Download or read book I m Here I m Listening Teach Me written by Diana Davó Gunnoe and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 520 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This qualitative study sought to understand how the experiences and stories of 9th to 12th grade 15 to 17 year old Mexican-American female adolescents from a low socioeconomic community in northern South Texas gave meaning to their cultural lives by identifying, acknowledging, and documenting their strengths. In the literature, Hispanic adolescent girls' growth and development many times was described in deficit terms and demographic trends were used to support and document such findings. In Texas, Mexican-American girls, the largest minority, are plagued by negative descriptors and at risk labels, such as high teen pregnancy rate, a dropout rate, and consequently, a low graduation rate. Many Mexican-American girls were depicted through this deficit lens. Additionally, other labels of disempowerment including "at risk", "second language speaker", limited English proficient", single parent home", and/or low socio-economic status" were used within the deficit framework (Valencia, 1997). Data collected illuminated how Mexican-American girls used a language of strength and fortitude via semi-structured interviews, through dialogue, and personal journaling informed and possibly validated the type of language and stories girls practiced to create a sense of empowerment in their cultural lives. The projected findings' goal was to share the documented narratives with Mexican-Americans girls, so that other girls experienced how strength was manifested.