Two-Way Immersion, Gentrification, and Critical Pedagogy: Teaching Against the Neoliberal Logic

• In Event: 58.083 - Roundtable Session 26
  In Roundtable Session: 58.083-18 - Critical Perspectives on Dual-Language Education

Abstract

In response to a rapidly gentrifying two-way immersion (TWI) program and community, a fifth-grade TWI teacher and a university researcher planned and carried out a three-week unit on gentrification processes in the city and surrounding community. In heeding the call for the use of participative research methodologies (Paris & Winn, 2014) and critical pedagogy and curriculum as a form of resistance to neoliberalism (De Lissovoy, 2015), students’ critical dialogue and classroom blog projects revealed a deeper understanding of gentrification. In addition, the study highlighted the importance of moving beyond TWI’s laudable and important goals of high academic achievement, bilingualism, and multicultural competence to include generative opportunities for students to develop critical consciousness.

Author

• Dan Heiman, University of North Texas