The Seeds That Were Planted

This study explores how multimodal literacy practices can reveal the cultural disconnect between home and school. Using a creative approach to ethnography through digital storytelling, we examined the perspectives of four Latinx students embedded in a Florida classroom. Analyzing their digital stories through Latinx Critical Race Theory and bioecological theory, we found that students demonstrated high levels of compliance with classroom norms, which contributed to feelings of cultural alienation. Digital storytelling served as both a mirror and a way of exposing possible places for change with ramifications for Latinx students’ social-emotional well-being as well as their academic learning.