedagogy to inform how we build community with our students and support them in the development of their educational, personal, and cultural identities.
Methods/Data Sources
We utilized both qualitative and quantitative methods to understand the needs of our students and their relationship to the classroom. We did ethnographies of our PEP class, U.S. history class,and the Wellness Center. Five student interviews were conducted and one survey was distributed, which asked students about their experiences in the classroom and what could be improved to help facilitate holistic engagement.

Results and Significance
Through our research, we learned that our students are not holistically engaged in the classroom because these spaces are structured around the teachers knowledge and ignores the lived experiences of our students. Using ethnographies, student surveys and interviews, we have found three themes that reflect our students academic experiences: Disconnection of mind, body, and soul in the class content and teaching methods (Meyer 2003); Colonial model of teaching in which the teacher is the center for all knowledge (Villanueva 2013); and Teachers lack knowledge of students’ lives outside of school (Yosso 2005).
Action Plan: The disconnection between mind, body and soul, causes disengagement in students at Burton High School. The action plan is created in order to engage students effectively, finding solutions and reconstructing literacy to connect the mind, body and soul (Meyer 2003). Students and teachers, both need to centralize experiential knowledge (Villanueva 2013). It is instrumental to contextualize our content within students’ experiences (Yosso 2005). We focused on the holistic engagement of our students by: creating assigning written journals between students and mentor teachers. PEP teachers implemented a 3-2-1 assessment which students: write (3) three things students have learned, (2) questions students still have and (1) one take away point. On Wednesdays, PEP teachers review all the students’ journals to assure the students are holistic engagement through the week as well as plan for the following week’s lessons to find more ways to holistically engage the students.

Author

• Dara Katrina Del Rosario, Pin@y Educational Partnerships