Running heau: EXPERIENCES TBAT BAvE SBAPEB NY P0SITI0NALITY 1

Teaching anu the Expeiiences that have Shapeu Ny Positionality

Niguel A. Pasillas

0niveisity of Califoinia, Los Angeles

Naich 18, 2u14




















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Ny !"#$%$"&'($%) is an impoitant pait of who I am. I have my own iueas, my own
values, opinions, anu beliefs all of which make up my positionality. In examining my own
positionality, I seek to; fiist, ieflect on what aspects of my positionality aie impoitant to me
as a teachei; seconu, I will exploie what values anu beliefs I biing into the classioom anu
how that influences my peuagogy; anu finally, I will examine what aspects of my
positionality I shoulu be awaie of as I begin my caieei as a social justice euucatoi.
Wheie I giew up anu my family's histoiy is an impoitant aspect of my positionality. I
came fiom a woiking class family fiom Califoinia's cential valley, a lanu filleu with
agiicultuie anu uotteu with small towns. Ny paients immigiateu to the 0niteu States fiom
Nexico so that they can make a bettei life foi themselves. Ny mothei aiiiveu in the 198u's
anu my fathei came a few yeais eailiei, but they uiun't actually meet until the latei pait of
198u. Ny paients met in Los Angeles anu by the enu of the yeai, they weie maiiieu. Ny
fathei always woikeu small jobs to make enus meet while my mothei took caie of things at
home, anu eventually, my mothei also began woiking. uiowing up, we liveu in the "Noith
siue" of a town calleu visalia, which was to pooi siue of town. We liveu in a neighboihoou
compiiseu of mostly Latino anu Bmong families, but the suiiounuing schools ieflecteu a
slightly uiffeient set of uemogiaphics with a population of mostly white miuule-class
stuuents. Nost schools, in my opinion, tiackeu theii stuuents, paying moie attention to
those who uiu well while letting otheis slip by. With continueu suppoit fiom my
elementaiy school teacheis, I was one of the few Latino stuuents that peifoimeu faiily well
in my eaily school yeais anu went on to be placeu in honois classes uuiing miuule school.
Being a fiist geneiation Nexican-Ameiican is an impoitant pait of my iuentity anu uefineu
how otheis peiceiveu me at school. Nany of the social gioups in school weie iacially
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segiegateu. Stuuents fiom similai cultuial backgiounus usually gatheieu with peeis who
weie similai to them. Because I was involveu in extia cuiiiculai activities, I hau the
oppoitunity to get to know othei stuuents outsiue of my usual social ciicles anu this helpeu
me iealize that being uiffeient was not always a bau thing. Who I am anu wheie my family
comes fiom is an impoitant aspect of my positionality because it shapes how I see the
woilu anu it shapes how the woilu sees me, anu those uiffeiences aie what make people
unique.
Anothei impoitant aspect of my positionality that is impoitant to me as a teachei is
my euucation anu life expeiience. When I giauuateu fiom high school, many of my closest
fiienus uiu not go to college. Nany of them founu jobs oi joineu the militaiy, which
continually peipetuateu what }ean Anyon calls, a "cycle of poveity". I was also one of the
few fiom my gioup of fiienus to join the militaiy anu I think this playeu an impoitant iole
in shaping who I am touay. }oining the militaiy alloweu me to be inuepenuent, it alloweu
me to tiavel away fiom home, anu expeiience the woilu in a uiffeient way, anu it gave me a
sense of uuty that I hau not expeiienceu befoie. 0ntil now, no one hau spoken to me about
how to go to college oi othei caieei options that weie available to me so I ueciueu to go foi
it. Yeais latei I came to a iealization that I uiun't want the militaiy to be my full time caieei.
I wanteu a caieei that alloweu me to be moie cieative anu puisue my own inteiests. Aftei
being away fiom home, witnessing the tiagic event at the Woilu Tiaue Centei, anu aftei a
toui of uuty in Iiaq fiom 2uu4 to 2uuS, it was then, five yeais aftei giauuating fiom high
school at the age of 2S, that I ueciueu to ietuin to college; a uecision that has shapeu the
peison that I am touay. All thioughout high school anu in my eailiei yeais I was ueeply
involveu in music, so when I ueciueu to go to college, I knew that I wanteu to puisue my
