Abstract
This work explores the professional, personal, and identity development of Latina first year teachers. Specifically, this work documents a year-long study with six Latina first year elementary teachers (students ranging from ages 5-14) through monthly zoom gatherings. Their development as teachers, as activists and as Latinas were documented through testimonio, which is a form of sharing one’s lived experiences, all the while maintaining the explicit goal of highlighting the voice and agency of people toward building communal struggle for justice. This work makes a case for how the zoom monthly chats became spaces of convivencia (communalism, coming together) that allowed teachers to engage, reflect, learn, and support each other in a way that is deeply centered within a Latina womanist epistemology. Communal spaces are important because they combine community and informal learning toward teacher development but also support Latina teachers to deepen their refusal of the structures of colonization reinforced every day in institutions and in the broader society. The need to come together and collectively share experiences while establishing convivencia is strongly needed for Latinas in the teaching profession. These communal spaces and sharing of testimonios are rare in institutions and therefore this group can be viewed as one example of how to create such urgent spaces as well as how to protect and sustain them. Thus, this work aims to serve as a guide to Latinas and other people of color in creating communal spaces focused on professional, personal, and identity development in their own institutions and communities.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Adult, Community, and Professional Learning
KEYWORDS
Professional and Personal Development for Teachers; Lifelong Learners; Communal Learning
