Immigration Experiences and their Impact

In this episode of Raíces y Resiliencia, host Denise Valdez, LCSW, is joined by Shirley De León, a bilingual educator whose own  story shapes how she supports newcomer and Latinx students. Together they explore how immigration journeys influence trauma responses, classroom behavior, and family dynamics. Through real stories and reflection, Denise and Shirley unpack the emotional weight of language brokering, collective trauma, and school systems that may unintentionally retraumatize Latinx youth.

Link to reflection sheets: 

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1MNg5hiSQ0-tb3W-k4tbUM7Ny9SIYEEkI?usp=share_link

Link to references:  

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1aiafHEh5mOBkftfkM2HgjwMd4d2XS-76?usp=share_link

Transcript

Transcript

Episode 4: Immigration Experiences and their Impact

Hello everyone and welcome back to Raíces y Resiliencia. 

Intro music 

Hello and welcome back to Raíces y Resiliencia. I'm your host Denise, licensed clinical social worker and school social worker.

I'm so glad you're here. Thank you for continuing to be a part of this growing community of educators, social workers, and advocates dedicated to creating healing spaces for our Latinx students and families. In our last episode we explored Yosso's community cultural wealth model and reflected on how our students carry strength, wisdom, which is conocimiento, and resilience even within systems that weren't designed for them.

Today our focus will be to stay grounded in those same frameworks, the frameworks that we've talked about in the past, which is trauma-informed care and community cultural wealth model by Yosso, but we'll be focusing specifically on immigration experiences and how they shape trauma responses, learning, and family life. And to deepen that conversation I'm joined today by a very special guest, someone who experiences this daily from the classroom perspective. Thank you so much for being here Shirley and for agreeing to be a part of this podcast.I really really appreciate you. We can start off by having you introduce yourself to our listeners and also sharing your positionality and what led you to want to work with our next students and you know the impact that you feel that you make or continue to make towards this population. 

Guest Speaker: Hi my name is Shirley DeLeon and I am a Latina that was born and raised in South Central but my family comes from Guatemala and I also identify as a Guatemalan and with my education I hold a master's degree in education, urban education, and I also like emphasized in working with newcomer students who are learning to speak the language once they come into this country.

Our topic for today is going to be discussing immigration stressors and I really want to thank you for being a part of this and as we dig deeper into you know the different stressors that or unique challenges that Latinx students navigate I think your input is going to be really important because you're able to see the way that immigration stressors show up in the classroom and the school setting and even in like the way that we as educators, staff, social workers, and people just personnel who works in school respond to those needs, right? Well let's begin by unpacking some of the common stressors our immigrant students face. The literature tells us that immigration isn't just the physical journey right of moving from one country of origin to the end and what that travel you know challenge looks like, it's also psychological and emotional. According to Clauss Ehlers, forced migration often happens under distress.

Families leaving because of violence, economic instability, or even just trying to survive. Then we have Cartwright and Chacon who describe how family separation and reunification can disrupt attachment. Attachment from their caregivers, attachment from their communities, you know that lack of attachment from maybe their kin care which then can lead to anxiety and confusion in children especially you know children at a younger age.

And of course there's the ongoing fear of deportation something Kirksey and Bajaj 2021 found to be linked to lower attendance and academic performances across California schools and we've obviously seen this in our school specifically. And so Shirley from your classroom perspective what have you observed among students who have recently immigrated or lived in mixed status families? You know I know that you do direct work with Latinx students and those newcomers who come and you teach them the English language but you also push into other schools where there are just Latinx students who have legal status and who speak the language already but I'm sure that you've seen an impact in both right? So how have you seen an impact in in these in in that this population? 

Guest speaker: Well one of the first things that comes to mind when you know thinking about this question is that emotionally like I've noticed that students have like a hard time letting go of like the life they had back in like their country. Just the stability they had out there versus like the new life that they're now living here in the U.S. The friends that they leave behind like family members sometimes like other siblings that unfortunately could not travel with them.So all of that are like different factors that like come into play. But just like something that I would want to like focus on would be like the routine. Here students come to school for example like at the school where I'm at right now at 7:45 and then they're dismissed at 3:15.So it's pretty much like a full day of just like class back to back where versus for example in Guatemala they go probably like half of the day. The rest of the day they're focused on like different activities they would do back at home with their parents or just like time spent at home like living a life that's not compared to what it is here. Here usually parents have to work the whole day so then we have students also who have to stay after school and are going home at 6 p.m. So they don't get to see their families as often.

