Katherine Richardson Bruna

Jesús and María in the jungle: an essay on possibility and constraint in the third-shift third space

One hundred years ago, Upton Sinclair, in The Jungle, exposed the deplorable working conditions of eastern European immigrants in the meatpacking houses of Chicago. The backdrop of this article is the new Jungle of the 21st century—the hog plants of the rural Midwest. Here I speak to the lives of the Mexican workers they employ, and, more specifically, the science-learning experiences and aspirations of third-shifters, Jesús and María. I use these students’ stories as an opportunity to examine the take-up, in education, of the concept of hybridity, and, more particularly, to interrogate what I have come to regard as the “third space fetish.” My principle argument is that Bhabha’s understanding of liberatory Third Space has been distorted, in education, through teacher-centered and power-neutral multicultural discourse. I call for a more robust approach to hybridity in science education research, guided by the lessons of possibility and constraint contained in Jesús’ and María’s third-shift third space lives.

A Comparison of Teacher-Rated Classroom Conduct, Social Skills, and Teacher–Child Relationship Quality Between Preschool English Learners and Preschool English Speakers

This study examined the differences between preschool English learners and preschool English speakers in the areas of classroom conduct, social skills, and teacher–child relationship quality, as rated by their teachers. Data were taken from the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project. Students who were English learners were rated significantly more positively on classroom conduct and teacher–child relationship quality than students who were English speakers. There were no significant effects of the language(s) spoken in the classroom on teacher-rated skills. The need for further research and implications for the social interactions of English learners are discussed.

Mexican Immigrant Transnational Social Capital and Class Transformation: Examining the Role of Peer Mediation in Insurgent Science.

In this article, I return to the interactions of Augusto and his teacher in an “English Learner Science” classroom in a demographically-transitioning US Midwest community (Richardson Bruna and Vann in Cult Stud Sci Educ 2:19–59, 2007) and further engage a class-first perspective to achieve two main conceptual objectives. First, I examine Augusto’s science education experience as a way of understanding processes Rouse (Towards a transnational perspective on migration: Race, class, ethnicity, and nationalism reconsidered. The New York Academy of Sciences, New York, 1992) refers to as “the disciplinary production of class-specific subjects” (p. 31). Coming from a subsistence farming community in rural Mexico to an industrialized meatpacking community in semi-rural Iowa, I describe how Augusto undergoes a change in his class identity (experiences a Class Transformation) that is not just reflected but, in fact, produced in his science class. Second, I examine the work Augusto does to resist these processes of disciplinary production as he reshapes his teacher’s instruction (promotes a class transformation) through specific transnational social capital he leverages as peer mediation. My overall goals in the article are to demonstrate the immediate relevance of a socio-historical, situated perspective to science teaching and learning and to outline domains of action for an insurgent, class-cognizant, science education practice informed by transnational social capital, like Augusto’s.ResumoEn este artículo, regreso a las interacciones de Augusto y su maestra en una clase de “Ciencias Para Estudiantes de Inglés Como Segundo Idioma” en una comunidad en transición demográfica del Medio Oeste de los Estados Unidos (Richardson Bruna and Vann in Cult Stud Sci Educ 2:19–59, 2007). En este artículo, uso una perspectiva que antepone el análisis de clase para lograr dos objetivos conceptuales principales. Primero, examino la experiencia de la educación científica que tiene Augusto como una manera de entender los procesos a los que Rouse (Towards a transnational perspective on migration: Race, class, ethnicity, and nationalism reconsidered. The New York Academy of Sciences, New York, 1992) se refiere como “la producción disciplinaria de sujetos de clase-específicos” (p. 31). Proveniente de una comunidad rural basada en la agricultura en México a una comunidad de empacadoras industrializadas en el Iowa semi-rural, describo la manera en que Augusto sufre un cambio en su identidad de clase (experiencia una Transformación de Clase) que no es solamente reflejada sino producida en su clase de ciencias. Segundo, examino la resistencia de Augusto hacia estos procesos de producción disciplinaria cuando transforma las enseñanzas de su maestra (que promueve una transformación de clase) mediante el capital social transnacional específico que se manifiesta como mediación entre compañeros. Como etnógrafa, mis interpretaciones están basadas en datos de varias fuentes: entrevistas con Augusto, observaciones de su clase de ciencias, y notas y fotos de mis visitas a su comunidad de origen en México. Estos datos producen una interpretación bien contextualizada, consciente de los niveles macro, meso y micro, de las experiencias de Augusto. A nivel macro, describo la situación socio-histórica, la intersección de la historia de los trabajadores inmigrantes mexicanos en el Iowa rural con la de la industria agro-alimentaria globalizada y detallo los efectos locales de esta intersección en los contextos científicos escolares. A nivel micro, describo en detalle la persona de Augusto y su experiencia transnacional, indicando los elementos específicos de su experiencia que tienen potencial de servir como capital social para la mediación entre sus compañeros. A nivel meso, describo qué ocurre cuando la situación socio-histórica (lo macro) y la persona (lo micro) se reúnen sobre la actividad de disección de puercos. A este nivel, Augusto usa lo que Rouse (1992) llama un “primer idioma” de ajuste para legitimar su papel como mediator entre sus compañeros y, por último, un “segundo idioma” de crítica para transformar la experiencia de su clase de ciencias. Este estado de “bifocalidad cultural” (Rouse 1992) en el que existen dos idiomas perspectivas contradictorias y de conflicto es típico para los que tienen identidades transnacionales. Forma parte importante del sistema eco-social de cualquier clase de ciencias en donde participen estudiantes inmigrantes y, por eso, propongo que debemos poner especial atención para servirles mejor. En fin, mis objetivos principales en este artículo son demostrar la relevancia inmediata de una perspectiva situada socio-históricamente hacía la enseñanza y el aprendizaje de la ciencia en donde resalten los dominios de acción de una práctica educativa de ciencias insurgente y consciente de clase y cuya práctica sea informada por el capital social como el de Augusto.

