When Life Gives You Lemons: Critically Conscious Family Engagement in a Virtual Dual Language Kindergarten Class During a Pandemic

This ethnographic case study takes place in a dual language kindergarten classroom at a Title I K-8 urban school that enrolls predominantly Latinx students in the southwest United States. Nellie, a Latinx veteran kindergarten teacher, navigates the sudden challenge of teaching online during the COVID-19 pandemic while actively prioritizing the wellbeing of children and families in her class. In response, she partners with the families and integrates their knowledge and experiences to inform her pedagogy as the children participate in schooling from home. Nellie’s critically conscious pedagogy involves viewing families as experts, positioning parents and caregivers as “co-teachers” (co-maestros), centering lived experiences of racially and linguistically minoritized communities through bi/multilingual family storytelling, and modeling the importance of community for children. The case presented here provides insight for dual language teachers, particularly those in early childhood settings, to develop critically conscious practices that engage families as equitable partners in children’s education.