Struggling to Recognize their Existence: Examining Student–Adult Relationships in the Urban High School Context

Abstract

In today's reform context, much attention is placed on policies and outcomes and far less emphasis on understanding the social and cultural processes in schools. Using case-study methodology, I examine relationships between lowincome, urban high school students of color, and the school adults with whom they interact. Using grounded theory, students' experiences are analyzed and interpreted through the lens of recognition. Recognition is used as both a theoretical and empirical concept to illuminate students' experiences and voices, especially since the construct is largely absent in the U.S. education discourse. Students revealed that being known by adults, talking with adults, engaging with adults personally, and experiencing encouraging adults were all critical elements of recognition. I suggest that student-adult relationships, via the practice of recognition in urban schools, needs to be interrogated, deliberate, and political so that the transformative purpose of education can be realized.

The Story of Drama Club: A Contemporary Counternarrative of a Transformative Culture of Teaching and Learning for Disenfranchised Black Youth in the School-to-Prison Pipeline

“…It was a team effort in critical multicultural pedagogy to develop a transformative culture of teaching and learning for disenfranchised Black students. Drama Club was an infrastructure for emancipating teachers and students to co-create the critical culturally relevant project that transformed their understanding of the learning process and of themselves within it (Rodríguez, 2008). By developing positive teacher-student-student relationships, recognizing and valuing students' backgrounds, and transforming the culture of teaching and learning in the Drama Club, teachers gave students explicit and implicit messages that they cared about them, and that their social, cultural, and intellectual strengths were valued.…”

“…Students were free to critique, critically reflect, and offer suggestions for change in an appropriate manner. Students were encouraged to develop critical consciousness about their own social interactions toward being a valued Drama Club team member and, ultimately, a valued member of society (Rodríguez, 2008). Drama Club was an infrastructure for disenfranchised students to reveal their thinking, feelings, and learning about the world.…”

Connecting Transnationalism to the Classroom and to Theories of Immigrant Student Adaptation

“…This recognition is so important to some families that they will make the journey back-and-forth despite being undocumented, risking their livelihoods and even their very lives. Recognition is often the most fundamental missing element for immigrant children and for children of color, in general, in U.S. schools (Rodríguez, 2008). Students are misread as only partial people, portrayed in broad strokes as immigrants or "ESL students," without consideration for the various other parts of their identities.…”

“…Additionally, enriching classroom curricula to reflect the issues encountered in visits back home can engage transnational students and deepen their understanding of their own experiences. In this manner, transnational students internalize an understanding that they bring valid knowledge and experience to U.S. schools (Rodríguez, 2008).…”

Stereotype Threat and the Standardized Testing Experiences of African American Children at an Urban Elementary School

“…This is especially important in urban schools where the majority of teachers come from a different cultural background than the students (NCES, 2009). Students from urban environments highlight the importance of recognition by school adults (Rodríguez, 2008b). Trust-based studentteacher relationships have a direct positive effect on student academic achievement (Bryk & Schneider, 2002).…”