“I Understand the Struggle”: Leveraging the Lived Experiences of African American Teachers in TESOL

Siefert, Bobbi; Salas, Spencer; D’Amico, Mark M.

doi:10.1002/tesj.188

Cited by 11 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 25 publications

(17 reference statements)

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“…Thiers (2019) highlighted a white teacher who wanted to give back to her community because she "'was treated differently and given extra advantages'" (p. 12). Another example is seen in Siefert et al (2015) describing an African-American teacher who grew up in poverty and said she had "a heads up with some of the ESL children and other minorities" (p. 739). This teacher felt she was able to relate with ELs as she had shared common life experiences with them.…”

Section: Teachers' Backgrounds and Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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English Learner Teacher Advocates: A Systematic Literature Review

Norman¹,

Eslami²

2022

TESL-EJ

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In this systematic literature review, we synthesize and critically analyze information from publications between 2010 and 2020 that answer the following overarching research question: What does being (or not being) advocates for English learner (EL) students look like for EL teachers? Findings indicate that EL teachers’ backgrounds and characteristics, such as gender, race, intercultural experience, and experience teaching, affect their propensity to advocate and the types of advocacy in which they engage. Additionally, we examine ways teachers advocate for their students inside and outside the classroom/school, such as changing how they instruct their EL students, and speaking up for them at district or states’ departments of education meetings. We also explore and describe conditions that support (supportive administration, prioritizing ELs in the master school calendar, collaboration with general education teachers, for example) and hinder (unsupportive administration, marginalization of ELs and EL teachers, lack of collaboration with general education teachers, for instance) advocacy for ELs by EL teachers. Recommendations for pre- and in-service teacher education programs are offered, and potential areas for future research are also discussed.

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Section: Teachers' Backgrounds and Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Content area teachers may feel frustration because their ELs are pulled out of class for EL services (Siefert et al, 2015). This leads to a feeling of marginalization among EL teachers when their work is seen as an interruption to their students' education.…”

Section: What It Takes To Advocatementioning

confidence: 99%

English Learner Teacher Advocates: A Systematic Literature Review

Norman¹,

Eslami²

2022

TESL-EJ

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“…Our interviews with Fitzgerald were part of a larger "humanizing" project (San Pedro & Kinloch, 2017) aimed at examining the lived experiences of Black and Brown in New Latino South contexts (see e.g., Benson et al, 2020;Salas, 2008Salas, , 2013aSalas, , 2013bSalas, Smith, Seifert, & Francis, 2019;Siefert, Salas, & D'amico, 2015). Black teachers' lives matter, and so too do the stories they tell and the meaning they assign to their narratives.…”

Section: The Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

“You Teach What?” Black Males, New Latino South Classrooms, and Wanderlust

2021

Self Cite

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An abundant and longstanding body of scholarship has underscored the White femininity of the U.S. K-12 teaching workforce and the need to diversify its ranks. Black males, in particular, potentially struggle with the notion of becoming teachers given their often highly negative lived experiences with schools and schooling including low expectations, racial stereotypes, microagressions, and disproportionate discipline and punishment. For those Black males who do enter teaching, they are often recruited as role models or "Otherfathers" to Black boys -expected to police first and teach second. However, relatively little has been said about Black males' choices to work with transnational children of immigration -especially in the context of the New Latino South. Theorizing an in-depth qualitative interview series through a Vygotskian framework of lived experiences/vivencias, in this article we narrate how Roman Fitzgerald (a pseudonym) came to be an ESOL Department Chair in the same mega-urban school district he had attended. Our findings point to socially constructed limitations that Black males face as they navigate graduate level teacher licensure programs and the profession -and their consequences for Black male teacher recruitment and retention in urban school contexts."You teach what? Okay, you're sure?" -it was my principal. He did not want me to be a TESOL teacher. He was trying to get me to teach Algebra 1; he was trying to get me to teach Calculus; he was trying to do something Math. He was like-"TESOL? Okay, do you want to teach math?" I was like, "No. You want me to teach all African American kids?" -That's how they want to frame you.In fall 2016, Roman Fitzgerald (a pseudonym), the protagonist of this analytic narrative and a Black, male, Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) educator, described his principal's initial reaction to his professional identity. With his Graduate Certificate in TESOL in hand and a year of substitute teaching in various schools across his childhood K-12 district, Fitzgerald was tapped for an interview with the system's largest K-8 STEM magnet. The principal, also a Black male and native to the city, questioned, with palpable incredulity if Fitzgerald really wanted to teach what his license CONTACT Spencer Salas

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“…To add on, Choudhury (2014), Jabeen & Shah, Sayed (2011), Mahmoud (2015), Mejía (2016), Shin, Eslami, & Chen (2011) and Siefert, Salas, & Amico (2015) have assesrted a very interesting opinion that is language is socially constructed and shared meaning system. The language meaning might not be found in the language itself or its users but on its community who has used it.…”

Section: Target Culture As a Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Repositioning Culture in Teaching Target Language: Local Culture or Target Culture?

Darong¹,

Menggo²

2021

PJEE

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The role of culture in teaching target language is undeniable. This article belongs to a literature review. As such, it deals with the reviews of culture integration in English Language Teaching. The article provides the conflicting findings of teaching target language with local culture or target culture along with the reasonable reasons for each. The writers adopt the systematic way of doing literature review consisting of four steps namely designing the review, conducting the review, analyzing, and writing the review. Drawing from the review of the progress reports in the field, the writer recommends an intermediary for prospective English Language Teaching accommodating both local and target culture in question. Recommendations for future research studies are highlighted at the end.

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“I Understand the Struggle”: Leveraging the Lived Experiences of African American Teachers in TESOL

Cited by 11 publications

References 25 publications

English Learner Teacher Advocates: A Systematic Literature Review

English Learner Teacher Advocates: A Systematic Literature Review

“You Teach What?” Black Males, New Latino South Classrooms, and Wanderlust

Repositioning Culture in Teaching Target Language: Local Culture or Target Culture?

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