So not only are they also struggling with like the language barrier but now like that relationship with parents that they used to have. So it's just hard to see all of that like surface up. 

Yeah yeah and that is so valid that you know you bring up a really great point of just creating a new routine and like that lack of instability right that they are experiencing here.I also think of because you and I work alongside a lot of the similar students and in what like what behaviors do you notice that are misunderstood by like our school staff maybe administration maybe other teachers that you know come from maybe like trauma or from just like you mentioned earlier the difference of just being in a whole different setting. What are some of those behaviors that you constantly see that are seen as like negative behaviors that might not necessarily be negative behaviors?

Guest speaker: So negative behaviors that I see in class is a lot of opting out and it's not because the student is choosing to do it. It's just I want to say mainly out of frustration and the frustration comes from not being understood again because they don't speak the language.So I believe sometimes it's easier to just kind of like ignore and like be pushed to the side but like students are aware of what's happening. Students are definitely eager to learn the language so once they're being pushed aside I guess like that's when that frustration starts to build up until the point where like it erupts one way or another and you know their feelings need to they're valid like all of their feelings are valid. So of course now we have the student that's just trying to express how he's feeling or she's feeling and they're being misunderstood with like you know speaking without permission or you know being disruptive and it's a cry for help pretty much like that's what's happening and it's unfortunate and there's there's just sometimes like again like that miscommunication between the teacher and the student.

Yeah yes yes Shirley you bring up some such really strong points and that's so important right to remember that what looks like behavior negative behavior might actually be trauma or grief in disguise right they're grieving their country they're grieving the people and the things that they left behind and honestly I've seen this too in my work as a social worker students who act act out is what they call it right or disengage or dysregulated is a word that I hear often in our school often aren't what those they're labeled right they're just trying to manage a trauma load that's too heavy for their age and something that is really hard for them to explain at that age and so in this moment I want to take a moment for our listeners to reflect. Listeners if you're driving you know sit with this question if you have some space now to be able to jot down your thoughts that would also be great. I want you all to think about a student you've worked with who recently immigrated or whose family is undocumented what behavior stood out and how might those behaviors shift if seen through a trauma-informed lens.

Okay let's continue another layer of this is when children become translators or interpreters for their families and we've talked about this in our first two episodes you know where researchers call language brokering. We talked about the heavy load that comes from that and then last episode when we discussed Yost's community cultural wealth model we talked about being a translator how that can be a form of navigational capital but it can also bring pressure. So Shirley do you see this in your classroom or have you experienced this within yourself how do you notice that being a translator or translating for your family can be can cause pressure? ‘

Guest speaker: Well personally I have experienced this. I was I think I was in third grade when I came back into this country. I was born here in the U.S. but my parents left and went back to Guatemala so we went with them and two years later my sister and I came back and we grew up with my grandparents so that's where like a lot of the translating was happening for my grandparents especially I remember this during the time where they were applying to become residents. There was a lot of paperwork coming in and I want to say I was probably like probably a fifth grader at the time so my English like comprehension and all of that was slightly better but it wasn't to the point where like I'm you know fluent in translating stuff so right right so there's a lot of like different terms in Spanish that I just did not know how to translate and it just I felt so bad every time my grandparents would ask me like but what is it really saying so what I would do I remember I would just like read the whole thing in English my broken English still at the time and then just try to like pick like a couple of words here and there to like translate and I remember always like getting the feedback of like  que no estan llendo a la escuela and then it was like no I am but you know it's hard like I don't know what this means like so yeah like those moments were definitely frustrating and then just feeling bad like oh I'm trying to help my family but you know as a kid like you don't understand like you know I'm pretty sure even like some of like the translators at these offices had to look up words that they didn't even know how to say in Spanish but yeah definitely like that burden of like feeling like I need to do something or you know like I need to like learn more and exactly and I feel like all of those things is what like led me to become the teacher I am today to um to be there and support the students that I work with now in classes to like trying to help them and like understand like you know like I get you because I also went through that like I get it you know when you just come into the country and you're like simply asking like I need to go to the and not being able to express that 

