Pláticas, YA Books, and Teacher Identity Building: A Book Club as Teacher Professional Development

• In Event: Re-envisioning YA Book Clubs as a Culturally Sustaining Literacy Method for Transforming Teaching and Learning

Abstract

Objectives
This paper examines the influence of Latiné YA book pláticas for six Latiné teachers of various content areas who serve students living along the U.S. Mexico border. The purpose of the book club and writing group was to provide space for teachers to read and discuss YA Fiction and Non-Fiction texts that reflect the Latiné diaspora in the United States. This study sought to answer the following question: How do Latiné teachers respond to a book club and writing group that reflects the Latiné experiences in the United States?

Theoretical Framework
The study was grounded in Lat Crit theories (Delgado Bernal, 2002) and Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies (Paris & Alim, 2017). It centered the lived experiences and perspectives of Latiné identifying people in the production of knowledge and emphasizes the significance of intersectional identities.

Methodology
This study used a pláticas methodology defined as a methodology that is an extension of ways of knowing and being (Fierro & Delgado Bernal, 2006). Pláticas are group discussions that “gather family and cultural knowledge through communication of thoughts, memories, ambiguities, and new interpretations” (Godinez, 2006, p. 647).

Data sources
Two types of data were collected in this study: 1) field notes of five discussion meetings and 2) reflective writing from each discussion session by the six participants.

Results
Three findings emerged from the data. 1) Teachers reconnected with the value of ancestral knowledge. In a discussion about the YA anthology "Beyond Borders: Growing up Mexican in America" (Longoria, 2021), Anita discussed the fact that she felt school had taught her to erase the lessons of home but that connecting with the stories in this book, “helped me see the value in the way I was raised.” 2) Building a like minded community provided a brave space for teachers to explore identity. Greg discussed his frustration with feeling isolated on his campus and his wish to seek like-minded individuals, “having the opportunity to learn from and have pláticas with others like me and especially these strong Latina voices is invaluable and humbling.” 3) Seeing themselves and their experiences in literature gave teachers a renewed sense of dignidad (dignity). In our discussion of "For Brown Girls with Sharp Edges and Tender Hearts" (Rodríguez, (2022) Aleena shared “My dignidad in my identity has been challenged by my education but reading all these books by authors who look like and have had some of the same experiences as me, has given me like, armor to combat the aggressions that chip away at my self worth.”

Significance
The YA literature pláticas provided a space of reflection, growth, and connection for a group of Latiné teachers. The systemic erasure of their own lived experiences in their education created for these teachers a sense that they did not belong in the educational spaces in which they participated. This book club offered a way for these participants to begin to reconnect with their own identities and to begin to see the value in providing this same opportunity for their students in their classrooms.

Author

• Monica Baldonado-Ruiz, San Diego State University