"I Want to Help Them. I Want to Talk to the World": Operationalizing Active Citizenship—Lessons From a U.S. History Teacher and Her Newcomer Students

• In Event: Social Identities and Power Relationships in Social Studies Education

Abstract

This study examines how newcomer students and their U.S. History teacher conceptualize social studies and citizenship through a framework of culturally and linguistically relevant citizenship education (CLRCE). Findings reveal that the teacher and her newcomer students conceptualized notions of active citizenship reflected in the understandings and experiences of the enacted social studies pedagogy as well as in their everyday life experiences. The pedagogies implemented by the teacher in this study offer examples for in-service/pre-service teachers seeking to meet their students’ diverse cultural, linguistic, and civic needs in the classroom. Furthermore, the newcomer students’ experiences of the implemented pedagogy, conceptions of active citizenship, and school-wide experiences have potential implications for designing instruction to support newcomer students’ engagement in social studies classrooms.

Author

• Ashley Taylor Jaffee, James Madison University