Our Stories Are Valid: The Power of Testimonios in Transforming an English Language Arts Classroom in New York City

• In Event: The Truth Is in Our Stories: Advancing Humanizing Narrative Research Methods in Teacher Education

Abstract

Objectives or purposes:

The purpose of this presentation is to discuss how the use of testimonios empower and amplify the voices to Latinx teachers of English and how their lived experiences needs to be included as a central focus of research on the forming of teacher identities for educators of color who are committed to building communities of love and healing in their classroom spaces.

Perspective(s) or theoretical framework:

This study unpacks how the Latina/Chicana feminist theoretial framework of Latinidad and the methodology of testimonio contributes to the building of safe and loving classroom communities between a Latina teacher of English and her classes of majority Black and Brown students. These perspectives are explored through reflection, re-membering, dialogue, and narrative writing (Latina Feminist Group, 2001 and Flores, 2017).

Methods, techniques, or modes of inquiry:

In response to Latina feminist Celia Alverez’s question, “... after all this time, why are our stories still invisible…?” (Latina Feminist Group, 2001), I embrace the theory of Latinidad and testimonios as the primary methodology for developing relationships between Latinx English teachers and their students for it, “...helps mark a consciousness of resistance to the oppression of language, culture, and race, and a recognition of the in-between spaces formed by those with complex identities” (Latina Feminist Group, 2001).

Data sources, evidence, objects, or materials:

This research draws on my autoethnographic study as a Latina HS English teacher in a New York City public school and using testimonios and narrative writing to center the voice and lived experiences as valid evidence. Forms of data include excerpts from journals, interviews, and narratives from both Latinx educators and their students.

Results and/or substantiated conclusions or warrants for arguments/point of view

Over my 23 years of teaching, I shifted my position from actively trying to stifle student voice to encouraging and empowering students to express and share their lived experiences and authentic selves through reflection, re-membering (Dillard 2008; 2011), and writing. I have come to understand that our stories– our testimonios–document valid experiences that are worthy to be shared and included as a powerful research methodology that is developed through classroom discourse. = It is in my ongoing research on the power of testimonios where I came to the realization that my own lived experiences can, should, and need to be included as a central part of research on teacher-identity and in building strong and trusting relationships with the students we teach. As such, teachers must be willing to become vulnerable by sharing their lived experiences with their classes to encourage students to do the same.

Scientific or scholarly significance of the study or work

The purpose of this study is to advocate for personal stories and lived experiences to be centered and regarded as valid evidence, data, and research. The voices of Latinx teachers and the high school students they teach in a metropolitan school must be centered through reflection, re-membering, discussion, and narrative writing to amplify voices that are still all too often silenced and oppressed.

Author

• Christine A. Feliciano-Barrett, KIPP: NYC
  Presenting Author