Illuminating the Experiences of Rural Immigrant Paraeducators

• In Event: Rethinking Inclusivity, Equity, and Diversity for Rural Multilingual Learners

Abstract

Rural communities across the United States are experiencing a rapid increase in the number of multilingual students. While the number of culturally and linguistically diverse students continues to grow within midwestern states, the demographics of teachers remain white, female, and monolingual. Often teachers have little to no training working with students and their families whose backgrounds differ from their own. Thus, there is a great urgency for teachers to develop culturally competent teaching practices that address the needs of all students. Based on a year-long, school-based narrative inquiry that examined how rural Indiana educators worked with and cared for Latinx elementary students, this paper illuminates the local narratives and experiences of two Latina paraeducators who served as a cultural and linguistic bridge between the school and farming community. Grounded in a holistic approach, I draw from Greenwood’s (2019) theoretical framework of a critical pedagogy of place and Reagan et al.’s (2019) conceptual framework of rural as a cultural construct for addressing the question: How do paraeducators’ lived experiences facilitate their work with Latinx students in a rural community?
Consistent with narrative inquiry, reflecting on local narratives, participants’ experiences, and interpreted field texts (i.e., field journals, researcher memos, researcher journals, transcribed interviews) findings reveal that the paraeducators, who shared similar cultural and linguistic backgrounds as their students, were better able to identify and respond to issues related to students’ emotional well-being than the white, monolingual teachers who had limited knowledge of their multilingual students and therefore left the social, emotional, and academic care to the paraeducators, and, in many instances, to other multilingual students. Therefore, to support multilingual students, educators must establish and cultivate authentic, reciprocal relationships with students and families. This paper calls for rural educators to extend their knowledge and engagement beyond the classroom walls by increasing their awareness of community funds of knowledge to guide their pedagogical practices. The narratives shared by rural paraeducators reflect the need for educators to engage in a critical pedagogy of place (Greenwood, 2019) within rural spaces. By examining the intersection of place and rurality, this paper seeks to illuminate the value of community engagement amongst community stakeholders (e.g., students, families, educators) that is active and purposeful.

Author

• Stephanie Oudghiri, Purdue University
  Presenting Author