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International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education

ISSN: 0951-8398 (Print) 1366-5898 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tqse20

Storying youth lives: centering equity in teaching and teacher education

Valerie Kinloch, Tanja Burkhard & DaVonna Graham

To cite this article: Valerie Kinloch, Tanja Burkhard & DaVonna Graham (2020) Storying youth lives: centering equity in teaching and teacher education, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 33:1, 66-79, DOI: 10.1080/09518398.2019.1678779

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2019.1678779

Published online: 17 Oct 2019.

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Storying youth lives: centering equity in teaching and teacher education

Valerie Kinloch , Tanja Burkhard and DaVonna Graham

School of Education, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

ABSTRACT We argue that youth stories are fundamental to social justice, social change, and equity in education. In our focus on stories, we ask: In what ways do youth stories encourage us to better attend, or be “answerable,” to the important work of equity in teaching and teacher education, and what does this look like? To address this question, we provide an overview of research on equity in education and storying as method and practice that connect to Indigenous and humanizing research methodologies. Then, we share stories about equity from Damya and her peers–Students of Color in New York City’s Harlem com- munity. These stories speak to their resilience, which are connected to Black people’s history of perseverance in the face of institutionalized oppression, inequalities, and inequities in this country. Together, we foreground how Damya and her peers use creative practices to engage in alternative possibilities for equitable teaching and learning.

ARTICLE HISTORY Received 2 January 2019 Accepted 5 July 2019

KEYWORDS youth stories; youth storying; teaching and teacher education; equity and justice; stories as art

Schools ‘do little to nurture the souls and support the creativity of us students’ (18-year-old Damya; see Kinloch, 2010, p. 54).

In this article, we examine the valuable role of youth stories and storying and their interconnected- ness with equity and creativity in teaching and teacher education. To do so, we place primary focus on Damya, a brilliant, beautiful Black adolescent girl1 who was in Valerie’s English language arts class at Perennial High School in New York City. She was also a participant and co-investigator in one of Valerie’s teacher education research initiatives and, since that time, they have remained in touch with each other. After graduating from Perennial High, Damya matriculated to a predom- inately white institution (PWI) in the U.S. Northeast, where she majored in International Affairs. Damya’s academic trajectory and the educational choices she boldly made represent an explicit rejection of deficit narratives that were enacted onto her by some of her K-12 teachers, administra- tors, and peers. Such narratives, according to Damya, tried to ‘define my success in ways that didn’t uplift my humanity.’ She is but one of many other Black adolescents in this country whose stories – of academic struggle, perseverance, acuity, and resilience – represent conscious, critical rejections of deficit narratives that seek to undermine and minimize Black people’s cultural, intel- lectual, linguistic, and social histories. Through Damya’s stories and those of some of her peers, we (two U.S.-born Black women and a Black German woman) are able to better recognize and learn about the multiple ways they created artful opportunities to center equity in their school engagements.

CONTACT Valerie Kinloch [email protected] School of Education, University of Pittsburgh, 5609 Wesley W. Posvar Hall, 230 South Bouquet Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA � 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF QUALITATIVE STUDIES IN EDUCATION 2020, VOL. 33, NO. 1, 66–79 https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2019.1678779

Specifically, Damya’s stories reaffirm for us the importance of storying as a method and a practice that encourages people to make sense of their realities, narrate their specific ways of knowing and being, and name their past and present while (re)imagining their future selves. In this reaffirmation, we build on San Pedro and Kinloch’s (2017) argument that educational researchers should ‘willingly center the realities, desires, and stories of the people with whom we work’ as we also ‘situate their stories in relation to our stories, lives, and research projects in humanizing ways’ (p. 374S). In so doing, we come to understand the valuable role stories play, particularly in the lives of People of Color, and the significance of storying as a way to capture and share the intricacies of who we are in relation to who others are in the world.

