TEACHING FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES FOR IMPROVING THE ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF AFRICAN AMERICAN AND LATINO STUDENTS by Hannah Chin Pratt A Project Submitted to the Faculty of The Evergreen State College In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree Master in Teaching 2007 ii This Project for the Master in Teaching Degree By Hannah Chin Pratt has been approved for The Evergreen State College by Dr Scott Coleman Member of the Faculty iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank Dr Scott Coleman for being an inspirational teacher and mentor I felt lucky to have his support as faculty reader in this project Thank you to Dr Sonja Wiedenhaupt for patiently listening to my zillion questions and showing me that I had the resources in myself to complete the project I would also like to thank Dr Sherry Walton for her invaluable support early in the process as she helped me to identify relevant research and told me to start writing I give thanks to my friends in the MIT 2007 cohort for their support laughter hysteria big booty games whiskey phone calls dance breaks and music jams Thanks for your encouragement vision and friendship I also give my gratitude to my brother Weston for cooking so many meals doing all the dishes convincing me to go out dancing when I needed it and coaxing me to keep on writing Thank you to my loved ones in San Marcos La Laguna Guatemala for your dignity your grace your smiles your language your friendship your tortillas Thank you for teaching me for accepting me for fueling the fire inside me to work for social justice and for putting my life in the context of a larger world picture Finally thank you to teachers and students everywhere who are struggling to change the status quo Qu viva la revoluci n iv ABSTRACT This paper examines the contextual situation of students of color within the public education system and identifies effective strategies for teaching for social justice in a diverse secondary foreign language classroom An investigation into the history of the educational experiences for African American and Mexican American students reveals educational racism and deculturalization for these students In addition historical background on educational movements for social change foreshadows some of the results from the research literature A critical review of the literature shows that caring for the whole student student centered pedagogy fostering school home connections developing cultural sensitivity and valuing biculturalism and utilizing cooperative learning are effective strategies for helping students of color empower themselves to be agents of change in pursuit of social justice Suggestions for future research and a discussion of classroom implications are provided to answer the question of effective strategies for teaching for social justice in a diverse foreign language classroom v TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE PAGE i APPROVAL ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii ABSTRACT iv PREFACE vii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale 1 Purpose of Paper 17 Definitions 17 Limitations 18 Summary 19 CHAPTER 2 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 20 The African American Experience of Education 20 The Mexican American Experience of Education 31 Foreign Language Instruction 40 Teaching for Social Change 44 Summary 59 CHAPTER 3 CRITICAL REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE 60 Opportunity Gap 60 Culture Teaching and Learning 66 Interventions Strategies for Social Change 78 vi Teaching and Learning Strategies 93 Summary 147 CHAPTER 4 CONCLUSION 149 Summary of Findings 149 Classroom Implications 157 Implications for Future Research 162 REFERENCES 164 vii PREFACE The Negro is a sort of seventh son born with a veil and gifted with second sight in this American world a world which yields him no true self consciousness but only lets him see himself through the revelation of the other world It is a peculiar sensation this double consciousness this sense of always looking at one s self through the eyes of others of measuring one s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity One ever feels this two ness an American a Negro two souls two thoughts two unreconciled strivings two warring ideals in one dark body whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder W E B Du Bois 1953 p 3 1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION This chapter outlines the current public education situation in regards to students of color and equality of opportunity and provides the rationale for the investigation of the question what are effective strategies for teaching for social justice in a diverse foreign language classroom It discusses the importance of the question to the author the professional educational community students and society as a whole Finally this chapter addresses the operational definitions used in the paper as well as limitations on the scope of the paper Rationale Need for Social Justice in Society In American society today there is a huge disparity between the rich and the poor and the gap is increasing People of color are over represented among the poor for their percentage of the population as compared to white people In 1993 only 18 6 of White people lived below the poverty line compared to 29 5 of African Americans 25 1 of Asian Americans and 28 7 of Hispanics Spring 2006 p 74 Sixty three percent of Latino children live in low income families low income is defined as beneath twice the federal poverty level as compared with 61 of African American children 30 of Asian American children and 27 of white children National Center for Children in Poverty NCCP 2006 In 1990 23 000 African American men graduated from college while 2 3 million African American men and youth passed through the corrections system Hayden 1996 In 2004 African Americans were two times more likely than Hispanics and five times more likely than whites to be in jail United States Department of Justice USDOJ 2004 2 Equality of Opportunity in Education In theory the public education system works to ensure that all students receive an equal chance to succeed in life because they have an equal opportunity at education and education is the key to economic stability and upward mobility Spring 2006 defined equality of opportunity as occurring when all members of a society are given equal chances to enter any occupation or social class Ideally it means all members of a society will occupy their positions because of merit not because of family wealth heredity or cultural advantages The idea of equality of opportunity in