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Emilee Rodriguez

Professor Ahn

TCH_LRN 401

12 October 2023

Reflection #1: Competency 2.C

To me, this competency focuses on the teacher candidate's knowledge of and ability to

recognize that MLLs come from many different backgrounds ranging from very similar to a

native-born citizen all the way to a refugee fleeing war with no prior schooling. This also

involves being aware of the effects that these differences have on these learners and how it

affects the teaching strategies that will be effective. Many times, MLLs are facing adversity that

may not be visible to a passerby, but teachers hold the responsibility of recognizing these

roadblocks and doing whatever they can to remove them or support students through them.

Sometimes, MLLs have faced adversity before they even make it to our classroom.

When many people think of an MLL, they think of a kid who has just moved from another

country and is learning English. This isn't the case for every MLL. Some are born in the U.S. but

don't speak English at home. Others arrive in the U.S. from countries facing war or poverty,

perhaps even experiencing these things firsthand. There are MLLs who have moved from place

to place, never having a chance to settle – and maybe they know that they won't stay in the

U.S. forever. Even within immigrant populations, their experiences can differ wildly depending

on their documentation status. As teachers, it's important that we focus on the experiences
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that our students have because our students don't leave their past at the door when they enter

our schools.

Once our MLLs take a step into our classroom, their struggles aren't over. There are

many factors that affect their experiences. Some students fear being deported. Others are living

in poverty. Many students will likely face discrimination due to their race, gender, ethnicity, or

religion, especially if they don't align with traditional American values. Others may be disabled

and trying to find the support that they need to be comfortable and successful. These are things

that students face outside the classroom, and maybe even inside it, too. Teachers need to

anticipate these difficulties and do whatever they can to make their classroom a safe place for

these students. The classroom needs to be a place where students are welcome to be

themselves without fear of shame or discrimination.

I have quite a bit of experience with this competency. I previously took an honors

humanities course at WSU that focused on immigrant and refugee experiences. Our final

assignment was to tell our immigration story. I wrote the story of how I moved from Virginia to

California, compared it to the experiences of an immigrant or refugee (as best as I could, I

recognized that the comparison was lacking), and then discussed DACA and how it's destruction

affected the immigrants and refugees that relied on it. I spoke about my childhood best friend,

Martha, who was an MLL from an immigrant family. Growing up, I remember her having to be

responsible for every phone call her parents made because they had trouble communicating

with others. I think about how that was so scary for me, but it was normal for her. When she

should have been playing and being a kid, she was acting as an adult because she didn't have a
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choice. Looking back, it's a very sobering experience. This assignment looks at different

perspectives that an MLL may have and discusses how it affects their lives and their education. I

compare it to my own and reflect on my privilege. I have also completed two ELL interviews,

one with my friend Maria and one with a migrant boy named Tammam. Maria moved to the

U.S. at a young age and Tammam had migrated to the U.S. after migrating once before. They

had two very different experiences due to their circumstances. Being able to see these varied

experiences through these assignments, I am confident that I would be able to recognize the

different challenges that each student would face in my classroom.

Knowing about your students is really important. We've talked about doing home visits,

and although those can be intrusive and not welcome in all families or cultures, having surveys

or giving families opportunities to talk about their history and the experiences that their child

has had. It was interesting to see the data on MLLs, especially when it comes to their

experiences and their disposition for negative experiences that have long-term consequences

on their lives. Being able to be mindful of these things and use the strategies that we have

learned to lessen these effects on our students is invaluable. Our discussions on discrimination

were eye-opening, as I don't really think about the discrimination I have faced very much. I

don't face it very often, as I am white and middle-class. But I really connected with others when

they talked about how they were treated poorly because they were women. I have had

experiences like that where I have been looked down upon because I was a woman. I can only

imagine how many MLLs are overlooked, underestimated, and patronized just because they

aren't fluent in English. I think that the budgeting game we did in particular really reminded me
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that I need to be compassionate to parents, too. I had to make the choice to miss work to care

for my sick kid, leave them home alone, or send them to school sick. It was a difficult decision,

but my only real choice was to send them to school sick. When I'm in the classroom and half of

my kids have a cough and the sniffles, I get frustrated that these kids aren't home resting. I get

upset that their parents sent them in to make the rest of the class (and me) sick, too. It can be

easy to assume that parents are lazy or uninvolved just because they don't care, but that

experience reminded me that many parents are struggling to get by and are doing the best they

can to provide for their kids.

The varied experiences that each of these students carry with them means that they all

learn differently. We know that students who are refugees will likely be unable to learn until

their needs are met. In the first few months of them being in the U.S., their education may be

second to their social-emotional development. They may need a lot of extra support,

particularly if they have firsthand experience in war. Meanwhile, a student who was born in the

U.S. will be accustomed to the culture and the school system, so they may just need language

support and a safe place to express their culture. Each student is at a different place in their

education. Some may not have even stepped foot in a school before, so you will have to teach

them the expectations of being in a school. Some students will bring trauma with them, and

teachers should be mindful to work with students to keep them comfortable and feeling safe.

This competency has really shown me how important it is to build a rapport and be

involved in your students' lives, as you never know what they have been through. MLL students

in particular really benefit from having a solid and consistent relationship with the adults in
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their lives, and teachers are someone who they are guaranteed to see for hours every week. I

also think that it has shown me how important community is when it comes to education. I am

usually wary to contact parents, however the classroom activities we have done made me

realize that our students need a support system that supports them outside of the classroom as

well. Being a teacher to a diverse group of students with diverse experiences and living

situations means that I need to be aware of the resources I can point these families to. It has

also shown me that compassion rules over all, for both students and families. It has also

prompted me to take a look at my biases, as it reminded me that there are many ways I may be

unintentionally harming my students with my teaching. I never want my students to feel like

they have to assimilate to be welcome in my classroom, and my teaching need to reflect that.