Storytelling and Mothering: A Portrait of a Homegrown, Mexican American Teacher

Abstract

At the heart of this article are the stories of a woman who identifies herself as a “homegrown,” Mexican American teacher. It is through storytelling with this teacher, Ms. Luna Martinez, that we come to understand how race, class, gender, ethnicity, and motherhood cross borders from the home to the classroom and back again. Although this article focuses on the life story of one teacher, it should be noted that her story resides within a larger research context. Ms. Luna Martinez’s story works to counter deficit, majoritarian narratives that inflict harm on Communities of Color. Moreover, her story radiates moments of survival and resilience with the potential to uplift and inspire Communities of Color. As a “homegrown” teacher who embodies a “pedagogies of the home” approach in the classroom, Ms. Luna Martinez connects with students through a familial and communal kinship.

“I Try to Read to Them in Both Languages”: Bilingual Maestras’ Enactment and Embodiment of Critical Biliteracies Through Bilanguaging Love

“…The maestras in this study dwell here, the liminal space between two countries, cultures, languages, and ways of knowing and being. In that sense, they are homegrown teachers (Reyes McGovern, 2019), who have resided in the very spaces where they now teach. Thus, the borderlands inform their lives and ways of being and knowing, adding to existing literature about how bilingual teachers understand the borderlands (Ek et al, 2013;Ek & Sánchez, 2008).…”