What We Need to Know About the Students We Share: A Life Story–Based Professional Development Model

• In Event: Equity Across the Border: Reimagining Mexican Teacher Preparation to Meet the Needs of Transnational Students

Abstract

Twenty years of educational research in Mexico and the United States have shown that the challenges of transnational schooling between both countries are better understood when U.S. teachers are familiar with Mexican students’ educational experiences in their country of origin and vice versa (Gándara & Jensen, 2021; authors, 2008). Aware of this need, which includes not only academic, but personal, social, linguistic, and existential domains, new networks of support can be designed and provided on both sides of the border to foster a sense of continuity between both systems that transnational students need to successfully continue their educational path.

This paper presents a model for professional development for pre and in-service teachers that uses as main source of information and reflection the fictionalized life-stories in the book project that is the basis for this session proposal. Our model aims to contribute to the training, updating and improvement of teachers and administrators at the elementary educational level in Mexico (authors, 2019). Based on a previous professional development experience with Mexican pre-service teachers in the state on Nuevo León (authors, 2020), the model we proposed builds from an action-research framework and tenets of critical pedagogy to draw teachers’ attention to issues of cultural and linguistic diversity, topics that must be addressed in order to promote equity and inclusion in education. The model described here has been already piloted with a group of Mexican “normalistas” (pre-service teachers) and in in-service professional development workshops.

Among the main findings of these piloting efforts are that the close reading and critical analysis of life stories (as portrayed in the book) fosters a productive dialogue and exchange of ideas among teachers that contributes to their critical awareness about students’ lived experiences along with the educational policy and pedagogical practices gaps that need attention and improvement to better serve the transnational student body. In this sense, our training model aims to brings teachers’ attention to the urgent need for them and Mexican educational administrators to advocate for and implement pedagogical strategies that call for respect, support and encouragement—i.e., transformative educational practices (Zúñiga, 2021)—for all students, but particularly for those who will possibly face a transnational future (a group that obviously cannot be fully identified ahead of time).

Our paper also shares some of reflections of the normalistas and practicing teachers who participated in the piloting of the model. Their reflections describe the often daily struggles against prejudices, stereotypes, and discrimination in and out of the school settings that severely impact transnational students’ socio-emotional wellbeing and academic performance. Our paper concludes with a presentation of future steps for the model, and we offer a series of recommendations to be implemented as part of the professional development in teacher training programs in other institutional contexts in Mexico. We also note how are model shows that professional development related to teacher readiness to serve transnational students is not something done for preservice and practicing teachers, but rather with them.

Authors

• Juan Sánchez García, Escuela Normal "Miguel F. Martínez", Centenaria y Benemérita

• Maria Luisa Parra, Harvard University