yeah yeah , I 100% agree it also makes me think like how do you think that we as a school or just schools in general are missing that part because obviously like you and I are privileged in that sense right that like we have those direct experiences of knowing what it's like to come from like a Latin American country here and to be able to navigate that and we're bilingual like that is a privilege that we have and I think part of that is what like you said pushes to want to work with this population but where do you think or how do you think people who maybe don't share that privilege or don't really know you know the impact of like this migration process and the and like the translating and all that how do you think that they miss reading those behaviors because you and I are able to see that because we know when like kids don't speak up we know why and we know when they are aggressive we know that that's a way of communicating but how do you think that or why do you think people who haven't navigated that like on a personal level have challenges?

Guest speaker I believe that the challenges are there because it's not going to be like easy for us to like open up and then there's like we can share our stories with like people but because they haven't lived through what we lived through like it's not going to be the same.

I feel like they can learn about our experiences but that difference is always going to be there because they have not gone through the same experience. For example like with my students I feel like we have in common a lot of things that we talk about even we could be in the middle of a lesson and then something pops up and then I'll be like oh yeah like back in Guatemala this is what I did and then of course like it doesn't have to be necessarily students from Guatemala because a lot of things that are similar in Mexico and Salvador Honduras they'll relate to it and then they feel that connection and it's so natural like it's so organic it's not forced versus someone that you know has heard my story and can like share that like about me but it's not the same as like me telling my own story about it but honestly I also feel like there aren't that group of people that are gonna go the extra mile who are gonna like and you know invest time in getting to know the culture and getting to know you know what it is like to live in a third world country if we put it in that term but again it takes that extra step and not everyone wants to do that unfortunately especially in the education like field I feel like you know me personally I do try to understand other cultures even within I think I feel like I'm just like contradicting myself because at the same time like it is different cultures like Mexican students have their own traditions that they're bringing back Salvadorian students but again it's just this could open up you know like a lot like let's not get into that right right right so you know I'm willing to come back but even then like see how different it is but I'm willing to like learn like what traditions you know happen like outside of Guatemala to understand but that's because I'm open to like experiencing that but if I was a teacher who's just here to like you know get the job done then of course like I'm not gonna find that common ground with my students and again like they pick up all those things like they feel that energy that you bring in they already like you know left home and they're coming let's say to this new home and if you're not wanted there then what's the attitude that you're gonna give back you know so it's all about like you know trying to understand like where everyone's coming from 

yeah yeah you know what as you were speaking you bring up such a good point of like cultural humility and cultural humility just basically says that like we are not an expert in anyone's life you know we cultural humility pushes us to continue to learn and to continue to learn from others from others experiences and one of like a specific story that I think about you and like what you were sharing is one of our students that we both deeply cared about and you know graduated and we missed but I remember when you went to Guatemala and you brought him back some Guatemalan chips right and he was so happy and you can feel like the nostalgia of like him connecting something as simple as chips to like the life he left behind and that is like what you're mentioning going that extra mile now obviously you were able to go to this country but even like it doesn't take for us to be from that country to be able to think of things like this right like how do I connect with the student to be able to make them feel and you brought up another great point like welcome because I think that is the underlying issue that a lot of the times our students don't feel welcome which then you said it greatly like how do I then defend and protect myself from a place that's causing harm now let's shift into something we both see across schools which is collective trauma according to the American Technological Association collective trauma refers to experiences that affect entire communities not just individuals so for our immigrant communities this might look like neighborhoods fearing after an ice raid or widespread anxiety after an anti-immigrant legislation passes you know one of the things that I know has come up a lot is like the uncertainty of DACA right and whether that's going to be passed and whether people like undocumented folks will have the opportunity to be able to continue to hold that status and so when I think of this I remember specifically this school year one mother calling me one morning telling me that her son had been having nightmares and she explained that those nightmares came from being so afraid that her parents were going to be taken away by ice that at night he would think they were snatched and that they never came to pick him up and that his siblings then had to stay alone and that kind of fear doesn't just stay at home right it walks into the classroom with him and that's why he was then referred to me because of his anxiety and how much it had increased and just as I worked with him like individually in counseling he shared like once again the uncertainty of not knowing whether his parents would be there when he got out of school so do you surely have any specific instances where like you've noticed this collective trauma and it could be like not just necessarily in the classroom but also within our community like maybe you've heard parents talk about it or you know as a school how have we addressed this collective trauma 