Indeed, stories are central to human life and human experiences. Stories carry and embody our pains, joys, struggles, and triumphs. They capture and encapsulate creative practices and bring into life what poet, feminist, womanist, and civil rights activist Lorde (1985) refers to as ‘possibilities.’ In her discussion of poetry and possibilities, Lorde insists, ‘poetry is not a luxury. It is a vital necessity of our existence. It forms the quality of the light within which we predicate our hopes and dreams toward survival and change, first made into language, then into idea, then into more tangible action’ (p. 36). The possibilities that emerge from poetry, specifically, and from stories and storying, generally, signify our human capacity to ‘give name to the name- less so it can be thought’ (p. 36).

Naming the nameless

In this article, we ‘give name to the nameless’ (Lorde, 1985, p. 36) by taking a two-fold approach to understanding the valuable role of youth stories and storying. First, we argue for the import- ance of stories and storying in equity work that is grounded in care, critical listening, and inten- tional collaborations with young people. Second, we insist that storying be understood as a mode of inquiry that is creative, engaging, and humanizing. In our argument, we take inspiration from Lorde (1985), who asks us to deeply consider the ‘necessity of our existence’ as we engage in ‘survival and change’ and ‘give name to’ (p. 36). In these ways, youth stories, as with poetry and other creative, aesthetic experiences, are fundamental to the work of social justice and social change in the world, and of the role of equity in education. Our examination of youth stories and storying (e.g. storytelling, story gathering, story exchanging, story exchanges, relationships with stories) speaks to our commitment to young people and to our investment in centering equity in teaching and teacher education.

Thus, in this article, we take up the following question: In what ways do youth stories, and par- ticularly those of Damya, encourage us to better attend, or be ‘answerable’ (see Patel, 2016), to the important work of equity in teaching and teacher education, and what does this look like? With this inquiry, it is important to note that we agree with Patel’s notion of ‘answerability’ as a decolonial praxis in education that requires a shift from focusing on acquiring property to being ‘answerable for learning, knowledge, and context’ (p. 78). To be answerable means that educa- tional research and researchers must be responsive to and responsible for the work we do with (and not to, on, or in ways that harm) Black and Indigenous people. This responsiveness and responsibility must also extend into how we lovingly work with Students of Color in classrooms and how we prepare teacher education candidates to enter into schools.

To address the aforementioned question, we provide a brief overview of research on equity in education (Banks, 2004; Banks & Banks, 1995; Nieto, 2000, 2013). This overview allows us to discuss storying as method and practice in ways that connect to critical Indigenous (Brayboy, Gough, Leonard, Roehl, & Solyom, 2012; Kovach, 2009) and humanizing research methodologies (Irizarry & Brown, 2014; Paris & Winn, 2014). Then, we turn to some of the stories about equity from Damya and her peers as we contemplate implications for teaching and teacher education that attend to young people’s creative practices and enactments of justice. At the center of this

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discussion is our investment in, and care for, Damya, her peers, and the stories they share. These stories speak to their determination and resilience, which are intricately connected to, and inter- woven within, Black people’s history of perseverance in the face of institutionalized oppression, social inequalities, and educational inequities in this country. Taken together, we foreground how Damya and other Students of Color at Perennial High rely on artful, creative, and sophisti- cated practices to radically engage in alternative possibilities for teaching and learning that cen- ter equity in education.

Equity in education: a brief overview

Across the world, countless teachers, teacher educators, students, community leaders, and other education stakeholders have been engaging in research, dialogue, and action in order to pursue an equity agenda that counters neoliberalism and its impact on education. In the United States of 2019, the pursuit of equity and justice in education remains a site of struggle and contest- ation. This is particularly the case when we consider the widespread effects of domestic terrorism (e.g. at the Tree of Life Synagogue and Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church), the tensions between Communities of Color and those who police them (e.g. excessive presence of ICE in immigrant communities and the killing of unarmed Black people), and the repeal of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy. Considering that classrooms across the country are already (and will continue to become more) increasingly culturally and linguistically diverse, teacher education must critically engage these devastating realities, among so many others (e.g. the government-sanctioned separation of children and families and their incarcer- ation under perilous conditions, immigration bans based on religion and xenophobia, etc.). This is necessary if we are committed to educating a teaching force that does not contribute to the disenfranchisement, oppression, and systemic persecution of students, families, and Communities of Color.

