The Multimodal Testimonios of Fifth Graders: Co-Designing With Teachers to Integrate Experiential Knowledge

• In Event: Narrating Perspectives on Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Preparation in Bi/multilingual Contexts

Abstract

This qualitative case study examined how teachers engage in a co-designing process to integrate students’ identities, experiential knowledge and families through pedagogical innovations as multimodal testimonios within an established district-wide academic project, and how students engage with these pedagogical opportunities that center their identities, experiential knowledge and families. Drawing from a critical race theory and culturally sustaining pedagogy theoretical perspectives, findings indicate that through the reflective spaces of co-design, teachers shifted their positions to learners, untangled the academic vs. personal binary, and sought creative resources for students’ testimonios. When students centered their lives and family stories, these were portrayed as resources to their growth as learners and strengthened the interconnectedness to learning.

Authors

• Adria Padilla-Chavez, University of Colorado - Boulder

• Adriana Alvarez, University of Colorado - Denver

• Michelle Shedro, University of Colorado - Boulder

• Leah Pena Teeters, University of Colorado - Boulder