Latino Literature Mediating Teacher Learning

Abstract

This interpretive study draws on data from a larger inquiry into teacher learning in a graduate-level course on Latino literature at a large southwestern university. The article focuses on a small diverse group of educators taking part in a literature discussion of the novel Before We Were Free by J. Alvarez (2002). Using a sociocultural perspective of learning, the authors examine the mediation of Latino literature in teacher learning. The article discusses the mediation of the text, which positioned the participants as insiders or outsiders, as well as the role of the participants' diverse backgrounds and experiences.

Keywords:

• Latino literature
• teacher learning
• mediation
• literature discussions
• reader response
• sociocultural theories

Notes

¹From My Name Is Jorge: On Both Sides of the River by Jane Medina. Copyright © 1999 by Jane Medina. Published by Wordsong, an imprint of Boyds Mills Press. Used by permission.

²The use of Latino aims to be inclusive of Latinos and Latinas.

³These are annual and biannual awards given in recognition of literature for children and young adults that authentically and engagingly portrays Latinos in the United States.

⁴Throughout the article we refer to the participants as educators or teachers, with the understanding that they were all in the field of education although not all were employed in full-time teaching positions at the time of the study.

⁵We are using students' self-assigned ethnic categories. In this article, we differentiate between the small groups through the use of immigrant and U.S.-born.