In order to critically attend to global and structural dimensions of inequities (Levin, 2012), we have to carefully listen to, recognize, and center the stories of Students of Color, students who identify as members of LGBTQIAþ communities, poor students, students with disabilities, and those who are at the intersections of multiple forms of structural oppression. In so doing, we must rely on equitable pedagogies, practices, and policies that support and uplift students and their teachers. One way to do this is by situating our work as Projects in Humanization (Kinloch & San Pedro 2014), which is an approach to educational research that emphasizes listening and storying in our relationships with people and that centers justice and equity in education. Somerville and Gannon (2014) contend that the foundation of equity in education – equal access to quality schools, curricula, resources, and educators – is currently under attack across the world in ways that manifest themselves locally. They note, ‘the economisation that is associated with neoliberal incursions on all aspects of life has impacted directly on the school sector and mani- fests as increased privatisation and discourses of choice that privilege those who have the social, cultural, and economic capital to choose’ (p. x). The impact of this push toward neoliberal practi- ces, such as the aforementioned discourses of choice, movements toward free-market capitalism, and efforts to privatize education (Jaramillo, 2017), has contributed to further inequities within schools and inequalities in communities that have been and continue to be purposefully posi- tioned as disenfranchised and under-resourced.

Equity and justice in teacher education

Teacher education programs, according to Nieto (2000, 2013), need to play a pivotal role in pur- suing a strong equity and social justice agenda, particularly as they are responsible for training a teaching force that serves culturally and linguistically diverse students. To learn about students’

68 V. KINLOCH ET AL.

lives and realities, Nieto (2000) believes those who work in colleges and schools of education – those who are preparing future teachers and teacher educators – should do the following: ‘Take a stand on social justice and diversity; make social justice ubiquitous in teacher education; [and] promote teaching as a life-long journey of transformation’ (pp. 4–5; see also Nieto, 2013). To pro- mote equitable educational praxis in teaching and teacher education, an intentional shift away from, and an explicit rejection of, deficit beliefs about Students of Color to an agenda grounded in culturally relevant, sustainable, justice- and equity-oriented practices is needed. This approach should also include an explicit attention to teaching and learning that is creative, humanizing, loving, and joyful with and for young people.

Equity pedagogy

A shift to an equity orientation directly connects to Banks’ (2004) discussion of equity pedagogy. He contends that ‘equity pedagogy exists when teachers use techniques and methods that facili- tate the academic achievement of students from diverse racial, ethnic, and social-class groups’ (p. 5). A pedagogical approach grounded in equity takes into account the historical, sociopoliti- cal, and racial dimensions that shape the context of classrooms and the encounters teachers have with students, their families, and communities. Furthermore, as Banks and Banks (1995) assert, an equity pedagogical approach requires teachers to co-create learning spaces with stu- dents in which they can be reflexive and critical of oppressive structures that impact their lives (e.g. racism, sexism, xenophobia, state-sanctioned killings of Black and Brown people). This is but one way to enact an equity and justice agenda. Education that is grounded in equity encourages students to see themselves as (and to really know that they are) agents of change in schools and society. Banks’ (2004), and Banks and Banks’ (1995, 2015) longstanding argument for equity pedagogies is important for understanding the valuable role of youth stories and storying in classrooms. It is significant for understanding the educative promise of centering equity along- side centering youth stories in teaching, teacher education, and beyond.