Guest speaker: well in one of my classes I actually have an eighth grade student who like completely stopped showing up and we were like concerned like oh like what's happening and just trying to like find out a little bit more of like why she didn't want to like come to school and when we contacted the parents it was because like it ties back to her story of why they migrated here to the U.S. she's from Honduras and unfortunately like her story is because she came to the U.S. because her family had to flee the country and just for her safety you know they decided that coming here to the U.S. was like the best thing to do but then now like everything that's happening around the community and what they're hearing social media like brought more panic into like a world where she was already struggling with like the emotions and everything happening she was like feeling that school was not safe like walking to school or walking from you know school to her house she just did not feel safe and she would rather like stay at home and then was also fearful of her mom going to work and like if mom was gonna come back or not so it was just a lot a lot was happening you know to this eighth grader like there's so little to be stressing and like burdening themselves with like all of this that's happening and sometimes we think like that like oh they're kids you know like why should they worry and it's like no like I just I felt for her because if I worry as an adult I can only imagine someone at that age like feeling like there's no way I can help and support and yeah it's just it's hard it's hard to hear those stories. 

Yeah and you know what you brought up some really good points of like well one of the fear that comes from that and like when you bring up the student it reminds me of the connection with that we have we both have of like we were saying like well now you know there's chronic absenteeism and the issue we were looking at was that like admin was like we need to figure out how she needs to be in school and and really as we dig deeper it's more of like well you know what is the purpose like you want her in school because you genuinely care about her learning or you want her because that affects in our you know percentage of students who are in the classroom and that's the reality of it right like what is the reason behind why she needs to be in school that was like a great point that you bring up and I also think of the importance of understanding intergenerational trauma right.

Gillen et al., 2024 found that children often internalize their parents stress and fear even if they didn't experience the events directly so like in this case you know the specific eighth grader thinking about her mom being deported even like the fear that her mom has voiced right to both you and I of like her being afraid of navigating the the streets because of the the detentions that have happened and I think that unconsciously like the mom doesn't purposely want to create that fear with her daughter but she does right and that is the reality that then comes into play at our school. So I want us to pause one again and listeners I want you to take the time to reflect on this take a deep breath and ask yourself what might collective trauma look like in your school or in your workplace? How can you tell when fear has settled into a community? How are you able to see that? 

Now let's talk about systems the structures that can either support or harm immigrant students and Latinx students in general especially during anti-political climates like the ones we are living through today. Research shows that after the 2016 election which was the first election where it was very voiced that you know there were anti-immigrant policies being created now what is it nine years later we are kind of circling back to that on a on a 10 times stronger you know bullying level but after 2016 bullying and teasing based on race or perceived immigration status increased significantly in schools and that happened 2016 I'm sure that's the same now and as Hacker et al.,  2011 found schools can become retraumatizing when they unintentionally align with enforcement systems for example maybe by asking for unnecessary documentation or failing to protect confidentiality and thankfully we work at a school where obviously we're still navigating how to be more inclusive but we don't have to deal with some of that but I'm sure like in certain states you know where there are a lot more policies that are taken like anti-immigrant policies this might be the case so Shirley how do you see institutional barriers or education system here showing up on a day-to-day basis and how do you see that impacting our students? 

