At first glance, I thought writing about my identity would be as simple as tying my shoes.

So I began tying my shoes before going on a run and I realized that 24 years later, I am still
coming to understand my own identity. While running, I had a nagging question in the back of
my mind: How can I create a culturally responsive classroom environment if I dont even
understand myself?! So I began breaking my life into pieces. I noticed that in every part of my
life I had strong teachers and my family.
I never thought about my identity as a student. My teachers helped me write my name,
Irma Leticia Munoz, so that was a start. I was a shy, timid, soft spoken student that always
yearned for teacher appraisal so I became known as a nerd and teachers pet. There was just
something about teachers that I admired. I felt their love towards their students even when they
had 40 of us in their class. What struck me the most was not only my relationship with them, but
their relationship with my parents. My mom loved all of my teachers. She had very high respect
for all of them and she showed this by becoming involved with the school and in my classroom.
Since I was in bilingual classrooms up to 3rd grade, it was very easy for my mom to become
involved because all my teachers spoke and understood Spanish. My homework became my
parents homework. We worked through math and reading together. I even learned new
strategies from my parents. This showed me the value of family involvement in student
education. As a student, I was lucky enough to experience this with my mom so as a teacher I
make this one of my priorities.
The problem with some schools that have bilingual programs are those that do not
continue bilingual education and really enforce students on being bilingual. I was in a
transitional bilingual program. By 3rd grade I was placed in an English-only classroom with a
teacher that only spoke English. This was when I began to lose some part of my identity. I was
quickly transitioned to an all English classroom so that was difficult for me academically. I felt
comfortable reading in Spanish so I had trouble reading and comprehending literature in
English. I became frustrated with homework and I would notice my parents frustration as well.
My first language is Spanish so I come from a home that only spoke Spanish. My homework
became MY homework. I was to suffer alone because nobody in my family understood what
was going on with the worksheet in front of me. I couldnt blame them or anyone else. They did
the best they could. In order to not fall behind and continue to be an honor roll student, I tried
my best to improve my reading skills. 1997 became the year I began to love books. I began to
read and speak more in English. While to my family this was a good thing, I later came to realize
the negative side. I started loosing my Spanish skills. From 3rd grade to 8th, speaking Spanish
at school became socially prohibited. You were looked down upon from your peers if you
spoke Spanish. So of course, in order to fit in I only spoke English. I wish I could go back and
change my thinking because I lost a lot of myself during that time. I lost my appreciation of my
own language, culture and appreciation towards teachers. I did not feel as connected to them as
I did before. School was a place to learn and do work so I was still doing fairly well but I no
longer looked for their appraisal and kindness.
Little by little I began regaining myself. This began in high school when it was mandatory
that incoming freshman knew and understood Spanish. I hadnt lost all of my Spanish,
thankfully. So with all of our Spanish grammar classes and Spanish literature classes I began to
regain consciousness. I began to realize the importance of being bilingual and truly
understanding where you come from. I am a Mexican-American, first generation student, with
immigrant parents. I have come to appreciate all of the help and dedication of my high school
teachers during this time. I have come to value my family's background and culture, especially
language. With my experience in grade school, I came to value family involvement and teacher-
student relationships. In order to create a culturally responsive environment, a teacher needs to
build relationships with students. This could be difficult when teachers do not speak the same
language or cannot offer support to students that are learning English. Because I value
speaking, writing, reading and understanding 2 different languages, I want to encourage this in
education. I saw the advantage of having teachers be able to communicate with my family. With
the growing numbers of Latinos in the US, it is important for teachers to value this as well. We
want to create a community that allows students to identify other cultures but also their own. I
feel the pride in being Mexican-American. I want to pass along that feeling to my students about
their own culture.
Coming to realize my own identity was not as easy as I thought. My experiences in
school, positive or negative, have lead me here. I have come to understand my passion for
teaching as I see many disparities between minorities. While many may not have family support,
I want to be their reason to come to school. I will be their mom, dad, brother, sister, friend AND
teacher. I do not only teach content, I build relationships with students so that when it is time for
them to look back and reflect on their own identity, they can have positive memories of being in
Ms. Munozs class.