The Vulnerable Teacher: Working Towards Critical Consciousness in a Second Grade Bilingual Classroom

Abstract

Telling your students that you are divorced and your two sons no longer live with their father is not the typical kind of conversation you would expect in a classroom, but in my second-grade Spanish–English bilingual classroom, it was the norm. I had decided to implement literature discussion around Latinx children’s literature. I found that in order for my students and I to develop a relationship built on trust and respect, I had to be vulnerable and willing to share some personal narratives. In the following article, I share how I, the teacher, was vulnerable with my students during our literature discussions around Latinx children’s literature in order to have conversations about critical topics, such as, immigration, bilingualism, and family. My ultimate goal was for my students to develop critical consciousness.