Examples of this intentional centering of young people and their stories can be found in a plethora of contemporary and critical educational research by Scholars of Color (Haddix, 2016; Kinloch, Burkhard, & Penn, 2017; Paris & Alim, 2014; San Pedro, 2017; Sealey-Ruiz, 2016). Irizarry (2017), for instance, questions some of the ways teaching practices can and should be informed by the perspectives of young people. In his discussion of equity and culturally sustaining peda- gogy by Latinx youth, he insists: ‘When given an opportunity to teach, Latinx students’ approach to educating themselves and their peers offers a framework with the potential to inform cultur- ally sustaining teaching across contexts’ (p. 96). Such an approach, for Irizarry and others (Paris, 2012; Penn, Kinloch, & Burkhard, 2016) is guided by youth stories and storying that include their ‘lived experiences,’ their ‘systems of meaning-making,’ and the ways they ‘advocate for them- selves – indeed, to sustain themselves and their communities’ (Irizarry, 2017, p. 97). Thus, the sig- nificance of emphasizing the stories and storying experiences of young people within teaching and teacher education that is guided by, grounded in, and committed to equity pedagogies.

Storying as method and practice

The guiding question of this article – In what ways do youth stories, and particularly those of Damya, encourage us to better attend, or be ‘answerable’ (see Patel, 2016), to the important work of equity in teaching and teacher education, and what does this look like? – allows us to also con- template the question, ‘How do we work against inequities and inequalities in spaces occupied by People of Color?’ As we considered both questions, we utilized a particular type of literacy-rich practice of listening that represent, for Kinloch and San Pedro (2014), Projects in Humanization (PiH). Theoretically and methodologically, PiH represent a caring and loving philosophical

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approach to educational research that is guided by ‘desires for social, political and educational change that can only happen if relationships are forged in light of, and because of, human differ- ences’ (Kinloch & San Pedro, 2014, p. 28). Thus, the importance of centering Damya and Valerie’s relationship as we analyze how Damya and her peers’ stories contribute to advancing an equity agenda in and for teaching and teacher education. Frankly, this equity agenda is also necessary for how we all come to see, interact with, and care about Black students and other Students of Color across the world.

Projects in humanization and storying

Drawing on critical Indigenous (Brayboy, Gough, Leonard, Roehl, & Solyom, 2012; Kovach, 2009) and humanizing research methodologies (Irizarry & Brown, 2014; Paris & Winn, 2014), PiH, as a philosophical approach to educational research, places the realities and experiences we have with others as the central focus of human interaction and of education research and practice. This is the case because PiH offers a deliberate approach to sharing and exchanging stories in ways that allow for nonlinearity, multiplicity, and difference (e.g. various streams of conscious- ness, perspectives, voices, stories, vulnerabilities). It also lends itself to the significance of the shifting roles between researcher and participant, and the (re)positioning of researcher as lis- tener, learner, and advocate. These shifting roles are important to note because, as Freire con- tends, human beings ‘exist in and with an ever-changing world’ and are always ‘becoming more fully human’ (Freire, qtd. in Roberts, 2000, p. 41); thus, the process of humanization.

Performed through the dialogic process of listening and storying (the telling and receiving of stories), PiH does not contend with researcher neutrality. Instead, it values relationship-building between researcher and participant, between teachers and students, just as much as it values the sharing of stories and the role of critical listening. For example, as we listen to what Damya says (e.g. her stories; her ways of storying), we are able to do what Ball (2006) suggests, ‘gain insights that can be used to begin crafting a nuanced understanding’ (p. 129) of who Damya is and of her experiences in schools. In this crafting, Damya’s stories are always important. Her sto- ries always matter. They always take centerstage.

Thus, our decision to employ storying, which is an important component of PiH, as our pri- mary unit of analysis. 2 For Kinloch and San Pedro (2014), storying is a means of engaging in ‘humanizing research in ways that privilege the co-construction of knowledge, human agency and voice, diverse perspectives, moments of vulnerability, and acts of listening’ (p. 23). As we dis- cuss in this article, Damya relies on storying, as a humanizing method and practice, to share her understandings of who she is/who she is becoming. She questions educational inequity within the context of her high school English language arts class by engaging in sense-making in rela- tion to broader inequalities (e.g. sociopolitical, sociohistorical, cultural, racial) that circulate in society. This is important, especially in work that focuses on the stories of Students of Color and, in this case, Black students in particular, and that argue for the centrality of equity in teaching and teacher education. For these reasons, storying becomes a reciprocal, dialogic process of lis- tening and being listened to, of teaching and learning that allows us to analyze the stories of Damya and her peers relative to a focus on equity and humanization.

