In this personal reflection, Sonia Nieto recounts the lessons she learned about language and literacy from learning to speak Spanish and then English; to reading and writing; and the impact of these lessons on her identity, teaching, research, and life; and, more broadly, on the fields of education and literacy.

Discusses the difficulties that high-ability black college students face in blending their academic interest and racial affiliation into their sense of self. Student narratives show how a strong peer community and positive student-faculty interactions can overcome these obstacles and promote healthy identity development. (Author/DB)

Discusses student criticism of higher education. Responds in the context of moral questions. Argues that education is about the development of a moral imagination. Suggests that students be encouraged to locate their own questions in material to be studied. Concludes that through storytelling teachers and students can find common ground as well as…

For a composition teacher--comparing a passage from his Caucasian grandmother's (May Blossom Gould's) diary with the autobiographical narrative dictated by an African-American student's great-great grandmother (Violet McNeil) to a literate member of her family--racial politics and the privileges afforded by literacy irrevocably separate the two…

The current changes in the economy and the superstructure associated with postmodernity pose particular perils and promises for the world of education. In particular, identity is no longer an ascribed status or place in an established order. Rather, identity is an ongoing project, most commonly an ongoing narrative project.The use of personal…

Outlines the function of the "signifying monkey" in African American oral traditions. Focuses on vernacular discourse and African American personal narratives to discover linguistic and cultural features of African American students. Argues that these identity features be placed at the center of writing instruction for African Americans.…

As an outcome of the author's experiences at several American universities, and based on critical race theory as espoused by Bell (which uses narrative to bear witness to lived experiences of racism in American society), a project was undertaken to record conversations with four non-white students at a university in the southern United States.…