Echoes in the Classroom: How Racialized Space, Emotional Climate, and Teacher Response Elicit Student Behavior

• In Event: Language and Race in Schools: Transnational Mexico/US Youth Experiences

Abstract

This study critically examines how racialized spatial arrangements, emotional climate, and teacher response practices co-construct student behavior in K–12 classrooms. Drawing from critical race theory, educational psychology, and classroom ecology, the paper explores how behavior is not merely triggered but socially produced through intersecting systems of surveillance, expectation, and care. Through a mixed-methods design incorporating longitudinal case studies and survey analysis, this work highlights how Black and Brown students experience behavior management differently—and how intentional shifts in classroom climate can transform not only behavior, but also the broader structures of educational equity.

Author

• Serena Marie Camacho, Washington State University