Classroom of hope: The voice of one courageous teacher on the US–Mexico border

Abstract

In this study, the authors present peace education as a new model for twenty-first century educators that embraces both pedagogical changes and practical relationships between teachers and students and fosters universal human rights. This case study recounts the lived experience of one novice teacher in a classroom on the US–Mexico border. Her middle school students’ lives are embroiled in unprecedented violence in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, located only a few miles from El Paso, Texas. The case study underlines the need for redefining identity in the teacher–student relationship; focusing on teacher agency in students’ lives; seeing teachers as peace educators in terms of listening, caring, being non-judgmental, and engaging in reflective practice. In light of the growing need for peace education in an era of increased transnationalism in preK-12 education, institutional change is a necessary component, including redefinitions of the roles of principals and counselors. New models for professional development for teachers are also considered. Future implications for practitioners and policymakers, building on the work of Dewey (1900; 1938), Freire (1970), and Giroux (2005), among others, are discussed that include helping students adjust and flourish as they cross both geographic and metaphorical borders between existing and new homes and classrooms.