Using Testimonio to Bring Children's Worlds Into a Standardized Teaching Context: An Example of Culturally Relevant Teaching in Early Childhood Education

Since its birth in the 1960s in Latin America, testimonio has emerged as a genre of literature that gives a “voice to the voiceless” and acts as a medium for marginalized individuals to communicate their experiences. Described as a form of resistance literature, it has been defined as “an authentic narrative, told by a witness who is moved to narrate by the urgency of a situation, such as violence or oppression.” Although such a seemingly intense approach may feel out of place in an early childhood classroom, this article demonstrates how one teacher successfully employed testimonio as an instructional strategy with her preschoolers. In doing so, she broke away from the constraints imposed by standards-based accountability reforms and created an enriching learning experience with a direct impact on her students' lives.