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passion foi music. This heavily influenceu my uecision to stuuy music anu I am now piouu
to say that I am a college giauuate fiom one of the top schools in the countiy. I giauuateu
fiom the 0niveisity of Califoinia, Los Angeles with a B.A. in Ethnomusicology. Asiue fiom
my passion foi music, I also enjoy teaching. Thioughout college I woikeu as a tutoi anu
taught piivate lessons to stuuents of vaiying levels. This is how I uiscoveieu my passion foi
teaching. Aftei giauuating fiom 0CLA, a few yeais latei I applieu to 0CLA's Teachei
Euucation Piogiam anu I was accepteu to puisue a giauuate uegiee in Euucation. I've
come a long way fiom the woiking class family that liveu on the "othei siue" of the tiacks.
Ny expeiience coming fiom "el baiiio" to being a giauuate stuuent at 0CLA is an impoitant
pait of my positionality. Nany of the stuuents that I will teach will piobably come fiom
similai situations to wheie I staiteu anu I hope that my expeiience will have an influence
on those stuuents so that they may become successful in theii acauemic caieeis.
Two values that I believe aie impoitant foi teacheis to have aie ueuication anu a
love foi teaching. As a teachei you have to be ueuicateu to youi ciaft because, although it
may not be a glamoious life, it is an expeiience that is eniiching anu allows you to shaie
youi expeiiences anu knowleuge with otheis. These expeiiences aie tiuly valuable which
has given me a love foi teaching. If you uon't have a love oi a passion foi teaching, no
mattei how ueuicateu you aie, you will be miseiable because this is a uifficult caieei. These
values have influenceu my achievements anu they will continue to impact my peuagogical
piactices. Befoie ueciuing to become an elementaiy euucatoi, I always enjoyeu teaching
otheis. Foi many yeais I taught piivate anu gioup music classes, anu I woikeu as a tutoi foi
a vaiiety of subjects in college. These expeiiences have guiueu my uecision to become a
teachei, because when you woik with stuuents inuiviuually, oi in small gioups, you get the
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chance to connect with people anu you iealize that the woik you uo is veiy impoitant.
Teacheis must have a goou ielationship with theii stuuents in oiuei to cieate an
enviionment wheie leaining can take place. In hei aiticle, Baiuei (2uu2) states:
It is not enough to teach anu leain solely thiough cognitive piocessin oui minus
oi fiom books (although Fieiie often expiesseu how veiy impoitant anu
pleasuiable this was foi him). Teacheis anu stuuents also have to also immeise
themselves "mateiially" within the piactice of euucation anu the stiuggle foi a new
woilu. (p. 9S)
In the classioom, theie aie oppoitunities foi ielationship to be built between the teachei
anu the stuuents. If the ielationship between the stuuents anu the teachei is not a mutually
iespectful one, teaching anu leaining will not take place. This is why the teachei must be
veiy ueuicateu anu have a love foi teaching, because being a teachei is uifficult. Theie is
constant piessuie to show iesults to the school auministiation, paients, anu stuuents.
Baiuei (2uu2) states, ". |teacheisj will geneially expeiience anu uphill battle in meeting
theii school uistiict's stanuaiuizeu manuates" (p. 97). Without ueuication anu a love foi
teaching, the teachei will most likely fail. If you fail as a teachei then the futuie of the next
geneiation of membeis of oui society will be at iisk. As a teachei, I must always iemembei
to be ueuicateu to my stuuents anu allow my love foi teaching to always influence my
peuagogical piactices.
As I begin piepaiation foi my fiist yeai of teaching next Fall, I neeu to think about
what aspects of my positionality I shoulu be awaie of as a social justice euucatoi. Accoiuing
to Lee Anne Bell (2uu7), "The goal of social justice euucation is full anu equal paiticipation
of all gioups in a society that is mutually shapeu to meet theii neeus" (p. 1). In oiuei to
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ensuie that I accomplish my goal of making suie that all stuuents have full anu equal
paiticipation I must stiuctuie my teaching piactices aiounu cultuially ielevant peuagogy.
In some classes I have seen peuagogical piactices that uon't engage eveiy stuuent. In my
most iecent placement, my guiuing teachei always maue aujustment to the school
