Latina/o e-Mentoring: The Necessity of a Safe Colored Space in Higher and Public Education

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session 6
  In Roundtable Session: Accounting for Race in Teacher Preparation and Retention

Abstract

This critical co-constructed autoethnography highlights the significance of Latin@ e-mentorship using CRT and LatCrit to provide an anti-deficit lens that acknowledges effective mentors and receptive protégées for social change versus the socially constructed norms of hegemony within the U.S. whitestream public school system. All members of the e-mentoring circle foster safe colored spaces in public education through their working alliances and/or collaboration with k12 educators and students. In this study, Latin@ scholars come together from isolated geographical distance to report on a successful e-mentoring circle among six Latin@ faculty within public and higher education that has allowed for building the necessary wisdom, commitment, and capacity for meeting the challenges of public education.

Authors

• James Martinez, Valdosta State University

• Regina Suriel, University of Georgia

• Maria L. Gabriel, Poudre School District

• Neritza Diaz-Cruz, The University of New Mexico

• Juan Rios, Bradley University

• Javier Gonzalez, Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College