In one of the most rapidly growing areas of literary study, this volume provides the first comprehensive guide to teaching Latino/a literature in all variety of learning environments. Essays by internationally renowned scholars offer an array of approaches and methods to the teaching of the novel, short story, plays, poetry, autobiography, testimonial, comic book, children and young adult literature, film, performance art, and multi-media digital texts, among others. The essays provide conceptual vocabularies and tools to help teachers design courses that pay attention to: Issues of form across a range of storytelling media Issues of content such as theme and character Issues of historical periods, linguistic communities, and regions Issues of institutional classroom settings The volume innovatively adds to and complicates the broader humanities curriculum by offering new possibilities for pedagogical practice.
In one of the most rapidly growing areas of literary study, this volume provides the first comprehensive guide to teaching Latino/a literature in all variety of learning environments. Essays by internationally renowned scholars offer an array of approaches and methods to the teaching of the novel, short story, plays, poetry, autobiography, testimonial, comic book, children and young adult literature, film, performance art, and multi-media digital texts, among others. The essays provide conceptual vocabularies and tools to help teachers design courses that pay attention to: Issues of form across a range of storytelling media Issues of content such as theme and character Issues of historical periods, linguistic communities, and regions Issues of institutional classroom settings The volume innovatively adds to and complicates the broader humanities curriculum by offering new possibilities for pedagogical practice.
In the past ten years, literature by U.S. Latinos has gained an extraordinary public currency and has engendered a great deal of interest among educators. Because of the increase in numbers of Latinos in their classrooms, teachers have recognized the benefits of including works by such important writers as Sandra Cisneros, Julia Alvarez, and Rudolfo Anaya in the curriculum. Without a guide, introducing courses on U.S. Latino literature or integrating individual works into the general courses on American Literature can be difficult for the uninitiated. While some critical sources for students and teachers are available, none are dedicated exclusively to this important body of writing. To fill the gap, the editors of this volume commissioned prominent scholars in the field to write 18 essays that focus on using U.S. Latino literature in the classroom. The selection of the subject texts was developed in conjunction with secondary school teachers who took part in the editors' course. This resultant volume focuses on major works that are appropriate for high school and undergraduate study including Judith Ortiz Cofer's The Latin Deli, Piri Thomas' Down These Mean Streets, and Cisneros' The House on Mango Street. Each chapter in this Critical Guide provides pertinent biographical background on the author as well as contextual information that aids in understanding the literary and cultural significance of the work. The most valuable component of the critical essays, the Analysis of Themes and Forms, helps the reader understand the thematic concerns raised by the work, particularly the recurring issues of language expression and cultural identity, assimilation, and intergenerational conflicts. Each essay is followed by specific suggestions for teaching the work with topics for classroom discussion. Further enhancing the value of this work as a teaching tool are the selected bibliographies of criticism, further reading, and other related sources that complete each chapter. Teachers will also find a Sample Course Outline of U.S. Latino Literature which serves as guide for developing a course on this important subject.
Learning from Latino Teachers offers insightful stories and powerful visions in the movement for equitable schools. This compelling book is based on Gilda Ochoa’s in-depth interviews with Latina/o teachers who have a range of teaching experience, in schools with significant Latina/o immigrant populations. The book offers a unique insider's perspective on the educational challenges facing Latina/os. The teachers’ stories offer valuable insights gained from their experiences coming up through the K-12 system as students, and then becoming part of the same system as teachers.
Suggests ways to utilize Latino works in the classroom, providing profiles of Latino authors, contextual information about the literary and cultural significance of individual works, and critical essays on the themes the works address.
This book offers a valuable guide for evaluating and selecting quality Latino children's literature and using these materials effectively to meet the diverse literacy needs of this growing population.
Latino Boom: An Anthology of U.S. Latino Literature combines an engaging and diverse selection of Latino/a authors with tools for students to read, think, and write critically about these works. The first anthology of Latino literature to offer teachers and students a wide array of scholarly and pedagogical resources for class discussion and analysis, this thematically organized collection of fiction, poetry, drama, and essay presents a rich spectrum of literary styles. Providing complete works of Latino/a literature vs excerpts written originally in English, the anthology juxtaposes well-known writers with emerging voices from diverse Latino communities, inviting students to examine Latino literature through a variety of lenses.
The author provides practical strategies for cultivating communication with Latino parents and including the Latino family in developing sustained academic improvement.
"Poey's study of the institutionalization of Latin American and Latino literature in the U.S. academy is original, smart, spirited, and full of shrewd observations."--Gustavo Pérez Firmat, David Feinson Professor of Humanities, Columbia University In this original look at how ethnic literature enters the U.S. classroom and the literary canon, Delia Poey compares the risks facing teachers and interpreters of well-known Latina/o or Latin American texts with those run by the "coyote" who smuggles undocumented workers across the U.S./Mexico border: both are in danger of erasing those cultural traits that made the border crossers important. Poey shows that these texts have yet to be fully mainstreamed into the curricula, and that teachers of multicultural literature inadvertently re-colonize the texts by failing to treat them "on their own terms." She goes beyond highlighting the ways a superficial understanding of Latin American literature has led to an even more superficial or problematic reception of Latina/o texts and offers solutions. In looking at such familiar books as Borderlands, Hunger of Memory, House on Mango Street, Bless Me Ultima, and One Hundred Years of Solitude, Poey not only provides teachers and critics of Latina/o literature with innovative and viable approaches to these texts but proposes new contexts for them and new ways of viewing how they have been treated in classrooms and criticism. Far more than merely an entry in the current debate over canon and curricular reform, the work combines a practical approach to teaching Latina/o literature with suggestions on diversifying curricula and revising established reading practices. Delia Poey is assistant professor of Spanish at Florida State University.
