School Demography
I teach 7th grade English Language Arts at River City Middle School. River City Middle School is a neighborhood school in Richmond, Virginia that serves a Latino and Black student population. Nearly half of the students on my 2021-2022 roster were Latino students. They have ties to countries throughout Latin America including Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, and Puerto Rico.
I shared this book with several students during independent reading time at the end of the 2021-2022 school year. Student feedback was positive. As a book that focuses on Latino experiences, Voces Sin Fronteras presents an opportunity for a large number of my students to connect to the curriculum. This relevance will increase student engagement and participation.
Many Latino students said they felt the stories in Voces Sin Fronteras would be valuable for the whole class to read. I have taught in schools with Latino student populations that comprise a large proportion of the school. However, many students outside of the Latino community generalize all Latino students as Mexican. This book provides a voice to people from other Latin American countries and helps students understand the complexity and richness of Latino heritage.
Although students gave positive feedback on the idea of teaching this book for the 2022-2023 school year, a handful expressed that the content matter could be emotionally challenging for some students. Many students will have personal experiences with immigrating to the United States and the stories in the book could trigger students. As the subject matter of the books is difficult, it will be important to accommodate and support students' experiences within a classroom space.
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