"Life is a journey not a destination"
Ralph Waldo Emerson
What journey have you had to travel to get to where you are today? Have your parents or family members shared their journey with you? How has that helped to make you into the person you are today?
I have lived a journey similar to my students. My grandmother was my care taker. I lived the journey of an immigrant trying to reach the American Dream. With much effort and help from my uncles and teachers. This struggle has made have a growing mindset. Now I know I can do anything as long as I want to make it happen.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your story! What a great connection you have with your students.
DeleteNotice how the train hurtles toward the hazy horizon, where, at some unseeable point in the distance, the parallel rails, on a spherical planet, theoretically converge. Across this distance, Enrique and his mother lead parallel lives. Will they eventually be rejoined? The young man sits atop La Bestia and bravely faces his uncertain destiny.
ReplyDeleteHow about the journey of love? Talk about an adventurous windy road to destination unknown. Why does it takes years of relationships, reflections, obstacles, books, and advice just to come to the very obvious conclusion, in my case, that the formula for love = connection + compatibility + timing?!
ReplyDeleteGreat analogy. Love is definitely a journey. Who knows how or why we may be brought together with that someone special. What a great and exciting journey it is to share.
DeleteNice... <3 <3<3
DeleteI know I have had quite a journey to get to where I am today. One of the most powerful tools we used in my house growing up was our kitchen table. All ideas, dreams, debates and conversations were welcomed. No matter how busy we were... we always ate together. My dad had all sorts of phrases like "Andrew, the world's ways are not our ways." So even though I may have seen some things I didn't like growing up (bullying, prejudice, arrogance)it didn't mean that I had to do the same. "You are the salt of the earth." He always said how special we all were. We all had that special ingredient that made life more tasty. He also loved, "make lemonade out of lemons." Make the best of things no matter how tough they get. He knew something about toughness . He was in the army during Vietnam and dealt with the soldiers returning who had experienced tremendous trauma. He always tried to find ways to bring out the best in them...to get them to see the best no matter what they had done or experienced. My dad has to be by far the most positive person I have ever met and he gave me a great start in my own journey :)
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ReplyDeleteIt has never been easy, lots of work. Many obstacles and many life lessons. But if you work hard you'll get results.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, Ramos. Definitely a unifying theme, if anything that has made a difference in someone's life it has been hard work.
DeleteI shared my parent's journey. My father crossed to the US illegally first, and when he returned to Mexico I didn't know who he was. My mother told my father if he was going back he had to take us with him. My mother left to the US and a few months later my sister and I crossed together with other family members. I was 3 and a half so I don't really remember much, my sister is the one that tells me the stories of crossing the river. Once, here my family separated due to work. I lived with my mother working for a Jewish single mother, and my sister stayed with my dad here in this area and we would see each other in the weekends.
ReplyDeleteEverything about this journey, the reasons and the effects, made me who I am today. What I have gone through makes me understand what many of my students go through including language issues and having parents who are never home, and not able to navigate through the educational system. All my experiences are the reasons I teach and teach specifically math (something many were surprised since I was a "paisana").
In the middle of the Sandinista Government in the 1980s my grandma was able to secure an exit visa from the US Embassy in Managua. In a few years she was was able to procure exit visas for my mom and me. We flew out of Nicaragua in 1988.
ReplyDeleteWe settled on Kenmore and 6th. In that building my family was spread out on floors 1 and 3. It was a tight night community of ex pat Central Americans. I remember that the cousins, we would rotate our clothes for the next person. Hand me down, down, down...
I think that the fact that we had permanent residency shielded us from many of the things that affected others immigrants.
My journey to get to where I am today has definitely been impacted by my immediate family, as well as close friends who are like family to me. My position in my journey regarding education has been majorly impacted by my parents. Their commitment to higher learning, first for themselves and then them stressing it as a priority for me growing up inspired me to pursue higher learning. I remember seeing my older brother do well in school, apply to different colleges and get accepted into UCLA; that was a great encouragement for me.
ReplyDeleteMy best friend who is like a brother to me, graduated from UCLA law school, and just observing him made realize if he could do it, so can I achieve my goals. I am convinced that who you surround yourself with greatly impacts your journey.
Both of my parents came from Mexico and I grew up listening to their stories of hardship and their hopes for my siblings and I to have a better future.
ReplyDeleteI try to always assume that the parents/guardians of our are working hard and also want their kids to have a better life. So when I try to give pep talks to my students I try to remind them of the people in their lives that are working hard for them.
My family's journey to America started with my father. He came to this country alone, working odd jobs and scraping by on very little in order to save enough to bring my mom, my sister, and me. My mom and my grandma raised us for a couple years until my dad finally brought us over. My mom said that I was afraid of my dad when I saw him because I was very young and I had not seen him for a while. I was too young to remember the difficulties of having our family separated, but now, having a family of my own, I can imagine how difficult that must have been for my parents.
ReplyDeleteThey tell me my dad won me over with a doll :)
DeleteI lived in several countries and places before and the journey has been very exciting but hard in some moments. My parents also lived in France and grandparents were temporary workers to Germany and Holland.
ReplyDeleteThe journey I often share with my students is the journey through education. How it begins with our formal education, in school, and continues through our lives with the informal, outside of a traditional classroom. The formal lights the fire, and the informal adds fuel to that fire so our knowledge can burn brightly throughout our lives.
ReplyDeleteI was born here in the United States but I grew up in the Philippines. I lived in the Philippines until I was 12. We were not rich, but we lived pretty comfortably. My dad was a pilot, so he was gone a lot. My mom was a doctor, but didn't practice full time because she wanted to make sure there was a strong parent figure despite my dad being gone. My mom's career however was what initially got me really interested in Science.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was about 6 or 7, however, my dad went on strike with the airline company along with the other pilots. He decided not to return to the company after the strike is over. However, he could not find another job in the Philippines. Therefore when I was about 10, my dad migrated here first. He worked a couple of odd jobs to help support our family back in the Philippines. It got way too hard for him living alone here in the United States, so about a year after, after my sister finished college in the Philippines, my mom, sister and I moved here as well.
When we moved here, my sister applied for pharmacy school and got into UCSF. She was an inspiration to me, and I wanted to be as successful as her. I made sure I stayed disciplined and focused in school, which paid off as I got into UCLA. At UCLA, aside from the academics, I was surrounded by people who were really into social justice and giving back to the community, which I think helped pave the way for me to becoming a teacher amongst other things.
I had to travel the educational journey as a first generation student to get to where I am. Yes, my mom shared many stories of her life journey as a child in El Salvador, her migration to the U.S., and her decisions as a single parent. This has shaped the person I am today because I saw education not as an option but as a necessity that was made possible due to the struggles she went through to give us better opportunities than those that she had, and as a necessity to better and empower my community.
ReplyDeleteYes, I can relate because I am from a family of immigrants too and first generation college graduate as well. My academic career has definitely been an adventure of self discovery and finding my place in this diverse city. The values that my parents ingrained in me such as prioritizing my education and having a strong work ethic has shaped me into the teacher and person I am today.
ReplyDeleteI believe our journeys are continuously developing and shaping who we are and who we will become. The destinations through out the journey are often seen in the big landmarks like education, relationships, career, and family. However, our everyday interactions with family and friends are like little steps of the possible that lead to what seemed like the impossible.
ReplyDeleteMy journey was guided by my mother, university counselor and the resilience I witnessed everyday growing up with my mother who never made excuses, always challenged us with the highest expectations, values and the social emotional support along the way to always do what was right, never what was easy.My role as a leader and friend to always talk about the elephants in room, sow e can be rid of them, so they do not distract from our important work with children and families.
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