Deviating From the Prescribed Curriculum: Portraits of Anti-Racist Elementary Teachers of Color

• In Event: Relational Spaces of Educational Transformation

Abstract

Little is known on how Ethnic Studies (ES) is taught in elementary school classrooms. Through interviews, classroom observations, and document analysis, this qualitative study explored how anti-racist and ES pedagogical strategies are conceptualized and implemented by three elementary teachers who identify as anti-racist educators and women of Color. The portraits illustrate how they navigated through institutional challenges to implement ES pedagogy in elementary schools and maintain their commitment to anti-racist education. Findings suggest that these teachers enacted dynamic cycles of critical consciousness (critical awareness, political agency, and critical action) and employed community responsive pedagogy, which is essential to ES praxis. Distilling these aspects of their work is a critical lever to transformative and liberatory Ethnic Studies experiences for elementary students.

Author

• Jennifer Soriano Manglicmot, University of San Diego