Conceptos básicos sobre el rendimiento académico

Each teacher in this study was unique and worked within a particular context. Etta, Beverly, and Tate illustrated that the implementation of social justice was a nuanced embodiment of an ideal that manifested as a series of complicated actions. These actions were context and population dependent. While their stories were distinctive and I presented each individually, I also analyzed across cases to construct common themes. Stake (2006) writes, “It would be a mistake if a multicase researcher fails to disclose whatever generalizations appear evident from the data, in a tentative way” (4.4 Gener). He is thus cautious, however, and includes a warning about these generalizations, which ultimately should be left up to the reader because the

researcher “should enrich the reader’s experiential knowing with as much of the action and context of the cases as possible”. (Stake, 2006, 4.4 Gener). Thus, I provide extensive detail for each participant and her context so as to help in this construction process. Nevertheless, while I “abstain from formal projections to cases that are not examined,” I here offer those evident and broad themes that were outstanding to the three cases in this study taken collectively. (Stake, 2006, 4.4 Generalizations)

What arose in this portion of analysis were three clear patterns, three aspects that were either key parts of or significantly affected the teachers’ overall practice. These were the

centrality of biography in teachers’ perspectives on social justice, issues surrounding

collaboration, and the struggle for practices that promoted social change. Stake (2006) writes, “The assertions in a cross-case report are the researcher’s findings about the quintain” (3.1 Rationale) Since social justice in English classrooms is the quintain in this study, I share the most relevant related items, which I determined from the coded material. And although there were variations within these patterns, I present them here as a way to begin to discern the most exceptional issues in this work and to begin to think about what this means for teacher education. I will thus examine each of those three shared themes here, and then I consider what this means as a whole.

The Importance of Biography to Teachers’ Practices: Limitations and Usefulness of Educator’s Backgrounds in Teaching for Social Justice

It is not surprising that each teacher strongly attributed her social justice stance to her biography. Hinchey (2004) writes, “We act based on what we believe, and what we believe depends in large part upon evidence drawn from our life experiences” (p. 23). Thus, previous experience and socialization are strong forces that largely construct how we see the world and how make sense of it (Bowers, 1984). Harro (2010) labels the “cycle of socialization” in which our “socialization begins before we are born, with no choice on our part” (p. 46) and continues throughout our lives with the influence of families, institutions, and culture which inundates us with messages about our identities and how we should act in relation to others. Relating this to education, Gay (2010) tells us, “Even without our being consciously aware of it, culture

Teacher Biography as Limiting Social Justice Dispositions

Much of the scholarship on how biography affects teachers actually concentrates on the degree to which experience limited social justice stances in education, particularly in reference to the majority of the white, middle class female population of teachers (Applebaum, 2008;

Cochran-Smith, 1995; Ladson-Billings, 1999; Sleeter, 2001). This significant body of work focuses on the fact that many white students do not recognize that they have a cultural identity that influences their perspectives (Nieto, 2000) and highlights how teachers will likely work with students who are different from themselves (Gay, 2010; Ladson-Billings, 1999). The results of this work include an emphasis on autobiography and critical reflection as essential components to social justice education (Causey, Thomas, Armento, 1999; Cochran-Smith 1995; Gay, 2010; Grant, 1991; Zeichner, 1992) so that preservice teachers recognize their own socialization and how it impacts what they would do in their future profession. These recommendations are issued in an effort to deconstruct any stereotypes or fears that candidates might have possessed, since as Gay (2010) writes, “it is inconceivable . . . that teachers who have negative beliefs about

ethnically diverse students and their cultural heritages as valid and viable educational resources can relate to them positively in personal and instructional interactions” (p. 150). Before many white preservice teachers can teach, then, they must recognize the beliefs they possess and the origin of those, as well as begin to see how they can mediate them in a classroom context. Teacher Biography as an Impetus to Social Justice Literacies

The teachers in my study, however, all professed that they were cognizant of their backgrounds and were able to articulate an awareness of their cultural identity and its influence on their lives. Despite the fact that two participants identified as white, they did not wholly reflect the literature on white teachers. They referenced both critical events in their lives that

helped them build empathy for students and their teacher education programs for prompting their skills for critique in explaining this phenomenon. I now turn to the different types of experiences the teachers’ discussed in an attempt tease apart the various ways that individuals become

disposed to work for social justice.

