First and foremost, thank you to "Ms. Barry" for welcoming me into your classroom. I am deeply grateful that you gave me the opportunity to learn alongside you. Being in your classroom every week was a regular reminder of what is possible in schools, and my visits never failed to renew my optimism and faith in the profession. I admire not just your tremendous skill as a teacher and keen intellect but also your courage and commitment to do right by your students in the face of external

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... Billy, thank for your companionship in this journey, since before graduate school was even a gleam in my eye. All along the way, you have made me laugh and helped me think, every day. You read my work, you listened to me ramble, and you cooked me dinner, day in and day out. You reassured me in tough times and celebrated with me in good ones. Being with you makes me smarter. I am very proud of you and always impressed by how easy you make it look. Your presence made all these chapters possible and even enjoyable, and I am grateful to be starting the next chapter by your side. Te adoro. Mama, thank you for leading the way. I could have no better role model or champion. Every time that this has been difficult, I think of you waking up in the dark to write before Gabe and I woke up. I am reminded of how much harder graduate school could have been, and how much you have done to make it easier for me. I am inspired by your lifelong curiosity, your appreciation for a good turn of phrase, and your drive to do good work in the world. You also showed me how to love and appreciate children, vi without which none of this work would matter. Thank you for being an extraordinary listener, for your unflagging support, and above all, for your unconditional love. Thank you Shep, for your guidance, perspective, and your appreciation for the value of marginal notes. I hope to be as disciplined and thorough in my scholarship as you are in yours, and I am grateful for your insight and advice. I hope to spend many more summers working at Forest Lake, breaking for sandwiches and swimming. Gracias, Papá, por conectarme con mis raíces. Desde que era una niña, siempre me has comunicado el valor de ser bilingüe y tener orgullo de nuestra familia y herencia. Cada vez que me llamas por teléfono, siento profundamente agradecida poder contestar en español. Joanne, thank you for your messages of support in the last, hardest stretch and your belief in my ability to get it all done. Gabe, thank you for not deleting my dissertation. Further evidence that you have come a long way since Mom wrote hers J I am proud of how hard you work on your own writing, and I am looking forward to typing side by side for many more years. Thank you to my brilliant grandparents: Manolo, Gloria & Natalie. Nanny, I will forever treasure the afternoon I spent with you at the deli in Brookline, eating a Reuben and listening to the extraordinary history of your own schooling. Your energy, engagement and liveliness is inspiring. Manolo, gracias por mandarme tus libros y poesía. Como se ve en el primer capítulo, me impresionaron mucho. Gloria, thank you for dedicating Malinche to me, and inspiring my interest in the fascinating histories of Mexican women. No puedo imaginar abuelos más logrados. Thank you to Ramón, for being an extraordinary mentor. This dissertation would not have been possible without you. You showed me how to do research, and helped me realize what kind of scholar I want to be. You have been unfailingly generous with your vii time and attention, pushing me to be more insightful, thorough, and thoughtful. Moreover, you laid critical intellectual groundwork. I stand on the shoulders of giants, and you are one of them. As if all that was not enough, you are funny and kind. It is and was truly a pleasure to work with you. Thank you, Jacqueline, for your warmth, guidance and enthusiasm. Thank you for sharing your tremendous expertise, and for helping me make important connections between linguistics and education. I deeply enjoyed working with you, and very much appreciated the many ways in which you extended yourself to help me grow. Deb, thank you for nurturing this idea from a small seed into a full-fledged study. Your encouragement has been crucial to my growth, and you convinced me early on that I had something important to say. I have very much enjoyed seeing you regularly at Cherrywood. Thank you for welcoming me to BBE events and for helping me keep one foot in literacy and the other in bilingual education. Jo, thank you for your consistent support all the way through this graduate program. You have helped me not only in my research, but also in figuring out how to navigate the program and academic life. You have also been an inspiring model of how to continually keep learning and growing. Randy, thank you for being my imagined reader, that "critical and productive collaborator" who I think of as I write. Much of my revision consisted in asking myself, "What would Randy think about that?" Every time we talk, you say something that stays with me for months, and that pushes my thinking forward in important ways.