Emotional Support in Kindergarten and the Growth of Social and Literacy Skills for Rural Latino Children

• In Event: Roundtable Session 114
  In Roundtable Session: Emotion and Engagement

Abstract

This paper uses mixed method data to explore relationships between social skills, early literacy, and the emotional support of interactions between students and teachers in the classroom for rural Latino children in California. The exploration of these relationships carries the potential to deepen professional development of teachers in a rural CA school district that predominantly serves low-income, Latino children from immigrant families. The TALLER (Teachers Advancing Latino Literacy through Ecocultural Research) project has had two complementary missions: a) improve literacy and social skill performance of young Latino children, and b) challenge deficit-oriented thinking of teachers in a low-income, rural school district where over 95 percent of students are of Latino origins.

Authors

• Bryant Jensen, Brigham Young University

• Leslie J. Reese, California State University - Long Beach