Guest speaker: Well there is the language barrier to say one or mention one and something that like really shocks me as I'm like walking down the hallway or outside you know trying to go get my lunch is the bullying that happens around this topic just seeing how our students mention like oh I'm going to call ice on you or just like those little mocking moments that happen between them even though some of them might want to come off as playful it's just not okay like the red flags that like you know just show up with that I don't know if you've noticed it but even within our own like Hispanic or like you know Latinos like saying those things like oh like go back you know to your country or you know ICE is here for you like I just I'm always just like mind blown how like they you know it's just they think it's okay yeah and I guess maybe it's because like what they see in social media or just any you know I don't know where they're hearing all of this also outside of school where they think like oh like it's okay like now it's becoming normal or like and it's just you know it's sad like no this is not okay sometimes I do like try to stop and you know kind of like reassess like the situation and then kind of like educate them like wait like no like this could happen to us like I include myself like you know ICE is not stopping to see like oh no like you know she has a master's degree and like no like the questions are going to be asked way later so I just yeah like the bullying is just it's crazy yeah 

I think that you bring a great point in regards to like being working with this community or working with this population includes us advocating you said a great point educating and advocating and I think that sometimes that's often left out right like we're thinking of way how to directly service like our students and how to help them navigate the challenges but part of that is on a whole school level right how do we educate our families our communities our own you know like you say Latinx populations to be more inclusive and to not engage in like these bullying behaviors right 

Guest speakers: because I want to say like as Latinos joking around and like any little thing we just laugh at it or like try to find that funny part because I want to say like culturally that's like one thing you know especially how like we interact with our friends but it's like the topic that we're talking about because that's something I was talking to one of my students who I was like shocked to see who was like joking around with that and it's like no I understand like you know we want to be funny but this is not something you know to like laugh about and all of a sudden like normalize like it's not okay yeah 

so let's shift to what healing can look like so adapting trauma-informed care into our Latinx community through a teacher's perspective so Shirley let's start with safety what are some ways that we can shift our current practices at our school to make our Latinx students feel safer 

Guest speaker: yeah sure for me safety starts with consistency and routines my students need to know what to expect when they walk in even like something small for example like you know greeting them at the door just saying buenos dias como estan or como pasaron el fin de semana it's something that I feel like grounds them 

yeah for sure yes you bring up a great point that human connection is everything right like the minute they step into our school into your classroom saying like I someone's asking how I feel and sometimes that doesn't happen right what about trust how do you think that we can create that trust 

Guest speaker: I want to say that we can't create that trust like we have to like build that trust with the student so again like by getting to know the student uh like and truly like getting to know them not because you know you want to be that cool teacher no like really like so that you can better support them um and just like let it flow naturally like that trust 

yeah yeah yeah I think you're so right and like that you mentioned it earlier that our students pick up on how genuine we are and they feed off of that energy so you're right like just genuinely like we said earlier having that cultural humility of like I really want to get to know you and earn that trust yeah now how do you see peer support and what I mean by this is like how do you see the students that you serve like for example in your small groups and like the uh when you teach them when you you know gather them all together and you teach them um the English language how do you see them supporting each other and what are some of the things that you know kind of you're amazed by and and really want to acknowledge 

Guest speaker: well I'm lucky to have a space you know where they have this classroom where we're able to like do the lessons well now that they're picking up more of the language it's like a Spanglish kind of vibe that's happening so it's like nice to see themselves correcting each other on how to pronounce the words or even like build on that idea that they're trying to express in English a lot of like Spanish like is shared here in this classroom because they're able to like communicate in Spanish so just like seeing them comfortable and them interacting with each other because I do also work with them in their regular like ELA class and it's just so different even like the way they express themselves it's just um I could like specifically think about this one student she loves to like read out loud here uh even if she like mispronounces a word she knows like no one's gonna laugh because we're here to learn but when it comes to like her ELA class uh she's just like very shy and quiet uh very timid and that's not her so I'm just like glad that they do have this space here like one step at a time too um I you know I'm happy that they have this space here where they're exposed to it and then hopefully like as time goes by they feel more comfortable within like that bigger group setting because even though you know like I pull them out uh that other group is also like their classmates so my goal is to like you know hopefully at the end of the year uh for the students to feel comfortable also in like the bigger spaces 

yeah and you bring up a great point of like that they you know the specific student I feel is able to open up because there is that safety and that trust that's already been created with you with her peers and that those shared common challenges and um maybe values that they share so yeah now collaboration which is another one of the trauma-informed care principles how do you think or what are some of the things that you think are missing or that already might be you know you used in your school to help um people collaborate to better support the Latinx communities and maybe what are some gaps where do you think there needs to be more collaboration 

