“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 61.

I Dont Want To Write for Them An At-Risk Latino Youths Out-of- School Literacy Practices Mary Amanda Stewart, 2011 Literacy Research Association 61 st Annual Conference Jacksonville, FL [email protected]

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. (Surez- Orozco, Surez-Orozco, & Todorova, 2008)

Problem: The Disconnect Latinos drop out of school more than any other ethnic group. ( Gndara, 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-vila, 2007)

Research Questions 1. What is the range and form of the participants out-of- school literacy practices? 2. 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 youths 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, 2 nd -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: Im an Open Poet. Poetrys place: Out-of-school If they tell me to write a poem for a school assignment, Ill pull one of these out just cause I dont want to write for them. Framework for how he perceives all of his out-of-school literacy practices Writes to express anger and frustration: Its a way to relive it [anger]. Like some people eat out of anger, some people do stupid things out of anger, I write. Its a positive way to not get hurt or nothing.

Pablos poem with teachers visible comments [Again, good, but this is in Narrative format. It could work better in poetic verse.]

Rewritten poem in Pablos poetry journal showing dismissal of teachers comments

Haiku in Pablos notebook. Cited from memory in an interview.

Language Brokering: Im 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, Im 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 theres like a Mexican who cant speak no English and all the officers speak English, Ill 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 summers day to his lover. Or maybe just a comparison of the words of love.

Technology: As Soon as I Get out of the Shower, Ill 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 newist hobbi is band, choir, and JROTC im a JR. at [West Side] hi skool its kool so far so ohh ya and im 17 so good buy and God bless u...

“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 61.

Documents

literacy literacy practices

high school slide

saturated slide

alternative school

school tasks

literacy research association

skills reading

forms of data