The Mexican Immigrant Girl That Dreamt of Becoming an Educator: An Inquiry Into a Bilingual Teacher Trajectory

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 11
  In Roundtable Session: Preservice Teachers: Liminal Spaces of Becoming Teachers

Abstract

Addressing the critical shortage of bilingual teachers is crucial to improving educational opportunities, access, and outcomes, particularly for Latino students. This proposal employs the framework proposed by Ocasio (2014) to examine how Latinos progress through critical junctures in the teacher pipeline within the specific context of becoming Spanish Bilingual teachers. Using a critical narrative approach to qualitative research, it reveals findings from an ongoing six-year longitudinal study into a Spanish bilingual Latina teacher’s experiences during her schooling and novice teaching years. Specifically, it focuses on struggles and successes that hold implications for pre-K-20 educational practices and policies, responding to calls to increase the number of Latino and Spanish bilingual teachers, as well as to share narratives of Latino teacher experiences.

Authors

• Leslie M. Gauna, University of Houston - Clear Lake

• Christine Beaudry, Nevada State University

• Jane Mcintosh Cooper, University of Houston