Student Name: Jenna Martin
Friday, March 1 @ 1pm
Room: LSC 700
Pathways2Teaching: Developing Critical Consciousness in High School Students of Color
Developing critical consciousness, the awareness and action against marginalizing and oppressive forces, is a way for future teachers in the field of education to identify and actively work against the inequities reproduced through traditional schooling. The purpose of this study is to examine how secondary Latinx students enrolled in Pathways2Teaching, a grow your own teaching program, express critical consciousness development as they explore the field of education. This study seeks to build upon existing research calling for an increase in a racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse teacher workforce and analyzes how developing critical consciousness can be an effective way for individuals to conceptualize teaching as an act of social justice. Findings, seen in students’ artifacts, illuminate how Pathways2Teaching develops critical motivation, consciousness of racism and inequality, and agency and motivation for making a difference. As such, there are important implications for increasing critical consciousness in Latinx students interested in a career in teaching.