Duality of Education: Discovery Through Introspection

• In Event: Inquiry for Truth: Epistemological Narrative and Testimonio as Self-Discovery and Community Building

Abstract

Centering humanizing praxis in academia allows individuals to reflect on their personal experiences in relation to the systems and policies of education. As an educator, taking the time and effort to self-reflect informs how I develop curriculum with and for my students. Engaging in writing that allows for self-reflection can also contextualize the data that is often shared to educators regarding Students of Color; therefore, I enter this work with the following questions:
How can educators better inform their teaching by engaging in the process of epistemological writing?
How can writing within K-12 education be a tool for self-reflection, resistance, community activism, and healing?
How have institutional practices in the United States created a loss of ancestral knowledge, such as language, and thereby have created trauma within communities as well as for individuals?


Utilizing Chicana Feminist Theory (Anzaldua 1987) and Critical Race Quantitative Intersectionality with Testimonio (Covarrubias et al., 2018; Delgado 2006), I identified experiences and gained academic language to identify the struggles I had long felt especially with regards to education. As a result of engaging in the process of self-reflection in the Epistemology of Education Paper (EEP), my truth is identified and reflected upon. Through Engaged Pedagogy (hooks 1994) and Critical Race Theory in Education (Yosso 2005) the strengths within students becomes the focus and the shift from education as being controlled and disseminated moves to a space of cohabitation and co-creation.

Creation of the Epistemology of Education Paper (EEP) is rooted in the self-reflection of experiences within and related to my educational experiences. Readings throughout the Spring 2022 Chicanas/os in Education course inspired the connection between experience and theory research. Multiple drafts and submissions allowed time for peer review in order to further reflect on how individual experiences are shaped and influenced by systematic policies with social, political, and economic underpinnings.


The creation of my own autobiographical Epistemology of Education Paper provided an opportunity to examine my experiences as well as my family which has led to who I am and the work I do within education. My beliefs in the value of writings such as Testimonios as a means of reflection are reaffirmed and the need to incorporate more of this work within the classroom is clear.


The opportunity for self-reflection on the part of the student to recognize, share, and hopefully begin a process of recognizing truth and healing in a communal space but it creates a point of contextualization for educators. Educators at all levels must be critical and conscious of their students, especially Students of Color who are often pre-conceived with negative connotations. There must be a shift in the development of curriculum that builds on the community cultural wealth of students (Yosso 2005). As a high school teacher I know the importance and need for colleagues to reflect on their own practice to make meaningful change. My contribution aims to guide and support MA students currently in the CCS program at SJSU who are looking to pursue a career in education.

Author

• Annette Gonzales Jones, East Side Union High School District
  Presenting Author