The Art of Selfies: Self-Portraits in an Urban Elementary Classroom

• In Event: 34.033 - "A People's Scholarship": Portraiture and Possibilities for Liberatory Educational Research

Abstract

Objectives & Research Questions
Decolonial pedagogy pushes students to examine historical colonialism and challenge present day colonial institutions. Moreover, the violent domination and dispossession that occurs within classical and internal colonialism (Fanon 1961; Gutierrez, 2004; Paperson, 2010), leaves marginalized communities battling the byproducts of poverty, with students often struggling with trauma (Fanon, 1961). Questions arise when examining the implementation of such practices in the elementary classroom, especially since the passing of the Common Core: Are elementary students capable of comprehending difficult subjects such as oppression? Is it possible to implement a humanizing curriculum in the midst of restrictive standards and dehumanizing testing?

With the recent shift to the Common Core in California, few examples of transformative applications exist at the elementary level, and even less with decolonization as a central focus. The purpose of this study is to examine the practical realities of implementing a humanizing decolonial pedagogy in a Common Core elementary classroom.

The following questions guide this study:
1. How does an elementary educator navigate the Common Core standards to enact decolonial pedagogy in the classroom?
2. What are there limitations to its implementation?

Theory
This study weaves decolonizing pedagogy (Tejeda & Espinoza, 2003; Grande, 2004; Paperson, 2010; Tuck & Yang, 2012) ethnic studies approaches (Sleeter, 2001; Tintiangco-Cubales, et al., 2014), and humanizing pedagogy (Freire, 1970) as a means to foster critical race theory’s notion of transformational resistance (Delgado-Bernal & Solorzano, 2001) within the elementary classroom.

Methods/Sources
Using a blended methods approach incorporating autoethnography (Chang, 2008) and portraiture (Chapman, 2007; Lawrence-Lightfoot, 2005), the study highlights educator/student voices and relationships to create a self-portrait, or selfie. Centering the researcher in context as an insider within both the classroom and community in South Central Los Angeles, data were collected over the course of one academic school year. Data consisted of observations, artifacts, and field notes from a public school in Los Angeles. The fifth grade classroom was in a low-income urban community of color, comprised mostly of Latino and Black students.

Findings
Multiple portraits of decolonial and humanizing approaches challenging classical and internal colonialism were documented within language arts and social studies Common Core standards, specifically through the use of supplemental literature and social studies activities. The need to address student trauma arose organically within the classroom, thus requiring the need to create a space within the curriculum for the students and teacher to address the trauma together.

Significance
According to the study’s findings, implications can be made for universities, school districts, and educators. Educators have room within the common core standards to enact decolonial pedagogy, and must be supported and trained to do so within universities and district professional development. Common core assessments, however, continue to be Eurocentric, dehumanizing, and in conflict with decolonial and humanizing practices.

Author

• Carolina Valdez, California State University - Fullerton