ABSTRACT
As I pictured Wohlwend and Hubbard’s description of kindergartners arriving at school, bundled in winter clothing and Disney-driven identities, it was as if I were reading a description of my Arizona high school students. Like Hubbard, I read my students’ identities in the color and style of clothes they wore—in my case, they were typically blue and baggy to represent their gang, the CRIPs—and in their language—my students used specific vocabulary like “roll call” and “slobs” that required I create a glossary to keep track. One student’s quickly gestured hand sign would be answered with a second silent sign of mutual understanding and acknowledgment of belonging to a group. Dallas Cowboys caps and tattoos, and objects such as cell phones, mp3 players, and iPods, were just some of the tools—or toys—my adolescent students used in order to construct meaning in their world.
