As I reviewed my second graders’ takes on our read-aloud of the day, one response stopped me chilly.
Leonardo’s* paper learn: “No me gustó el libro porque es de México y los Mexicanos me hicieron sufrir en el tren.” I didn’t just like the e book as a result of it’s about Mexico. And Mexicans made me endure on the prepare.
My coronary heart dropped.
Leonardo was one of many three Colombian college students in my class. Throughout his journey to the US, he rode La Bestia, a harmful community of freight trains. This technique of freight trains runs throughout Mexico from south to north and it’s typically utilized by these touring towards the U.S border. It was throughout his time on this prepare that one in every of his dad and mom was assaulted at knifepoint by somebody from Mexico.
As a Mexican American educator educating a room full of scholars with Central American and Mexican roots, I knew I needed to tackle this fastidiously. Ignoring it risked permitting stereotypes, damage and division to form our classroom tradition.
Diana Zepeda
I felt a rollercoaster of feelings: heartbreak {that a} little one so younger endured such trauma, understanding of why he expressed himself the best way he did, and on the identical time, deep self-reflection. His phrases compelled me to confront how simply a single expertise can form our perceptions of others. It jogged my memory of moments after I, too, have allowed one interplay to affect how I assumed or felt.
My classroom included 26 youngsters representing greater than 5 Latin American international locations. The end result was a each day refrain of, “My nation is healthier than yours,” full with passionate proof. This rivalry typically grew to become a contest over who “belongs” within the U.S, fueled by adverse media portrayals of newly arrived immigrants. If I didn’t tackle Leonardo’s notion of Mexicans and the rising national-pride rivalries, the negativity would seep into the whole lot else.
I started by bringing cultural consciousness into our classroom as a part of culturally responsive educating, an method that acknowledges college students’ cultures, languages and lived experiences as strengths fairly than boundaries. I partnered with Marilyn Lara Corral from the National Museum of Mexican Art in Pilsen by way of their Nuestras Historias Trainer Residency Program. Collectively, we co-created an arts-integrated challenge targeted on self-identity. College students labored on clean sq. canvases which had been later sewn onto a mercado bag.
Every scholar obtained a clean canvas sq.. College students traced their portraits onto the decrease middle of the canvas. Their portraits stayed black and white. The whole lot else about their identification was in coloration: their favourite traditions, meals, actions and the cultural symbols that formed who they had been. Flags rapidly stuffed the squares. Drawings of pupusas, tamales, pozole, arepas and pizza appeared. Every canvas sq. grew to become a declaration of identification and belonging.
On the finish of the challenge, I hung their vibrant “mercado baggage,” within the hallway. College students proudly offered their work, explaining what they drew. Someplace in that course of, the tone of our classroom shifted. My second graders realized they may absolutely be themselves and on the identical time recognize everybody round them. Leonardo and all my college students linked over meals, music, and reminiscences.
Mercado Luggage displayed in Diana’s classroom. By Diana Zepeda, March 11, 2026
I’ve but to fulfill a scholar who didn’t wish to share their roots. Yearly, my college students are keen to speak about their traditions and favourite meals. When educators deliberately invite college students’ cultural identities into the classroom, we do greater than promote inclusion. College students thrive in areas the place they really feel seen and valued.
Experiences like these mirror the aim behind Illinois’ Culturally Responsive Teaching and Leading Standards: to information educators in constructing school rooms grounded in belonging, identification and significant connections.
There are various methods we will make this a actuality in our school rooms. Listed here are only a few:
Select culturally genuine books
Illustration issues, however authenticity issues extra. College students regularly share connections they’ve made between the textual content and their very own lived experiences. These texts embody books and tales deliberately chosen to mirror college students’ cultures, languages and communities. This stage of engagement occurs extra typically when books mirror college students’ actual lives, language and tradition fairly than easy translations. On-line shops like First Book Marketplace provide numerous, low-cost books in a number of languages that middle college students’ lived experiences.
Incorporate tradition into participation routines
This 12 months, I modified a Total Participation Technique in our class discussions by pairing college students with pictures of meals from their cultures: encebollado with pan, atole with tamales, arepa with queso. When their dialog companions requested questions, they eagerly defined the dishes.
Find out about college students’ cultures deliberately
I ship dwelling household surveys to study my college students’ traditions, immigration tales and values. I deliberately take my college students’ backgrounds into consideration when lesson planning, constructing on cultural information college students like Leonardo have already got. I join classes to experiences they acknowledge and use examples and texts that mirror their dwelling lives.
Leonardo grew to become finest buddies with the identical classmate he typically argued with. They did the whole lot collectively and grew so shut I needed to recommend they be positioned in numerous school rooms the next 12 months, simply to maintain them out of bother. When educators honor college students’ identities, we don’t simply embellish school rooms with flags and books, we construct communities the place therapeutic, belonging and studying can take root and blossom.
Diana Zepeda is a 2nd grade bilingual instructor at Haugan Elementary in Chicago and a 2025-2026 Educate Plus Illinois Early Childhood Educator Coverage Fellow.
Editor’s Notice: Illinois Latino Information granted anonymity to a minor featured on this story as a result of issues about immigration standing. The person’s identification is understood to the newsroom.
