Maestras Magnificas

Remembering our first years in schooloften bringsup memories of friends, favorite teachers and fun moments on campus, but for Veronica Quintero, the first years of school brought nerves and uneasiness.

“SCHOOL WAS DIFFICULT FOR ME AT FIRST. I didn’t know English and remember asking to use the restroom, and my teacher did not understand me,” says Quintero. “Experiences like that made me turn inward, and I didn’t want to participate in class or ask for help because I thought that the teachers were going to be upset with me.”

Quintero, a native of Brownsville, Texas, is now a fourth grade writing teacher at IDEA Riverview, which sits only a few yards from the border. She recalls the moment she thought school just wasn’t for her because of the communication difficulty she faced in the classroom.  

Veronica Quintero, a 4th grade writing teacher at IDEA Riverview, is a former EL student with a passion for working with duallanguage students. 

“I didn’t look forward to going to school. I had a terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach every time Monday rolled around, and I would cry,” she says. “As a child who did not understand English, I felt like I wasn’t as smart as the other kids and there was no point in school if I just didn’t understand anything.”

Quintero’s story is not unique. In the United States today, there are almost 5 million students who possess limited English proficiency and need support and intervention in classrooms each day. English learners (ELs) represent a growing part of the U.S. student body with nearly 10% ofpublic school students classified as EL.

The Southwest United States has some of the highest proportions of EL students per district. With many of its schools located along the Texas-Mexico border, IDEA Public Schools classifies approximately 34% of its student body as ELs.

Texas House Bill 3 increases funding for students learning English, which has allowed IDEA Public Schools to invest in programming such as Imagine Learning, Rosetta Stone, and Español to English to better support English Learners on campus. While Quintero doesn’t remember when things turned around but says eventually it got easier and her confidence grew along with her proficiency. She soon became a star student who was anxious to prove that even with a language barrier, she was just as capable as any other student.

Quintero coaches one of her students through a writing assignment. 

Alejandra Najera, a sixth grade reading teacher at IDEA Edgemere in El Paso, was born and raised in El Paso’s Lower Valley, an area known for having a high EL population and many lowincome families. Najera says EL students are very common along the border, and some, like herself, may not receive EL instruction until elementary school or later. “It’s very common for students along the border to have limited exposure to English instruction, especially in their formative years,” says Najera. “I was actually an EL student myself growing up. Spanish is my first language, and I received instruction in Spanish at school until the sixth grade.”

Najera says that her own experience as an EL student, along with being the first in her entire family to graduate college, made her realize the value of an education.

“It is a universal fact that education can change lives. It can break barriers and take you places you never thought possible,” says Najera. “I know this for a fact because of my own personal experience, and it is something I try to impart on all of my scholars.” “Some people see being an EL as something of a disadvantage, and that simply isn’t true,” says Ana Carrera, a kindergarten teacher at IDEA Mesa Hills in El Paso. “Students who speak more than one language bridge two cultures and may end up with more opportunities because of their skills.

We just want to prepare them to be as successful as possible while retaining a sense of who they are and where they come from.” Born and raised in Chihuahua, Mexico, Carrera came to the U.S. to attend the University of Texas at El Paso and study early childhood and bilingual education. Carrera says her desire to teach stemmed from always wanting to help her classmates succeed in school when she was growing up.

“There is something about being a catalyst in a student’s life that has always appealed to me,” she says. “Here in El Paso, there are many students who can go further than they ever imagined. That’s why we have to prepare them now.”

All three teachers agree that the biggest misconception about EL students is that they are all immigrants. They also stated that many people underestimate ELs’ intelligence or lower their expectations simply because of language barriers.

“Our students have strengths and weaknesses just like any other student, but they’re working hard each day, and they’re building proficiencies and reaching milestones, and there’s no better feeling in the world than when you see that light bulb go off, and you know they have learned something,” says Najera. Quintero recalls working with an EL scholar to write an essay that was going to be published. After having several writing conferences with him and workshopping his piece, the day came for him to present his finished essay in front of the school.    “He was so confident reading up there. It was an essay about him playing soccer and going to professional games, and when he finished everyone clapped, and his eyes got watery, and he told me ‘lo logré por ti’ — I did it because of you,” she says. All three agree it is important to be mindful and empathetic to the backgrounds of EL learners to better meet their learning needs and create a safe classroom culture for them. The work of EL students and teachers is certainly paying off; it was recently reported that IDEA achievement percentages for EL students who meet or exceed standards is 49% compared to 36% for the State of Texas.

“These students deserve the best education. They work very hard and challenge each other to succeed even further,” says Carrera. “As an educator, it is most rewarding to see the excitement when they realize they’ve accomplished a goal they’ve been working toward.” ♦

Top to bottom: IDEA Mesa Hills teacher Ana Carrera poses with Academy students Amber Melendez and Jaiden Rodriguez. Alejandra Najera works with her 6th grade reading student on an in-class project. Bottom: Veronica Quintero calls upon a group of eager writing students at IDEA Riverview. Najera, coaches students in her 6th grade class on an in-class assignment.. 