Ethnographic data collection and analysis

In our examination, we provide ethnographic data collected from Damya’s participation in a required senior-level English class, taught by Valerie 1, at Perennial High School during the 2006–2007 academic year. At the time of this study, Perennial High, a public school that employed 24 teachers and served 330 students across grades 9–12, was a Title I and an Empowerment School founded in the early 1990s by a university professor. Such descriptors (e.g.

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Title I; Empowerment) of U.S. public schools and their intended meanings often mask the import- ant, necessary, and brave intellectual conversations students are having inside classrooms. This was the case for Damya, whose writings, interview stories, and class presentations, paired with her peers’ narratives and Valerie’s observational field notes, revealed Damya’s rejection of deficit narratives that sought to undermine her academic ability. Such narratives also attempted to jus- tify the reasons why inequities were so pervasive in some educational spaces and not in others. Damya outright rejected these narratives. To do so, she willingly collaborated with her peers and Valerie to co-create a humanizing educational space and curricula that centralized students’ experiences, honored youth stories and storying processes, and interrogated youth resistances to school.

To co-create a humanizing learning space and curriculum in which students could openly examine their discontent with school, Damya, her peers, and Valerie co-designed the course’s learning goals in ways that aligned with the state standards for 12th grade English. This involved agreeing to include a variety of texts in the course, such as artwork, biographies, essays, mem- oirs, music, poetry, political and educational commentaries, and short stories. Students made decisions about the overall nature of group projects and presentations and selected topics for class debates, journal entries, and essays (for more information, see Kinloch, 2012).

Years after this co-designed classroom experience, Valerie and Damya reconnected and revis- ited some of the many lessons, stories, and themes that had emerged from their time together at Perennial High School. Tanja, a postdoctoral fellow, and DaVonna, a graduate student researcher, engaged in theoretical, methodological, and data-driven examinations of youth sto- ries and storying; they also considered ways to situate stories of youth discontent within larger conversations about (in)equity in teaching and teacher education. Collectively, we contemplated larger implications of focusing on youth stories and storying for not only teaching and teacher education (what we teach, how we teach, and for what purposes), but also for thinking and talk- ing differently about equity in education, to include addressing opportunity gaps, understanding how ‘necessary disruptions’ (see Kinloch, 2018) are needed in schooling, and fighting against racism in schools and throughout society.

To engage in this work, we used ethnographic and narrative analytic phases. An ethno- graphic phase allowed us to code observations from field notes, transcripts from interviews, teaching materials, and archival data on the school and local community. A narrative analytic phase allowed us to evaluate student writings and stories, and to highlight processes that were used in producing written and oral texts. Taken together, these two phases involved a qualitative research approach framed by critical literacy and teacher research, which allowed us to categorize specific recurring themes such as: (1) youth stories of discontent and resist- ance; (2) youth stories of collaboration; (3) youth stories as relational; and (4) youth storying as an artful methodology and practice in equity. This framing allowed us to better understand students’ desires to actively ‘take back’ their learning, as Damya described. It also revealed add- itional themes that became central to our focus on youth stories and storying in teaching and teacher education. These additional themes, which we reference throughout this art- icle, include:

� Creating humanizing, caring, and critical classrooms grounded in educational equity. � Listening to and thinking through youth stories of educational success and educational harm

in ways that impact pedagogical practices and experiences with learning. � Attending to youth stories of resistance to being named readers and writers within unjust,

uncaring educational spaces (in juxtaposition with wi