Guest speaker: there is always room for improvement when it comes to collaborating uh as I mentioned before like you unfortunately in you know our field you are gonna find the teachers that are just here for like a paycheck or this is like the best next thing in my career that I had coming for me um and you see the difference when you collaborate with the teachers that are truly willing to invest you know a little bit more of their time uh you see you see that in the classroom like you see how it flows how it becomes easier to like uh support the student in the classes I mentioned like I also go in the in the classrooms um even like I sometimes feel like I could be the mediator between the student and the teacher because like again that trust I feel like I've already like built that foundation with the student so it's easy for me to like communicate that to the teachers or if for example a student's having a bad day and I can pick up those signs it's easy for me to be like you know what I think the student might be having a hard time so you know um kind of like have it like having an easier day for them uh but again like being able to collaborate with those teachers having that um just like that trust too as adults with each other uh because then I do have other teachers that I'm like you know what like this is the way they run their class let me not like you know kind of like disturb the day you know yes like how their day is going um but again like it all comes down again to like trust like having that because we're here for the student you know like I well I specifically I can only speak for myself like I want the best for them I want to avoid them having like the bad moments I had at school when I was like you know again like as I was mentioning being a third grader like not being able to like express you know myself or like communicate like you know sometimes I would get blamed for things I didn't do but because I couldn't like tell my teacher like you know no it wasn't me um it was just hard yes and we see that here yes and that's why you know I try to like always you know supporting what I can especially like you know in the playground it's hard to be everywhere too like I I think like it would be amazing if there were more of me around school but you know I'm at least I'm glad that this school has like someone like me to support them I have other friends who are teachers too that work at other schools that unfortunately they don't have someone that supports you know the students the way I do here and they're just like left on their own to figure it out and again all these pressures that are just like placed on the student is just you know unfortunate 

yes you bring up really great points now for empowerment what are some ways in which you have used like your classroom and your teaching to empower the students that you work with to be able to own like their story and like their experiences as I

Guest speaker: mentioned like earlier on my family's from Guatemala and I do call myself a Guatemalan and I just like really like I'm very very proud like the pride that I bring out on like being Guatemalan is just crazy because there's a lot that I'm you know that there's to learn about my country but I also want my students to feel the the same way to feel proud of you know where they come from and like things that you know to share about things that we don't know about their countries a project that we did in the beginning of the year because we got a new space where the class is being held now we decided to like put up like the flags from the countries that we're a part of and it was just nice to hear you know a little bit about you know how their life was back in their country and what was one thing that they missed and you know just we were open to like hear whatever they wanted to share about their country so it's nice that you know they come in and they can see the flag that you know that's up on the board or even then like having them have those little conversations and you know just hearing about them is just it's good I let it happen in my class of course I don't let it overtake the lesson but I do like give it the space and time because like I value those little things so I want them to feel like heard and understood yeah so it's an it's an open space yeah 

and lastly we'll talk about cultural and historic and historical context how do you notice or what are some of the things that you think are important to acknowledge when it comes to their culture and just the history behind some of their experiences to better be able to serve them in a school setting 

Guest speaker: I believe that it is important to acknowledge their story just to know like where they're coming from what they have been through a lot of you know teachers here are never gonna like truly understand and live what it is or what it means to cross the border so it's just you know like having that space and like that mindset of like being open to understanding other people's life again like we might not know or face the same struggle that they went through but it's like having empathy like understanding like you know this eight-year-old you know without water days you know under the sun just like yeah being you know understanding 

yes you bring up such a good strong point of like honoring their journey and their experiences as knowledge right not like we know more because we are the educators or we know more because you're a kid but rather like this is like in my last episode I talked about this stuff like conocimiento live knowledge that knowledge is just as important as like the book knowledge and sometimes we minimize that as we near the end of our episode I want you to leave a space for reflection for both educators and practitioners listening take a moment to think about your own school or agency what stories are centered whose stories are missing how do our daily practices even the well-intentioned ones right make immigrant students feel seen or unseen Shirley what final message would you like to share with our listeners today maybe to help them reflect or just in general like what are some important things that we discussed today and things you'd want them to take reflect on and just think about 