Personal characteristics and experiences as impetuses to social justice literacies. One participant, Tate, said that she recognized race quickly when she was the only white girl on her middle school basketball team. She voiced that this experience forced her to see her own position in relation to others and that it translated into her teaching by helping her to think about her students and their backgrounds. Etta’s youth as a mixed race female in a conservative, small town showed her what it was like to experience marginalization. Beverly’s experiences of having friendships in her childhood with people of races different from her own, as well as working as a youth with disadvantaged populations, helped cultivate her disposition for social justice.

Although there is a prominent focus in the literature on the challenges of overcoming teachers’ backgrounds, there are some exceptions that relate to the three teachers in this study. This work brings teachers’ biographies to the forefront as assets. In Narratives of Social Justice Teaching: How English Teachers Negotiate Theory and Practice Between Preservice and Inservice Spaces, Kirkland and Filipiak (2008) offer their own stories of why they chose

teaching as a way to illustrate how closely social justice education is tied to personal goals. For instance, Kirkland (2008) shares, “becoming a teacher was about changing my world or at least the world of others who existed in conditions similar to the ones in which I was raised” (p. 47).

she described how, as a lesbian she felt herself part of a minority group and as such felt she had a sense of understanding for her mostly Black students. She then said, “I want to help, and I want to, you know like I want to empathize and I don’t know, I just want to feel like they, I want to help them feel like they’re not alone. And that somebody understands them.” Tate’s use of a derivation of the actual word “empathy” here thus further supports the notion.

Expounding upon the idea of teacher’s identification with students, Kirkland (2008) writes that common amongst autobiographical narratives of social justice educators are “themes of passion and pain” (p. 61). He explains:

Pain defines social injustice, as passion may define a reaction against it. Without a clear understanding of what is unjust, however, one cannot truly define what is just. Hence, if social injustice is associated with pain, then social justice—in opposing it—must deal with the passion in healing both as an act and as a process. One aspect of social justice teaching must then be an act of healing, internally and externally, the pain that each of us uniquely and collectively witnesses and experiences. Social justice teaching seems to acknowledge a responsibility to others. (Kirkland, 2008, p. 61)

I found these notions of passion and pain to be true for all three teachers in this study. Etta was forthcoming about the pain she experienced being discriminated against by her peers for her Iranian heritage in a post-911 era. Out of place and under constant scrutiny, the transition to middle school was difficult and establishing bonds with her peers was a challenge. When she spoke, her passion was palpable for helping students not to “feel crazy” (for recognizing

injustices in the world) as she did as a youth. Beverly shared the pain she experienced when her African American friend was not allowed to attend her birthday party and how deeply this affected her at a young age, and her passion for fostering respect amongst her students was a chief focus in her teaching. Finally, although Tate was less open in her interviews about personal events, her references to being raised as a Jehovah’s Witness and the implication that

her sexual orientation led to a break with claiming all religious affiliation suggested she had experienced her own pain related to issues of social justice. The passion that she exhibited in wanting students to feel as though their culture was acknowledged in the classroom and that they could be successful was evident in the constant discussions she had with them about those topics. Thus, the theme of passion and pain as a trope in social justice teachers’ biographies aligns with what I documented. Their personal characteristics and experiences were central to their being oriented toward social justice.

Educational experiences as impetus to social justice literacies. In addition to personal experiences related to teachers’ characteristics and specific events in their lives, the teachers in the study also referenced their educational backgrounds in explanations of their social justice related outlooks. These especially included both influential teachers from their P-12 schooling as well as events and figures from their teacher education programs.

Scholars have documented how preservice and in-service teachers often evoke past schooling experiences to inform their own practice. In The Dreamkeepers: Succcessful Teachers of African American Children (1994), Gloria Ladson-Billings presented eight successful teachers of African American students and, through vignettes, shared their personal experiences and backgrounds. Many of the teachers in her study, like Etta in this study, had close ties to the community and to their former teachers. One of the participants saw the profession of teaching, as did Beverly, as an “ethical way for people to give back to the community” (p. 39). Many of Ladson-Billings’ (1994) participants drew on teachers from their backgrounds that had been instrumental when explaining why they chose their careers. Etta pulled similarly from her