Testimonios del Barrio: Latinx Teacher Counternarratives in Chicago

• In Event: (Re)Imagining Latinx Teachers in Multiple Contexts: Cultural Resources, Testimonios, and Activism in Public Schools

Abstract

Latinx teachers in the U.S. are underrepresented in the public school workforce. In 2015, in Cook County (Chicago and surrounding areas), 38.2% of public school students are Latinx, however, only 10.3% of teachers are Latinx. Acknowledging that Latinx teachers are disproportionate to the percentage of Latinx students, we seek their perspectives about the schools and students they work with, how to best meet the needs of a growing Latinx student body, and reflections on their own educational experiences. Situated in the Chicagoland area, this study taps into the experiential knowledge of Latinx teachers who work with predominantly Latinx students. Gaining this knowledge may better inform the larger teacher workforce, which is still predominantly white and middle class (U.S. Department of Education, 2016).

A Latina/o Critical Race (LatCrit) in education framework provides the analytic tools to understand how the language practices and cultural identity of Latinxs are viewed, managed, and contested within schools (Delgado Bernal, 2002). Additionally, in order to more critically understand, and positively transform the educational experiences of Latinx students, LatCrit scholars have collected and produced testimonios that use “literary narrative knowledge and counterstories to challenge the existing social construction of race” and address the marginalization of students of color in schools (Parker & Castro, 2013, p. 50).

Latinx teacher testimonios can help further advance asset-based classroom curriculum for racially and linguistically marginalized youth (Darder, 1991; King, 1995; Ladson-Billings, 1995; Martinez, 2010; Nieto, 1992; Paris, 2012; Yosso, 2005). In addition, testimonios that come from barrios where students, and teachers live and attend schools can further bridge academia to communities. Latinx teacher barrio testimonios—that speak to their own experiences growing up, and then working in working-class Latinx communities—can illustrate the ways in which Latinx educators hold the non-textbook knowledge that can contribute to anti-racist and justice-centered education for Latinx students. Testimonios “carve a space within academia to recognize sources of knowledge that are often ignored and delegitimized” (Perez Huber, 2009, p. 640).

We conducted qualitative interviews (testimonios) to explore Latinx teacher experiences in their current schools, as well as the journey leading them to teaching. This allowed for a strategic and self-reflective analysis of data (Denzin & Lincoln, 2011). We used narrative analysis to examine the data, which is tied to collecting stories of personal experiences in the form of field texts, conversations, and the retelling of stories (Ollerenshaw & Creswell, 2002). We explored teachers’ construction and narration of identity—inside and outside of the classroom.

Analysis of Latinx teacher barrio testimonios show several findings: 1) Teaching in predominantly Latinx schools was advantageous because teachers could relate to students and community circumstances; were equipped to communicate with parents and understand their challenges; 2) Teachers believed their Latinx students and neighborhoods are still viewed in deficit terms but themselves articulated the strengths/assets of these communities and were drivers of choques (Delgado Bernal & Aleman, 2017); 3) Teachers expressed cariño for their students: affection, high standards, and desire to change their students’ conditions (Bartolomé, 2008; Nieto, 2000).

Authors

• Ramona Meza, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Joanna Maravilla-Cano, University of Illinois at Chicago

• P. Zitlali Morales, University of Illinois at Chicago