Finding new words: how I use critical literacy in my multicultural teacher education classroom

We must find new words or new combinations of and meanings for old words that more accurately reflect our reality. When we don’t—when we resign ourselves to the old words that apportion us less worth than we deserve because it’s less awkward and just plain easier—we are validating a description of ourselves that we know to be false. This danger is like that of looking into a funhouse mirror without challenging the falsehood of the contorted stranger staring back at you. Eventually, you’re going to believe what you see is you, and that twisted version of yourself becomes the only truth you know. (Howitz, 1998, p. 230)

Acquisition of Mathematical Language: Suggestions and Activities for English Language Learners

In this article, we describe aspects of mathematical language that could be problematic to English-language learners, provide recommendations for teaching English-language learners, and suggest activities intended to foster language development in mathematics.

Glocalizing Artifact, Agency and Activity An Argument for the Practical Relevance of Economic Injustice and Transformation in the Science Education of Mexican Newcomers

Hear me? Here, me! As a multicultural teacher educator and scholar who does engaged ethnographic work with Mexican newcomer students and families, these lines of Martinez’ poem speak deeply to me. They invite me to understand anew that issues of representation, of having one’s voice heard (Hear me?), are intricately linked to issues of recognition, of being seen, not as how others would perceive one to be, but as one is. To close the gap between perception and reality, Martinez calls for a coming-closer that leads to the discovery of the real self (Here, me!). This movement from an abstracted, distant, way-of-knowing, which Martinez interrogates with his use of a question mark, towards one which is more concretized and immediate, is, as Martinez signals with his use of the exclamation point, imperative. Trying to re-present the roles and resources of Mexican newcomers so that science educators and researchers can re-cognize who these learners are and what they bring to the classroom constitutes the heart of my work. This work has involved acercandome/bringing myself closer to these students, their families, and communities, both in the US and Mexico. Whereas I would never claim to be getting to the reality or the what-is of Mexican (im)migrant experience and subjectivity, my work is responding to the invitation-to-learn that this population’s increasing presence in U.S. schools not only extends but demands.

