Interacting With Multicultural Children’s Literature in Kindergarten

• In Event: Sueños de America/Dreams of America: Discourses on Immigration and Social Justice in K–12 Classrooms

Abstract

Utilizing a bounded case study approach (Merriam, 1998; Stake, 1995) of one bilingual Latino elementary teacher in Utah, the researcher worked to improve her understanding of “how an individual makes sense of the world through the experiences that the participant has within the world” (Merriam, 1998, p.6). The literacy practices of a novice male bilingual teacher in an afterschool club with predominantly Mexican-American fifth grade students afforded a convenient sample for an in-depth case study approach (Stake, 2005). Examples of artifacts collected and analyzed included audio and video recordings of varied literary discussions, student visual representations of their learning, transcripts of selected samples of observational discourse, teacher and student produced writings, and photographs of interactions. The guiding research question was, what are the literary practices that support bilingual development in an after-school club?
Specifically, interactions among members of El Club de Literatura, were collected. Selected mentor texts related to the internment of Japanese-American families at Topaz, Utah, during WWII afforded opportunities for the bilingual Latino teacher to create a space for students to view, “read,” discuss and visually respond to primary sources of the historical era. The use of fictional and informational texts as well as digitized documents served as mentor texts to supplement the social studies and language arts curriculum with more sophisticated understandings of what counts as citizenship. Using the theoretical perspective of the figured world (Holland et.al., 1998) of the after school club, the creation of an authoring space for students to practice particular literacy skills became transformative for the teacher and the students. The practices identified were: discerning meanings, questioning and expressing ideas, critically analyzing for the purpose of taking a stance, and defending diverse positions within historical events.
Low expectations of Latina/o students in elementary grades and in after school literacy activities were challenged through a process of contextualizing historical content by utilizing document based questions, primary and secondary sources, critical analysis of characters, plot, and events – all through the use of two languages (Spanish and English). The critical reading and writing activities afforded both the teacher and the students an authoring space where connections to the selected text, other texts, and real world experiences intersected in significant ways. These intertextual connections provided expanded meanings of what counts as justice and injustice in the past as well as in the present.

Authors

• Adeli Ynostroza, University of Utah

• Maria E. Franquiz, University of Utah