Developing a Critical Consciousness with Elementary Students as a Catalyst for Academic Success

• In Event: Developing Critical Consciousness in Turbulent Times: Challenges and Possibilities for Academic Success for Black Youth

Abstract

Many, if not most, public K-12 schools serving predominately low-income students of color use oppressive pedagogies that create achievement gaps. This paper presents the work of the author who taught in a Title I elementary school near the United States and Mexico border. Based on an autoethnographic study that analyzed six years of student work, self-reflection, and the daily classroom routines, the author investigated the impact of critical pedagogy and the extent to which the pedagogical approach mediated students’ trajectory of academic success. The findings suggest developing students' critical consciousness concurrently developed students ' critical thinking skills they applied across academic content areas. The byproduct of this learning process resulted in high academic achievement.

Author

• Marisol Diaz, Stephen F. Austin State University