Faculty Profiles: Assistant Professor Michael Orosco
Assistant Professor Michael Orosco
Bachelor’s Degree, major
B.A., Spanish Bilingual/Bicultural Elementary Education, University of Northern Colorado
Master’s Degree, major
M.A., Bilingual/ESL/Special Education, University of Colorado at Boulder
Doctoral Degree, research area, conferring institution
Ph.D., Education: Educational Equity and Cultural Diversity with an emphasis in Bilingual/ESL/Special Education, University of Colorado at Boulder
Favorite Quote:
“The pedagogy of the oppressed cannot be developed or practiced by the oppressor.” -- Paulo Freire
Area of research:
Response to Intervention with Latino English language learners
Selected publications:
Orosco, M. J. & Hoover, J. J. (2009). Characteristics of second language acquisition, cultural diversity and learning/behavior disabilities (Chapter 3). In J.J. Hoover, Differentiating Learning Differences from Disabilities: Meeting Diverse Needs through Multi-Tiered Response to Intervention. New York: Prentice Hall.
Orosco, M. J., Schonewise, E. A., de Onis, C., Klingner, J. K., & Hoover, J. J. (2008). Distinguishing between language acquisition and learning disabilities among English language learners: Background information. In J. K. Klingner, A. J. Artiles, L. Baca, & J. J. Hoover (Eds.), English language learners who struggle with reading: Language acquisition or learning disabilities? Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Méndez-Barletta, L., Orosco, M. J., & Klingner, J. K. (in revision). Writing acquisition among English language learners in U.S. schools: A critical review of the literature. In A. Durgunoglu & M. Gerber (Eds.), Language and Literacy Development of Language Learners. New York, NY: Guilford.
How I discovered my professional passion:
I have family members who struggle with illiteracy. Illiteracy runs deep in my family. In many of their cases, due to socioeconomic and political circumstances, they were denied the right to an equitable education.
For me, when I take on these issues, it is more of a passion. It is not just to have a vocation or a profession. In my case, I have a personal interest because I grew up dealing with the effects of multigenerational illiteracy.
What reading do you keep on your nightstand?
El Alquimista: Una Fabula Para Seguir Tus Suenos by Paulo Cohelo
Pedagogy of Freedom: Ethics, Democracy and Civic Courage by Paulo Freire.
Radical Equations: Civil Rights from Mississippi to the Algebra Project by Robert P. Moses and Charles E. Cobb
Why UCR's GSOE is a good place to carry out my commitment to translating research findings into tangible improvements in education:
The University of California at Riverside has a strong commitment to research and teaching. It is a good place where I can grow, be challenged, and get much accomplished. Further, because it is in Southern California, it has strong Latino demographics. This gives a good sample population to conduct research and teach in serving the Latino community’s educational challenges.
How my students have influenced — and inspired — me:
In the past, I have worked in schools where the majority of the staff was white. The student population was minority. At times, because of this, there was class and racial differences that influenced the social dynamics of the classroom. This is no different for higher education. My teaching candidates come into the classroom with their own pedagogical perceptions shaped by their class and racial upbringing. This upbringing may have created subjective attitudes and behavior towards those who are culturally and linguistically different. These subjective behaviors have given me the opportunity to teach students how to deal with these perceptions constructively.
One of the best questions a student asked me:
One of my students said in frustration (because her Latino English language learners were not learning), “Why can’t these kids just learn English?”
Now, there are two ways at analyzing this question. First, the subjective would assume that you are in America and you should learn to speak English. The second is to look at it from a constructivist perspective. In class, I had been using Luis Moll’s Funds of Knowledge concept to address teaching candidates' perceptions about Latino English language learners. This student decided to conduct an ethnographic project that addressed this question, by investigating her Latino English language learner’s community.
After she conducted this mini-project, she came back and shared how she had not thought about how these kids lived in a segregated Spanish speaking community due to class and racial differences. She cited that this was a major reason why these kids could not learn to speak English. Other then public education, these children had little access to the English speaking cultural capital. She concluded that these children did have the capacity to learn, when taught appropriately and that it was her teaching responsibility to make sure this happened.
She had been able to help transform her deficits-based question into a constructivist one.
A favorite book from childhood?
I still adore Bless Mi, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya
Leisure activities:
I love to spend time with my wife, cook, read and run.