This writing is a narrative that retells different stages throughout my life, including the different experiences I have endured being a graduate student and a first-year teacher at the same time. Its purpose is to share my journey from the beginning to the end of my first year as a teacher. I share my reflections as I continuously look back on how I began to slowly-but surely-develop my criticality lens. While being a graduate student [of color] in a space that was historically and intentionally not created for me, this roller coaster ride has been anything but easy. However, I have acquired a vast amount of knowledge that I would not have imagined a few years ago. Throughout this work, I share glimpses of my life and how all of it has shaped me into pushing me to do the constant work that is required so that I can continue working towards becoming not only a critical social justice educator, but an advocate for my students, an ally for students of color who do the best they can to navigate the educational system, and anti-racist [educator].
","abstract_html":"<p>This writing is a narrative that retells different stages throughout my life, including the different experiences I have endured being a graduate student and a first-year teacher at the same time. Its purpose is to share my journey from the beginning to the end of my first year as a teacher. I share my reflections as I continuously look back on how I began to slowly-but surely-develop my criticality lens. While being a graduate student [of color] in a space that was historically and intentionally not created for me, this roller coaster ride has been anything but easy. However, I have acquired a vast amount of knowledge that I would not have imagined a few years ago. Throughout this work, I share glimpses of my life and how all of it has shaped me into pushing me to do the constant work that is required so that I can continue working towards becoming not only a critical social justice educator, but an advocate for my students, an ally for students of color who do the best they can to navigate the educational system, and anti-racist [educator].</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Lopez, America"],"institution":null,"degree_name":null,"degree_level":"Open Access Master's Thesis","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2020,"date_issued":"2020-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2020-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:39:50Z","subjects":["Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education","Curriculum and Instruction","Disability and Equity in Education","Elementary Education"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/189","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Lopez, America"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2020-08-07T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Open Access Master's Thesis"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education","Curriculum and Instruction","Disability and Equity in Education","Elementary Education"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/189"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This writing is a narrative that retells different stages throughout my life, including the different experiences I have endured being a graduate student and a first-year teacher at the same time. Its purpose is to share my journey from the beginning to the end of my first year as a teacher. I share my reflections as I continuously look back on how I began to slowly-but surely-develop my criticality lens. While being a graduate student [of color] in a space that was historically and intentionally not created for me, this roller coaster ride has been anything but easy. However, I have acquired a vast amount of knowledge that I would not have imagined a few years ago. Throughout this work, I share glimpses of my life and how all of it has shaped me into pushing me to do the constant work that is required so that I can continue working towards becoming not only a critical social justice educator, but an advocate for my students, an ally for students of color who do the best they can to navigate the educational system, and anti-racist [educator].
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["My Journey on Becoming a Critical Social Justice Educator as a Woman of Color"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:creator":["Lopez, America"],"dc:date.available":["2020-08-07T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["This writing is a narrative that retells different stages throughout my life, including the different experiences I have endured being a graduate student and a first-year teacher at the same time. Its purpose is to share my journey from the beginning to the end of my first year as a teacher. I share my reflections as I continuously look back on how I began to slowly-but surely-develop my criticality lens. While being a graduate student [of color] in a space that was historically and intentionally not created for me, this roller coaster ride has been anything but easy. However, I have acquired a vast amount of knowledge that I would not have imagined a few years ago. Throughout this work, I share glimpses of my life and how all of it has shaped me into pushing me to do the constant work that is required so that I can continue working towards becoming not only a critical social justice educator, but an advocate for my students, an ally for students of color who do the best they can to navigate the educational system, and anti-racist [educator].
"],"dc:identifier":["https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/189"],"dc:subject":["Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education","Curriculum and Instruction","Disability and Equity in Education","Elementary Education"],"dc:title":["My Journey on Becoming a Critical Social Justice Educator as a Woman of Color"],"thesis:degree_level":["Open Access Master's Thesis"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:39:50Z"}