Welcome! Use the pull-down menu in the upper right corner (“Research, Teaching and Writing) to find information about my work on these inter-related themes: Language Brokering, Cultural Modeling (pedagogical design connecting in and out of school practices), pedagogies of heart and mind (an approach to learning we take at B-Club, an after-school program in Los Angeles that connects elementary school youth and UCLA undergraduates), immigrant youth and families, and gender/literacy and power. You will find links to public blogposts, academic papers, Youtube videos, course syllabi and more. I invite you to leave comments: your reactions to my work, sharing of your own work, and dialogue with other readers.
On this main page you’ll find my blog, which offers ongoing reflections on these and other issues. I have been thinking about these matters of heart and mind in
different ways since 1983: first as a classroom teacher, then as a researcher of language and literacy in immigrant communities and a designer of pedagogies, and always as a learner myself. Topics include:
- Reports from a new study I’m conducting on the impact of Covid-19 on family life and learning.
- Reflections from my ongoing research on language and literacy practices in immigrant communities, both in and out of school. See a new volume I co-edited, along with Inmaculada García Sánchez, on connecting home and school practices:
- Reflections on ethnographic research and other methodological issues. See also my 2020 book: https://www.amazon.com/Mindful-Ethnography-Activity-Transformative-Research/dp/113836102X
- Reports from my ongoing research and praxis in at B-Club. See also my 2016 book: Immigrant Children in Transcultural Spaces: Language, Learning and Love)
- Issues facing immigrant communities more broadly
- Other random lessons from the grand School of Life
Hi Marjorie,
I am a doctoral student in literacy at Boston University and just read your article on para-phrasing and included it in my lit review on family literacy. I was intrigued by the untapped resources these bilingual children could potentially bring into the classroom. Thanks for your work.
Thanks, Sarah! And thanks for commenting on this blog. I’m hoping to get more of a dialogue going with readers, but most of the comments I get are spam. Sorry I missed seeing yours (hidden in the spam) til now. There are so many untapped resources in bilingual communities – glad you are working on making them more visible too.
I am a current social justice and human rights graduate student, trying to figure out what my thesis/applied project should focus on. I decided to dig deeper into my personal story as a “language broker” for my immigrant family. I came upon your research articles, “The Work Kids Do,” and thought deeply about what you wrote in regards to not looking at immigrant children as a “problem” and instead highlighting their present lives and contributions. Their present lives as children who support, sustain, and sometimes change institutions. Thank you!
Thanks so much for taking the time to comment, Griselda. Would you tell me more about your experiences as a language broker, and your own work? I would love to know more, and I think other readers of this blog might also be inspired. Best, Marjorie