“I Don’t Want To Write for Them”

“I Don’t Want To Write for Them” An At-Risk Latino Youth’s Out-of-School Literacy Practices Mary Amanda Stewart, 2011 Literacy Research Association 61st Annual Conference Jacksonville, FL Mary.Stewart@unt.edu

Problem: The Disconnect • Studies show Latino youth possess many skills • Reading, writing, digital literacies • Multilingualism • Transnationalism: Adept at “border” crossings • Political knowledge and activism • Many of the skills they have acquired due to immigration are needed in society today, yet rare in mainstream populations. (Suárez-Orozco, Suárez-Orozco, & Todorova, 2008)

Problem: The Disconnect • Latinos drop out of school more than any other ethnic group. (Gándara, P. 2010) • By 2021, 1 of every 4 students in the US will be Latino, largely due to Mexican immigration. (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010) • Studies show most of their out-of-school literacy practices are misunderstood, unrecognized, or devalued in the classroom. (de la Piedra, 2010; Godina, 2004; Rubinstein-Ávila, 2007)

Research Questions • What is the range and form of the participant’s out-of-school literacy practices? • How does the participant view the relationship between his out-of-school literacy practices and in-school tasks?

Theoretical Framework • Sociocultural Theory (Lewis, Enciso, & Moje, 2007) Assumption #1: Each literacy practice is social in nature as it affects and is affected by other beings who also exist in fluid cultural spaces.

Theoretical Framework • Funds of Knowledge (Moll, 1992) Assumption #2: Students, their families, and their communities possess rich knowledge and skills that can be used in the academic environment to further learning. • There is value in understanding youth’s out-of-school literacy practices for the classroom.

Theoretical Framework • New Literacy Studies (Gee, 1990; Street, 1995) Assumption #3: Literacy is political, social, cultural and plural in nature. • Re-envision what counts as literacy • Literacy Practices- The multiple forms one uses to make and represent meaning such as dress, body, written, audio, and oral discourses

Methodology • Single-case study • Participant • 19-years-old • Self-proclaimed Chicano, 2nd-generation of Mexican origin • English-only schooling (L1: Spanish) • Transient due to migrant work in agriculture • Crime: juvy, alternative school, jail • Dropped out of high school • Lived in Mexico 1 year • Returned to another state to finish high school

Methodology • Three forms of data collected from June-November 2010 • Four semi-structured interviews • Artifacts • Poetry journal • Social networking sites • Observations of language brokering • Church • Home for recovering drug addicts

Methodology • Analyzed data using constant-comparative method • Recursively compared each incident or artifact against others to identify similarities and differences, determine its code, and redefine the properties of the individual code (Corbin & Strauss, 2008) • Code for forms of out-of-school literacy practices • Five axial codes that are the most saturated

Findings • Five most saturated codes • Poetry Writing • Language Brokering • Book Reading • Technology • Activism

Poetry Writing: “I’m an Open Poet.” • Poetry’s place: Out-of-school • “If they tell me to write a poem for a school assignment, I’ll pull one of these out just cause I don’t want to write for them.” • Framework for how he perceives all of his out-of-school literacy practices • Writes to express anger and frustration: “It’s a way to relive it [anger]. Like some people eat out of anger, some people do stupid things out of anger, I write. It’s a positive way to not get hurt or nothing.”

Pablo’s poem with teacher’s visible comments [Again, good, but this is in Narrative format. It could work better in poetic verse.]

Rewritten poem in Pablo’s poetry journal showing dismissal of teacher’s comments

Haiku in Pablo’s notebook. Cited from memory in an interview.

Language Brokering: “I’m the Translator for the World.” • Childhood experiences • Mother • School • Current situation • Spanish-speaking aunt • English-speaking uncle • “When he [my uncle] wants to speak to someone in Spanish, I’m his voice in Spanish.”

Language Brokering • Translating sermons • Live, simultaneously on AM radio station • Chosen among many bilinguals • Sophisticated vocabulary • Translating in jail • “Here in jail in [state], if there’s like a Mexican who can’t speak no English and all the officers speak English, I’ll be like he said this, this, and this. And I translate what he said to the cop.”

Book Reading: “I Just Walk around School Reading Shakespeare.” • Began reading for pleasure in juvenile detention • Reads for religious purposes: English and Spanish • Reads Shakespeare and Neruda to influence his own writing • What he got from reading Shakespeare: “The ways love was expressed. The way Shakespeare compared a summer’s day to his lover. Or maybe just a comparison of the words of love.”

Technology:“As Soon as I Get out of the Shower, I’ll Have Like Four Texts Waiting.” • Texting • Gaming • Instant Messaging • Social Networking • Lack of access out-of-school due to punishments and financial situation

Digital Spaces • MySpace Homepage i still love to cook, right poems, and play sports but the newisthobbi is band, choir, and JROTC im a JR. at [West Side] hi skool its kool so far so ohhya and im 17 so good buy and God bless u. ..

Digital Spaces • Facebook Message Board “eiikeondaweiiteacuerdasdemi?" (The traditional Spanish spelling is ¿Quéonda, huey? ¿Te acuerdas de mí? What's up, man? Do you remember me?)

Activism: “We Have a Voice.” • “Chicanos are protesting for the paisanos. We are their voice that can’t be heard.” • Silent Protests • Spring 2010: Laws in Arizona • September 16, 2010: Mexican Independence Day • Defiance toward getting in trouble • Personally affected by laws “So I want to get a rally going and help out cause my mama's still working the fields and she's 47. And that's not right.”

“I showed them [peers] what they're doing just being normal students. Then Ishowed them how me, a Mexican-American, showed them what we can do. We have a voice that needs to be heard for the voices that can't be heard. So many illegals take beatings. So many illegal women get raped cause what are they gonna do? Call the cops and they get deported when they're just trying to fend for themselves and fend for their families? Most Mexican dads cross the border, work really hard, bust their butts off so they can send money to their family so they can live.”

Summary • Out-of-School • Prolific writer, poet • Reader of diverse genres • Gifted translator • Bilingual, biliterate • User of technology • Lover of language • Activist • Transnational • In-School • English learner as child • Migrant childhood • Poverty • Struggling student • Criminal behavior • High school drop out Pablo learned to keep his out-of-school literacy practices out of school.

Recommendations for Teaching • Pre-K-12 education: Dual language bilingual education, culturally relevant curriculum • Last chance 9-12: Inquiry-based curriculum that allows the use of out-of-school literacy practices: • Read to investigate relevant topics (immigration) • Write for different audiences in English and Spanish • Technology: Social networking for publication • Activism: Research in community

The Rest of the Story • Pablo dropped out of high school again, only weeks away from having the credits he needed to graduate. • He lives in another city with a relative at a drug rehabilitation house. • He does not work or go to school.

“We have a voice that needs to be heard for the voices that can’t be heard.” - Pablo, a young poet and activist

“I Don’t Want To Write for Them”