Pedagogy of Belonging: Effective Teaching of Latina/o Youth

• In Event: Critical Geographies of Space in Education: Hopeful Spaces Within Oppressive Places

Abstract

For many Latino/a youth and other students of color, schools have historically represented alienating places (Ferguson, 2000; Irizarry, 2011; Valencia, 1991;Valenzuela, 1999). History provides plenty of examples of how schools perpetuate alienation through English-Only Policies, Whitewashed curriculum, and exclusionary discipline policies (Macedo, 2000; Sandoval, Ratcliff, Buenavista, & Marín, 2016; Skiba, 2000). What is often undertheorized is how a decolonial understanding of place can be used to create new forms of belonging within classroom spaces. In this paper, place is conceptualized beyond geographic location, to include a dynamic relationship between place and its inhabitants, their practices, their stories, and their socio-historical rootedness (Tuck & Mckenzie, 2015). This study examines how three high school teachers use classroom space to create a strong sense of belonging for the students they teach.

Data come from a two-year ethnographic case study of 3 effective teachers nominated by Latino students. I surveyed 137 community college students who recently graduated from high schools in Hope Valley (pseudonym) to identify effective teachers in the community. After aggregating results, 3 teachers from Hope High School (pseudonym) were selected--as the majority of teachers nominated were practitioners at Hope High. Using ethnographic methods, over 27 hours of classroom observations were collected, in addition to audio/video recordings and written memos over the span of two years. In year two of the study, semi-structured teacher and student interviews were conducted to triangulate data. Finally, detailed memos were conducted after each of observation to provide a thick description of what was observed (Watson-Gegeo,1992).

Teachers in this study created quotidian routines in their daily practices creating a strong sense of belonging for Latino/a students. All three teachers represented a vastly different ideological and epistemological stance in their quest to be effective with their Latino/a students; however, their practices overlapped in their ability to make strong connections and build solid relationships with their students. In this study, I examine how effective teachers of Latino/a youth use classroom space to create a place of belonging for Latino/a youth. Findings contribute new insights toward understanding: 1) new forms of social practices that promote student voice, and 2) how an epistemic and ontological understanding of place, can help teachers develop new forms of relationships with students. My hope is that through a more nuanced understanding of place, we can redefine what it means to be effective with Latino/a youth.

Author

• Orlando Leonel Carreon, Sonoma State University