"I Saw Their Experiences With New Eyes": Critical Mini-Ethnographies as Transformative Tools for Educators

• In Event: 53.049 - Effective and Inclusive School Strategies for Children of Immigrants

Abstract

This paper examines the role of critical mini-ethnographies as pedagogical tool in teacher education classrooms for transforming educators’ narratives about immigrant and refugee communities. The process and the product of assigning critical mini-ethnographies in a graduate, teacher education course designed to help mainstream educators address the socio-cultural and linguistic needs of immigrant and refugee students in their classrooms and schools, is examined. Findings show how critical mini-ethnographies not only transformed educators’ narratives of immigrant and refugees, but also changed school practices and policies. Both discursive and narrative analyses of in-class discussions and collaborative analyses, and final critical mini-ethnographies were conducted.

Author

• Laura A. Roy, La Salle University