The Colonized Context of Persons
of Mexican Background
Heriberto Godina,
English Education
The University of Iowa
Heriberto Godina,
PhD, is an Assistant Professor of English Education at the
University of Iowa. He is originally from El Paso, Texas, where
he was a reading teacher at Eastwood Middle School and a writing
instructor at El Paso Community College. After receiving his
Masters of Arts in Teacher Education at the University of Texas
at El Paso, Heriberto went on to study for his PhD at the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he worked at
the Center for the Study of Reading and the Bureau of
Educational Research. Heriberto’s research primarily focuses on
the second-language factors that effect Latino students’
participation in public school settings, and many of his
academic publications reflect an interest in culturally-relevant
practices in education. His future goals include conducting
research that could help improve the status of Bilingual
Education within the State of Iowa. He believes that an emphasis
on Bilingual Education would help to address the
disproportionately high dropout rate effecting Mexican
background students. Heriberto also believes it is important to
foster a positive mutual sense of respect, dignity, and
acceptance that might allow all children to grow and learn from
each other in a peaceful environment. The following link
illustrates some of his research that has been developed into
culturally-relevant curriculum for Mexican background students:
http://www.uiowa.edu/~xin13/
Abstract: 1. The
paper that Heriberto will be discussing is a drafty work in
progress that he struggles with as a preface to his ethnographic
work with Mexican background students. He would like to develop
this piece into an initial chapter of a book. Comments and ideas
are much appreciated.
[Thursday, November 4;
7:30-9:30
PM; 302 Schaeffer Hall]
