My Journey as an Elementary Science Teacher: From Linear to Authentic Criticalities

• In Event: Communities of Resistance and Dissent, Aztlán-Anáhuc-Ixtepec, Gran México--Part 1: Critical, Local, Transnational Teachers and Teacher Education

Abstract

Objectives
This paper explores how dominant schooling systems silenced my Chicana identity and my students’ voices, erasing language and culture and fracturing our sense of self (Gutiérrez & Rogoff, 2003; Anzaldúa, 1987). Drawing on Anzaldúa’s mestiza consciousness and Freire’s critical consciousness, I examine ruptures that sparked resistance and challenged power in science education (González et al., 2005). Becoming a teacher did not erase these wounds; neoliberal demands turned my classroom into a battleground for reclaiming identity and voice (hooks, 1994). This paper calls for transforming science education into a space that honors the culture, language, and knowledge of local-transnational communities (Paris & Alim, 2017; Ladson-Billings, 1995).

Perspective or theoretical framework
Freire’s (1970) critical consciousness exposes oppressive power in education, while Anzaldúa’s (1987) mestiza consciousness reveals tensions in navigating marginalized identities. Together, these frameworks show how neoliberal schooling silences students and educators, especially in science (hooks, 1994). This foundation demands a radical transformation of pedagogy that centers and empowers marginalized languages, knowledge, and identities as acts of resistance and liberation (Paris & Alim, 2017; Ladson-Billings, 1995).

Methods, techniques, or modes of inquiry
This critical autoethnography uses personal narrative, reflective journaling, and classroom experiences as data (Boylorn & Orbe, 2014). Grounded in Freire and Anzaldúa’s theories, analysis of my teacher narratives seize on moments of rupture and resistance against education’s power structures. This approach centers lived experience as truth-telling that resists erasure and reclaims identity, language, and culture as tools for liberation (hooks, 1994; Paris & Alim, 2017).

Data sources, evidence, objects, or materials
Data include personal narratives, journals, and classroom artifacts (Boylorn & Orbe, 2014). These highlight tensions and ruptures in navigating identity, pedagogy, and power (Ellis et al., 2011). Observations and student interactions show how critical and mestiza consciousness shaped my teaching (Freire, 1970; Anzaldúa, 1987). Together, these sources reveal lived rupture and resistance in science education.

Results
Ruptures sparked resistance against forces that erased culture and identity (Freire, 1970; hooks, 1994). When I told my principal, “No, I won’t give up science time for more test prep,” it was an act of refusal. During an evaporation experiment, a bilingual student exclaimed, “It’s like when my abuelita boils water for tamales, it disappears faster when the lid’s off!” In that moment, science pulsed with cultura, ancestry, and lived experience (Moll, 1992; Paris, 2012). These moments challenged power and assimilation, demanded culturally sustaining teaching (Ladson-Billings, 1995), and called for centering marginalized voices as liberation (Paris & Alim, 2017).

Scholarly Significance
This study shows how dominant schooling tries to silence my Chicana identity and students’ voices by erasing our cultures and languages rooted in Aztlán and Gran México (Gutiérrez & Rogoff, 2003; Anzaldúa, 1987). Using Freire’s critical consciousness and Anzaldúa’s mestiza consciousness, it centers lived experience to reclaim community and spark resistance in science classrooms (hooks, 1994; Paris & Alim, 2017). It contributes to reimagining science education as a space that honors marginalized identities and asserts the cultural sovereignty of Aztlán and Gran México (Ladson-Billings, 1995).

Author

• Johanna Lynn Esparza, University of Texas - Rio Grande Valley