📅 Date: April 11, 2025
📍 Location: Denver, Colorado
🎤 Speaker: Brianny Morrison Feliz
Understanding Latinx Student Motivation Through the Immigrant Bargain
I was honored to be selected to present at the 2025 College Board Prepárate™ Conference in Denver, CO. My session explored how the immigrant bargain—a concept introduced by Robert C. Smith and expanded by Vivian Louie—shapes Latinx students’ motivation to pursue higher education. This framework highlights how the sacrifices of immigrant parents can become a powerful, though often unspoken, force in their children's academic journeys.
In this session, I examined how the literacy myth, the American Dream, and familial expectations intersect in the lives of Latinx students, impacting their aspirations and outcomes. Educators and counselors gained insights and strategies to support student advising, strengthen family involvement, and foster a stronger college-going culture.
🖥️ Watch the Session & View Slides:
Click below to access my presentation slides and a full video recording of the session.
I employ diverse pedagogical approaches to actively engage my students and facilitate their optimal learning outcomes. These approaches include:
1. Process Writing: This approach emphasizes the writing process, from pre-writing to drafting to revising to publishing. Students are encouraged to write freely, explore their ideas, and then revise and refine their writing through multiple drafts.
2. Peer Review: Peer review involves students reading and commenting on each other's writing, providing feedback on areas that could be improved. This approach encourages students to take responsibility for their own learning and helps them to develop their critical thinking and communication skills.
3. Genre Studies: This approach focuses on the different genres of writing, such as argumentative essays, personal narratives, or research papers. Students learn the conventions of each genre and practice writing in different styles to develop their writing skills.
4. Inquiry-Based Learning: This approach emphasizes student-centered learning and encourages students to explore their own questions and interests. Students are encouraged to develop their own research projects and write about topics they are passionate about.
5. Multimodal Composition: This approach emphasizes the use of multiple modes of communication, such as text, images, and video, to create meaning. Students learn to compose in a variety of media and explore how different modes can work together to create a more powerful message.
"Bargaining Dreams and Myths: The Relationship between the Literacy Myth, the American Dream, and the Immigrant Bargain"
delves into the concepts of the literacy myth, the American Dream, and the immigrant bargain and their impact on the lives and literacy practices of American immigrants in their pursuit of higher education. Through a comprehensive review of research from the fields of rhetoric and composition, as well as social and political sciences, this study aims to establish the interconnection between these terms and their underlying ideologies. The thesis also explores the ways in which these ideologies perpetuate capitalistic values that idealize the importance of education and work in achieving upward social mobility. Ultimately, this research sheds light on the effects of these ideologies on American immigrants and those from immigrant backgrounds.
My teaching portfolio for the 2024 academic year includes a comprehensive collection of assignment sheets, rubrics, and syllabi used in my classes, as well as a detailed description of my teaching philosophy and a reflective analysis of my teaching practices. Through this portfolio, I aim to showcase my commitment to student-centered instruction, my ability to create engaging and effective learning experiences, and my dedication to ongoing professional development and growth as an educator.