Asia-Pacific Journal of Research in Early Childhood Education

Article

Communal Agency and Social Development: Examples from First Grade Classrooms Serving Children of Immigrants

Author
Jennifer Keys Adair, Kiyomi S?nchez-Suzuki Colegrove
Information
pp. 69~91 / 2014 Vol.8 No.2
e-ISSN2233-5234
p-ISSN1976-1961
Metrics Views 0 / Downloads 0
PDF

Abstract

This article explores how children of Latino immigrants responded to a learning environment where theycould influence how and what they learned. Using ethnographic data from the much larger Agency andYoung Children project in the United States, this article describes how a particular six year oldclassroom serving mostly children of Latino immigrants responded in ways that not only increasedcontent knowledge in subjects such as science and literacy but also increased the amount of shared orcommunal agency in the classroom, even affecting the development of social capabilities by the childrenand teacher alike. Using a conceptual framework borrowed from development economics andparticularly the work on agency and capabilities by Sen (1999; 2003), this paper counters a strictlypsychological, individualistic version of agency and instead conceptualizes agency as a means tobuilding individual and communal capabilities.

Keywords

Agency Capabilities Immigrant Development Ethnography

References

  1. Adair, J. K. (2011). Confirming chanclas: What early childhood teacher educators can learn from immigrant preschool teachers and their critique of language “modeling” techniques. Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education 32(1), 55-71.
  2. Adair, J. K. (forthcoming). Agency as expanding capabilities: What it could mean for young children in the early grades. Harvard Educational Review.
  3. Arzubiaga, A., & Adair, J. (2009). Misrepresentations of language and culture, language and culture as proxies for marginalization: Debunking the arguments. In E. Murillo (Ed.) Handbook of Latinos and Education. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
  4. Bandura, A. (2001). Social cognitive theory: An agentic perspective. Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 1–26.
  5. Baraldi, C. (2008). Promoting self-expression in classroom interactions. Childhood, 15 (2), 239-257.
  6. Berliner, D.C. (2000). Learning about and learning from expert teachers. International Journal of Educational Research, 35(2001), 463-482.
  7. Blair, C., & Razza, R. (2007). Relating effortful control, executive function, and false belief understanding to emerging math and literacy ability in kindergarten.Child Development, 78(2), 647-663.
  8. Bodrova, E., & Leong, D. J. (2008). Developing self-regulation in kindergarten: Canwe keep all the crickets in the basket?. YC: Young Children, 63(2), 56-58.
  9. Boushey, G., & Moser, J. (2006). The daily five: Fostering literacy independence in theelementary grades. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.
  10. Corsaro, W. A. (2011). The sociology of childhood. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press.
  11. Correa-Chávez, M., & Rogoff, B. (2009). Children’s attention to interactions directed toothers: Guatemalan mayan and european american patterns. DevelopmentalPsychology, 45(3), 630-641.
  12. Crocker, D. A. (2008). Ethics of Global Development: Agency, Capability and Deliberative Democracy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  13. Crosnoe, R. (2005). Double disadvantage or signs of resilience? The elementary school contexts of children from Mexican immigrant families. American Educational Research Journal, 42(2), 269-303.
  14. Eccles. J. S, & Wigfield. A. (2002). Motivational beliefs, values, and goals. AnnualReview of Psychology, 53, 109-132.
  15. Engel, S. (2011). Children’s need to know: Curiosity in schools. Harvard Educational Review, 81(4), 625-645.
  16. Fortuny, K., Hernandez, D. J., & Chaudry, A. (2010). Young children of immigrants: Theleading edge of America’s future. Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
  17. Fuller, B. (2007). Standardized childhood: The political and cultural struggle over early education. Stanford, CA.: Stanford University Press.
  18. Gándara, P., & Contreras, F. (2009). The Latino educational crisis: The consequences offailed policies. Cambridge, MA.: Harvard University Press.
  19. Garcia, E., & Gonzales, D. (2006). PreK and Latinos: The foundation for America’sfuture. Washington D.C.: PreK Now.
  20. Hayashi, A., & Tobin, J. (2011). The Japanese preschool’s pedagogy of peripheralparticipation. Ethos, 39(2), 139-164.
  21. Hyson, M. (2008). Enthusiastic and Engaged Learners. New York: Teachers College Press.
  22. Kamii, C. (1984). Autonomy: The aim of education envisioned by Piaget. Phi Delta Kappan, 65(5), 410-415.
  23. Katz, L. G., & Chard, S. C. (1989). Engaging children’s minds: The project approach. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
  24. Katz, L. G., & Chard, S. C. (2000). Engaging children’s minds: The project approach. Stamford, CT: Ablex.
  25. Ladson-Billings, G. (2009). The dream keepers: Successful teachers of africanamerican children. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
  26. Liew, J., McTigue, E., Barrois, L., & Hughes, J. (2008). Adaptive and effortful controland academic self-efficacy beliefs on achievement: A longitudinal study of 1stthrough 3rd graders. Early Childhood Research Quaterly, 23(4), 515-526.
  27. Paradise, R., & Rogoff, B. (2009). Side by side: Learning through observing andpitching in. Ethos, 37, 102-138.
  28. Reeve, J. (2009). Why teachers adopt a controlling motivating style toward studentsand how they can became more autonomy supportive. EducationalPsychologist, 44(3), 159-175.
  29. Rogoff, B. (2003). The cultural nature of human development. NY: Oxford UniversityPress.
  30. Rogoff, B., Paradise, R., Mejía Arauz, R., Correa-Chávez, M., & Angelillo, C. (2003).Firsthand learning through intent participation. Annual Review of Psychology, 54,175-203.
  31. Sen, A. (1999). Development as Freedom. New York: Alfred Knopf.
  32. Sen, A. (2003). Development as Capability Expansion. In Readings in Human Development, S. Fukuda-Parr et al., eds. New Delhi and New York: Oxford University Press.
  33. Takanishi, R. (2004). Leveling the playing field: Supporting immigrant children from birth to eight. Future of Children, 14(2), 61-79.
  34. Tobin, J., Hsueh, Y., & Karasawa, M. (2009). Preschool in Three Cultures Revisited. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  35. Tobin, J. J., Wu, D. Y. H., & Davidson, D. H. (1989). Preschool in three cultures: Japan, China, and the United States. New Haven: Yale University Press.
  36. Tobin, J., Arzubiaga, A. E., & Adair, J. K. (2013). Children crossing borders. NY: Russell Sage Foundation.
  37. Todorova, I. G., Suárez-Orozco, C., & Suárez-Orozco, M. (2008). Changingstories: the evolving narratives of immigrant children. Cognitie, Creier,Comportament/Cognition, Brain, Behavior, 12(4), 345-367.
  38. United Nations Development Programme (1990). Human development report 1990. New York: Oxford University Press. Retrieved at http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/reports/219/hdr_1990_en_complete_nostats.pdf. [ETC]
  39. Walker. M., & Unterhalter. E. (2007). Amartya Sen’s capability approach and socialjustice in education. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
  40. Yoon, B. (2008). Uninvited guests: The influence of teachers’ roles and pedagogies on the positioning of english language learners in the regular classroom. American Educational Research Journal, 45 (2), 495-522.