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

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

Panelists in this session agree with Alverman (2006) who discusses the power of listening to students’ voices as they author themselves with expanded meanings of what counts as texts and literacies. Drawing on sociocultural theory, findings from qualitative studies in Utah, Texas, and California conducted in diverse K-12 classrooms are presented. Each paper provides a window into the voices of immigrant teachers and students from multiple perspectives, ages, experiences and backgrounds. By foregrounding immigrant voices of those who navigate an educational system that is not typically equipped to serve them, humanizing pedagogies are identified and analyzed. Thus, this session examines successful literary texts and pedagogical practices that assist in cultivating the identities of students with sueños de America/dreams of America.

Sub Unit

• Division G - Social Context of Education / Division G - Section 3: Studies of the multiple languages and literacies of varied social contexts

Chair

• Cinthia S. Salinas, The University of Texas - Austin

Papers

• Interacting With Multicultural Children’s Literature in Kindergarten - Adeli Ynostroza, University of Utah; Maria E. Franquiz, University of Utah

• Cultivating Biliteracy and Social Justice Understandings With Latino Children's Literature - Brenda Ayala Lewis, University of Texas - Austin

• Counternarratives of Immigration, Survival, and Resistance: Secondary Latina/o Immigrant Students' and Culturally Relevant Mentor Texts - Rosa M. Jimenez, University of San Francisco

• Read-Alouds on Immigration: Second Graders Learning About Multiple Meanings of Words - María G Leija, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

Discussant

• Minda M. Lopez, Texas State University - San Marcos