Cruzando El Puente: Building Bridges to Funds of Knowledge

Abstract

What can be learned fromthe Puente experience about identifying and incor porating local funds of knowledge of Latino communities into precollege preparation? This article focuses on how Puente teachers and students can enhance their practice and mutual learning through ethnographic fieldwork in the students’home community. Through investigating the many local funds of knowledge that can be utilized to validate students’ identities as knowledgeable individuals who can use such knowledge as a foundation for future learning, both teachers and students can engage in a critical pedagogy predicated on resources and not deficits.