Elementary school students are often overlooked when it comes to learning about the rich and vast Mexican-American culture and history of our region, but thanks to the hard work and dedication of two university professors, that may change.
Joy Esquierdo, a professor of Bilingual and Literacy Studies and director of UTRGV’s Center for Bilingual Studies, and Stephanie Alvarez, an associate professor of Mexican American Studies and director of UTRGV’s Center for Mexican American Studies, have secured a two-year grant of $999,991 for their project, Social Studies through Authentic and Relevant Content (SSTARC).
SSTARC focuses on infusing local history in social studies among elementary schools in both English and Spanish classrooms.
Esquierdo said they wanted to provide curriculum in both languages due to the “very limited resources” in social studies in Spanish, which this project will, hopefully, help alleviate.
“My goals are that we can get teachers excited about this material, that we can get teachers enthusiastic about providing their students with more dual language and Mexican American studies content,” Alvarez said. “That they can understand the benefits of providing their students with a culturally affirming curriculum.”
Esquierdo and Alvarez found their inspiration from the lack of an enriched curriculum that maintains students’ “heritage language of Spanish,” and that is both culturally relevant and reaffirming.
“It’s been an idea we’ve had for a couple of years,” Esquierdo said. “Dr. Stephanie Alvarez and I were in a conversation about the need for relevant curriculum in the schools.”
The pair began their journey to their goal two summers ago, when they applied and obtained a smaller grant from Texas Humanities for a similar project on a smaller scale.
“We worked with a smaller group of teachers and it was a shorter workshop. It was starting us off and, so, that gave us more content to then apply for this bigger grant,” Esquierdo said.
Their larger project, SSTARC, will start this summer, when a select 21 teachers from elementary schools from the Pharr-San Juan-Alamo Independent School District and the Harlingen Consolidated Independent School District will participate in the two-year endeavor.
Alvarez explained they chose to focus their project on elementary schools because they are often disregarded when it comes to being taught Mexican-American content. She believes introducing students to this content early on will make a bigger impact, rather than waiting until high school.
“Our students will begin to really understand and celebrate their history and all the great events that happened here, the movements, and the leadership that’s occurred here,” Esquierdo said.
The 21 selected teachers will attend a four-day workshop at UTRGV this summer, where they will get help in designing their curriculum units based on the presentations they will receive from faculty members David Bowles, a Literature & Cultural Studies assistant professor; Amy Cummins, a Literature & Cultural Studies associate professor; George Diaz, a history assistant professor; and Maritza de la Trinidad, an Interdisciplinary Program & Community Engagement associate professor.
After creating these units, teachers will implement them in their own classrooms throughout the year, paying special attention to the response of their students and any improvements they may need. Then, the following summer, the units created will be “refined and enriched” in another four-day workshop.
As the units are being made and perfected, a soon-to-be hired graduate student will then create a website that will house the materials, enabling people to have more access.
The 21 teachers will present their units in Fall 2020 at a symposium where teachers from across the Rio Grande Valley will be invited to view their newly designed curriculums.
“I think education majors, Mexican American studies majors, English majors, anyone that has the desire to go into the education field, would benefit from this project, and this is why we really feel strongly about putting this online and holding a symposium open to the public and our educators,” Alvarez said.
Esquierdo said she is grateful to be able to do positive work like this and hopes to end up with strong, organized curriculum units that are easy to follow “like a recipe” for teachers.
Both professors hope, as their project continues to grow, to be able to expand and apply for a larger grant in the future.
“I would love to do this on a larger scale,” Alvarez said. “I would love to spend the rest of my life doing this. If we could get this into all the schools, I mean, it would be a dream come true.”
Esquierdo hopes teachers will be excited with the resources, support and “advocacy for MAS teaching within social studies” portrayed through SSTARC.
