Teaching History With Cariño: A Phenomenological Study of Teachers’ Lived Experiences in Urban High Schools

<p>This study provides a phenomenological account of 19 urban high school history and social science teachers’ experiences teaching Black and Latinx students in California. The study explored teachers’ perceptions of how they navigated social-political contexts and district policies, their own understanding of instructional strengths and needs, and students’ learning capacities. Using a semi-structured interview protocol, participants responded to questions about a previously delivered lesson of their choice and to a vignette read-aloud comprising three scenarios. The data were organized using both deductive and inductive approaches in the qualitative data analysis software, ATLAS.ti. I analyzed the codes into patterns and themes within the framework of Cariño Pedagogy, exploring how participants’ sensemaking intersected with and explored their lived experiences of navigating their knowledge and skills when teaching students. Analysis of the interview transcripts revealed that the participants perceived themselves as (a) educators with deep content knowledge and a commitment to fostering relational building, (b) practitioners who connect students to culturally relevant learning experiences while navigating external tensions, (c) curriculum designers who curate supplemental resources reflecting multiple historical perspectives absent from the California’s history-social science content standards, and (d) facilitators of student-centered learning experiences who promote critical analysis of social justice issues within the constraints of sociopolitical and district mandates. The study offered insights into how high school history and social science teachers experience meaning-making when teaching Black and Latinx students in urban school settings.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Education, PhD

Level thesis:degree_level

Restricted to Claremont Colleges Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

School of Educational Studies

Year dc:date.available

2026

Author dc:creator

• Ramirez, Claudia

Contributors dc:contributor

• Frances Gipson
• Darneika Watson

• history teachers
• lived experience
• phenomenological
• social science teachers
• urban high school
• Education

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/1123

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarship.claremont.edu:cgu_etd-2145