Illuminated by the Shadow: U.S.-Mexico Schooling and Pedagogies of Place

Martı́n has taken a picture of the door of his new classroom in Gardston, Iowa.1 Verónica, his sister, has chosen instead to photograph the small area of carpet on which her new teacher’s desk sits. Viridiana has captured a row of lockers not unlike the hundreds of others which line the hallways of her new school. These students, along with 10 other recent arrivals from rural México, have been asked to document images in the school setting that represent a border to them,2 and these are the images they have chosen. Their explanations of the images underscore an understanding of a border as a place of prohibition. About his picture of the classroom door, Martı́n writes that this door is a border because it keeps him from leaving class to drink water or do other things (see Figure 1). About her photo of the teacher’s carpet, Verónica writes that the carpet marks the teacher’s

Observing the Cultural Dialogue of English Learner Literacy: A Standpoint Perspective on an Educational Evaluation

This position paper observes the impact of Proposition 227, Californias “English for the Children” initiative, on the professional development of teachers of English Learners. It draws on information I obtained while working as an evaluator of the California Teacher Institutes (CTIs), a network of institutes aimed to enhance teacher effectiveness in working with linguistically-diverse students. I use the lens of educational anthropology, specifically the idea of cultural dialogue, to frame my interest in the ideological construction of literacy and the production of teacher knowledge in these institutes. I leverage the attention given to academic language in the CTIs as an example of the ideology attendant to literacy discourse in post-227 California, arguing that the seemingly non-controversial themes of needs, access, and language served to normalize the states assimilationist approach to language policy, planning, and teacher preparation. My hope is that making visible the hidden curriculum of this p...This position paper observes the impact of Proposition 227, Californias “English for the Children” initiative, on the professional development of teachers of English Learners. It draws on information I obtained while working as an evaluator of the California Teacher Institutes (CTIs), a network of institutes aimed to enhance teacher effectiveness in working with linguistically-diverse students. I use the lens of educational anthropology, specifically the idea of cultural dialogue, to frame my interest in the ideological construction of literacy and the production of teacher knowledge in these institutes. I leverage the attention given to academic language in the CTIs as an example of the ideology attendant to literacy discourse in post-227 California, arguing that the seemingly non-controversial themes of needs, access, and language served to normalize the states assimilationist approach to language policy, planning, and teacher preparation. My hope is that making visible the hidden curriculum of this professional development effort in California will encourage teachers and teacher educators to examine institutionalized literacy beliefs and practices at their own sites and to become teacher thinkers and challengers who actively encounter, question, and reconstruct the cultural dialogue of English Learner literacy.

The Movimiento Al Éxito summer pop-up program: The role of testimonio in moving new diasporic Latina/o youth through Iowa history to critical consciousness

ABSTRACT Al Éxito supports the leadership development, post-secondary education, and civic engagement of Iowa Latina/o1 youth. In the summer of 2015, it piloted Movimiento Al Éxito, a “pop up” summer program. In this article, we detail the innovative components and curriculum and describe our journey with “new diasporic” Latina/o youth learning about their place in Iowa and developing testimonios which challenge existing narratives. We explain how emergent critical consciousness led to the program’s continuation and expansion the following school year.

A Struggle for the Soul: Reversing the Odd Alchemy of Science Schooling

ABSTRACT Neoliberal approaches to science education are premised on the illusion of a cosmopolitan “well-ordered whole.” This is sustained through value assigned to propositional knowledge, which produces what it means to know, learn, and live and whose knowledge matters. Juxtaposing the purportedly inclusive institutional language in the Next Generation Science Standards of “science for all citizens” with field stories reflecting the transnational reality of the U.S. Mexican population for whom the terms of legal- and rights-based citizenship may not apply, this article argues the need to replace the idea of a well-ordered cosmos with a focus on performative knowledge and possibility.ABSTRACTNeoliberal approaches to science education are premised on the illusion of a cosmopolitan “well-ordered whole.” This is sustained through value assigned to propositional knowledge, which produces what it means to know, learn, and live and whose knowledge matters. Juxtaposing the purportedly inclusive institutional language in the Next Generation Science Standards of “science for all citizens” with field stories reflecting the transnational reality of the U.S. Mexican population for whom the terms of legal- and rights-based citizenship may not apply, this article argues the need to replace the idea of a well-ordered cosmos with a focus on performative knowledge and possibility.