Guest speaker: Id say listen to your students don't assume silence means they're okay again like remember that language barrier like sometimes you know even like myself I'm like you know what like see no se nada and then let me just sit here and like but it's not it's not because I don't wanna say nada but it's because I'm not being understood so why am I gonna go back and forth you know with someone and again this is me thinking as an adult like just imagine again a fifth grader you know a sixth grader and then also sometimes the quietest students are carrying the loudest stories like just think about that like the quietest students carrying the loudest stories and again that's where like get to know them get to know them invest that time be patient be curious and never underestimate the healing power of connection I've seen you know like a lot of those connections like flourish like in my in my classroom with the students this is my fourth year here at this school and just you know I remember you know when I came to do my teacher demo and like there was this one student who was just not like vibing and in my head I was like oh no like you know I might not get the job if I don't find a way to like interact with him yeah but even I remember it was just uh I'm a big Taylor Swift fan and uh you know she had just released an album and I was all about music I I love music um so even like in that simple like topic like music uh I just asked the students you know like oh what is the cancion favorita and it was that first okay it wasn't even the the demo about science that I had done for the past 10 minutes it was that one sentence like what is the cancion favorita that got the students attention and um I think it was like I can't remember like who sings that song but um I guess it was probably like one of the popular songs and I was like oh perfect like I'm just gonna keep talking about this song you know and then it was so crazy because like that one phrase in Spanish you know like in the language he understood like you could even tell his body language changed like but again it was like me willing to like you know yeah go that extra mile and be like you know what like you know whether I get this job or not I was like I just really want to get to know the student like and even just asking that simple question like you know what song is your favorite song um and that honestly like led to like a bigger conversation and he was just interacting and then that led to like oh like you know I'm from Guatemala and I didn't even ask him where he was from and then I was like oh well you know my family too and then honestly like from that moment on um just the relationship with this student was very like honest uh was very like truthful like anything like la confianza and it was just like amazing to see him like graduate last year uh yes yes and like you know him wearing like a Guatemalan sash and all in that moment just those are the moments you know like that you hold on to uh of course you know this job is not easy and there are good days and there are bad days days where you're gonna you know go home and feel like stressed and just like you know beat at the end of the day but then you come back the next day and you show up again because you know it's worth it and then graduation comes and then you see that one student you know that wanted to sing that was their song you know walk across stage and then it's that you know it's that it's not the paycheck you know that we get but it's like those moments um that you hold on to and that are meaningful yeah yeah 

thank you thank you thank you so much for all of just your wonderful input and all your insight and also thank you so much Shirley for all the work that you're doing because I know you and I like besides you being a part of my you know being a guest speaker you're like also one of my great friends and I think part of that is this connection that you and I built about the way that we show up the way that we feel so much pride in our culture and then that then reflects with our students so thank you so much for being a part of this 

Guest speaker: I appreciate you having me 

before we close I want to leave you with a few reminders all of the references mentioned in today's episodes are listed in the show notes you'll also find a link to the reflection journal for this episode and the transcript as well in case you need those I really want you all if possible to look at those reflection journals to be able to dig deeper into some of the themes that were discussed today and see what ways we can show up on our schools to better support Latinx families if you haven't yet please make sure to subscribe to Raices y Resiliencia wherever you listen to podcasts so you don't miss upcoming episodes and if this episode resonated with you share it with a colleague or friend someone who also believes in creating trauma-informed culturally grounded spaces for Latinx students and families remember the work we do is hard work healing doesn't happen overnight but every time we listen learn and show up with compassion we're changing the system from within thank you for listening for reflecting and for showing up with intencion 

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