Mentoring for Justice and Joy: Undergraduate Experiences in a Central California Collaborative Project

• In Event: AERA Poster Session Wednesday 1:45pm
  In Poster Session: Black Post-Secondary Student Experience, Data, and Belonging Across Educational Spaces

Abstract

This paper explores the mentoring experiences of seven undergraduate students engaged as mentors in a Central California elementary school. Drawing on Yosso’s (2005) Community Cultural Wealth framework and Gholdy Muhammad’s (2020, 2023) Historically Responsive Literacy (HRL) Framework, researchers examine how mentoring relationships fostered mutual growth, critical consciousness, and joy in learning. Using narrative analysis as the primary method, we analyze undergraduate mentors’ storytelling, weekly reflections, and interviews to illuminate how the five HRL pursuits - identity, skills, intellect, criticality, and joy - were co-constructed during activities with 3rd-6th grade students. The findings illustrate how asset-based mentorship rooted in cultural wealth and narrative meaning-making can be transformative for both mentors and K–6 learners in racially and linguistically diverse educational spaces.

Authors

• Swati Mehta, California State University - Fresno

• Patricia Lane, California State University - Fresno

• Randy Yerrick, California State University - Fresno

• Patrick S De Walt, California State University - Fresno