Teaching con Cariño: Teacher Agency and Teacher-Student Relationships in a Dual Language Classroom

ABSTRACT

This autoethnography explored how two third-grade dual language teacher partners (English/Spanish) managed challenges such as lack of leadership support, testing pressures, and English hegemony, to help their students grow personally and academically. Autoethnography was chosen as a method because it enables researchers to write evocatively through vivid images and powerful emotions, thus presenting a rich description of the world and its actors. Data collected in the study included reflections on memories, artifacts (pictures), and interviews. The author used a narrative and recursive process in which data generation and analysis occurred simultaneously throughout the writing process. The most salient and illustrative field notebook entries were selected to include in the final manuscript. Findings showed that teachers’ cariño practices allowed them to exercise agency and to build strong teacher-student relationships. Cariño practices counteracted test-centric pressures, creating a safe learning environment that improved students’ behavior and academic achievement. Safe classroom environments can be created through cariño practices, teacher agency, and positive teacher-student relationships. Trust and positive teacher-teacher relationships were also important contributors to student achievement. Finally, it was found that teacher agency not only impacted students’ academic and behavioral growth but also improved teachers’ abilities to deal with pressures and stress.

KEYWORDS:

• Teacher agency
• teacher-student relationships

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank my advisor for her helpful and encouraging feedback.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ pseudonym.

² In the state the school was located, demographic data referred to Latinx students as Hispanics.