cuiiiculum to make the lessons moie cultuially ielevant foi the stuuents. I think this is
tiuly helpful foi the stuuents anu I hope that my next teaching placement allows me to uo a
similai thing. In his aiticle about cultuially ielevant peuagogy, Tyione Bowaiu (2u1u)
states, "Teacheis must be able to constiuct peuagogical piactices that have ielevance anu
meaning to stuuents' social anu cultuial iealities" (p. 19S). In othei woius, teacheis must
pioviue stuuents with leaining oppoitunities that aie both engaging anu cultuially ielevant
to the stuuents in oiuei to valiuate theii own cultuial expeiiences in the laigei context of
the school they attenu. By uoing so you aie explicitly valiuating that theii cultuie is
impoitant because you aie teaching aspects of it in the classioom anu you aie cieating a
safe anu inclusive leaining enviionment. Cultuially ielevant peuagogy is impoitant to me
because I think that oui cultuie is an impoitant pait of who we aie. I want to uo eveiything
I can so that my stuuents also feel that theii cultuie is impoitant anu I want my classioom
to be a place wheie stuuents aie piouu of theii cultuie, but can also make school anu
euucation pait of theii cultuial expeiiences.
Race anu cultuially ielevant peuagogy aie not the only things I neeu to keep in minu
foi my fiist yeai as a social justice euucatoi. Asiue fiom making suie that my teaching
mateiial anu lessons aie cultuially ielevant, I have to ensuie that my lessons aie accessible
by all my stuuents incluuing those who may have leaining uisabilities, IEP's (inuiviuualizeu
euucational plans), oi ELB stuuents (English Language Bevelopment). Each of these types
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of stuuent iequiies auuitional inuiviuualizeu attention that is often not pioviueu foi them.
In my cuiient stuuent teaching placement we have the guiuing teachei, two stuuent
teacheis, a teachei's aiue, anu a iotating cauie of high school volunteeis anu stuuents in my
classioom benefit gieatly fiom having all of these iesouices available to them. But, what
woulu happen if I was in a classioom wheie theie weie no stuuent teacheis, teachei's aiue,
oi high school volunteeis to assist the stuuents. In those cases the teachei woulu have to
uo theii best in managing all of theii stuuents anu woulu have to make suie that they also
gave inuiviuualizeu attention to those who neeu the auuitional help. In this case the teachei
woulu have to have excellent classioom management, so that the teachei woulu have time
to help theii stuuents who iequiie auuitional help uuiing inuiviuual woik time. This is one
of my feais foi my fiist yeai of teaching. What uo I uo if woik at a school who uoesn't have
the auuitional funuing to hiie a teachei's aiue oi have volunteeis to help in the classioom
Teaching, in my opinion, is one of the most impoitant piofessions in oui society.
Without teacheis we woulun't have uoctois, lawyeis, musicians, aitists, anu ieseaicheis. At
some point those uoctois oi lawyeis weie inspiieu by a teachei to puisue theii caieei.
Even uuiing theii caieei, those same uoctois anu lawyeis weie taught by; yes you guesseu
it, a teachei. Nuch of the piogiess that humanity has accomplisheu has been influenceu by
teacheis anu if we aie to continue to piogiess, oui next geneiation of teacheis must
continue to uo gieat woik by pioviuing socially just euucation. Without allowing a social
justice fiamewoik to influence oui peuagogical piactices, many of oui stuuents will slip
thiough the ciack anu will become a casualty of the "school to piison" pipeline, oi will
simply not have the knowleuge oi iesouices to be positive anu contiibuting membeis of
oui society.
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Refeiences
Auams, N., Bell, L. A., & uiiffin, P. (2uu7). Teaching foi uiveisity anu social justice (2nu eu.).
*+,"-,%$.'( 0"1&2'%$"&# 0"- #".$'( 31#%$., ,21.'%$"&, (pp. 1-14). New Yoik, NY, 0S:
RoutleugeTayloi & Fiancis uioup, xxi, 471 pp.
Bowaiu, T. (2u1u). Cultuially Relevant Peuagogy: Ingieuients foi Ciitical Teachei
Reflection, *+,"-) 4&%" 5-'.%$.,6 42:S, 19S-2u2, B0I: 1u.12u7s1S4Su421tip42uS_S
Baiuei, A. (2uu2). Teaching as an Act of Love: The Classioom anu Ciitical Piaxis.
In, 7,$&8,&%$&9 5'1(" :-,$-,; < 5,2'9"9) "0 ="8, (pp. 91-149). Bouluei, C0:
Westview Piess.