During their kindergarten placements, teacher candidates are learning to teach with young children who may be experiencing linguistic and racial hierarchies in a formal institutional setting for the first time. The purpose of this research is to understand how teacher candidates make sense of the socially constructed boundaries of language and…

While much research has examined the role of individual and systemic racial bias in driving racial discipline disparities, less work has considered the significance of curricular environments in school discipline patterns. In this paper, I report on an ethnographic study of three kindergarten classrooms. Adopting a critical sociocultural…

School rules, classroom norms, and social and emotional learning (SEL) modules carefully define, hone, and regulate what counts as "appropriate" and "inappropriate" behavior from students. While the stated intention behind these practices is typically to promote a sense of safety, well-being, and productivity in schooling,…