Teacher Participatory Action Research

• In Event: Moscone Center North Roundtable Session 9
  In Roundtable Session: Pin@y Educational PARtnerships: Ethnic Studies Students, Teachers, and Leaders as Scholar Activists

Abstract

Objectives
Disengagement from school has become a common narrative among our students and we recognize the burn out. Disengagement among students of color is often misplaced as the burden of the student rather than a colonizing and hegemonic system of education (Yosso, 2005). Manulani Aluli Meyer (2003) points to the root of student disengagement as a systemic issue in which “We are still in the dungeons of standardized tests, intelligence quotients, classroom management techniques, homogeneous age groupings, and fifty-minute class periods.” PEP serves as a space to address the systemic issues that are plaguing our students of color in an oppressive system of schooling.

Theory
Our research focuses on the holistic (mental, emotional, and physical) engagement as critical educators and mentors, to best support our students’ learning experiences inside and outside of the classroom. Using critical educational theory and TPAR, to inform how we build community as teachers to inform their praxis with students and support them in the development of their educational, personal, and cultural identities.
Methods/Data Sources
We utilized both qualitative and quantitative methods to understand the needs of our teachers and their relationship to the classroom. We employed auto- ethnographies, participant observations, focus groups and interviews as well as a surveys that were distributed, which asked teachers about their experiences in the classroom and what could be improved to help facilitate holistic engagement.

Results and Significance
Using ethnographies, surveys and interviews, we have found three themes that reflect our teachers experiences in the classroom setting: Disconnection of mind, body, and soul in the class content and teaching methods (Meyer 2003); Colonial model of teaching in which the teacher is the center for all knowledge (Villanueva 2013); and Teachers lack knowledge of students’ lives outside of school (Yosso 2005).

Author

• Arlene S. Daus-Magbual, San Francisco State University