TEACHER: Come see, learn

I would like to respond to Mr. Malvino’s response to the letters my students wrote addressing the plight of children who labor on farms with their families.

He questioned my sources for this assignment. We used Scholastic News Magazine, a national education publication used in classrooms around the country. I also used information from the AFOP, the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs and their Children in the Fields Campaign to educate the public and to advocate for migrant workers and their families. We also watched a video entitled “Fingers to the Bone: Child Farmworkers in the United States” produced by the HumanRightsWatch.

My students’ hearts were touched by the plight of these children who live such difficult lives. Their purpose in writing was simply to share what they learned and how much compassion they felt for these children. This is not a college level course.

I teach a i h and 8th grade remedial language arts class. My students come to me with very low reading and writing skills; some of them are as low as a third grade level. Many of the kids who come to Lakes are living lives of stress and trauma that most people cannot even fathom. I wonder, Mr. Malvino, how well you could learn and function if there was no food in your house and your mother didn’t come home because she stayed out all night to party? Those are the type of incidents our students deal with and we, as their teachers, try to teach kids who are simply trying to survive.

I am very proud of the job my students did with the letters they wrote. These kids are struggling learners and I believe they did an outstanding job.

Instead of chastising me for being a “low-information adult,” I invite you to come to my classroom and spend a day with me before you judge.

DIANN WANDREY

Special Education Teacher

Lakes Magnet Middle School