One thing from this book that shocked me was when I read Indio crossed the border at eleven years old, by himself. Could you imagine how this child felt as he crossed the border by himself? He was as old as my sixth graders are right now. How do you guys feel about this situation?

Sad, but true; I believe this happens many more times than we ever want to admit. I have taught 4th graders who had come straight from Mexico by crossing the Rio Grande River, and were obviously illegal. I can't help but think, whether alone or with a group the burden these young children carry knowing they secretly came in to the U.S. Everyday must be a time of hiding and secrecy. How can one live (go about their day to day lives) knowing that everything that surrounds their well-being here in America is secretive and for some situations, a fabricated story?

I couldn't believe Indio's story either. Gosh I think that I have worries in my life! HOw can we expect these kids to do so much when they are just worried about their family members being killed?

This was mind boggling to me as well. I am sure we all have students sitting in our classrooms who have had similar traumatic experiences. I think this is another reason why it's so important to get to know our students and their families. If we know more about what they are personally dealing with, we can better meet their academic needs.

But are we really meeting their academic needs? According to Maslow's heirarchy certain things like food and shelter must be met first. After that, are they feeling safe? I recently had several students get in trouble for something that they should have known better than to do, but the ring leader is in a bad situation. He's a smart kid and it seems to me that the only reason he gets into trouble is to get his dad's attention. Otherwise, his dad really doesn't give him that much of his time. How do you explain to a parent that this is all their child really wants when the parent hates you just because you are a woman? It absolutely breaks my heart. I'm not sure what to do. This whole situation also made me think about looking for appropriate great role models from some of these kids, but I'm not really sure where to look.

We have foucused on the Latino students with coming to America illegally and the burdens they carry. Our school has a large Hmong population, we have heard thier stories of escaping from Vietnam. Stories where mothers would have to tie babies to trees because the screaming would have led to the whole group being caught and killed. I think we have to look at many of the immigrant students who come to our schools and look into their stories. There is probably a lot more things we can be doing for them especially psychologically.

It is appalling what these children have to live through. You would think that in this day of age, children would not have to be faced with such struggles. It reminds me of the Holocaust and how innocent children were forced to operate in similar conditions. Babies were drugged to keep them from crying as families moved from place to place to keep being caught.

I think as teacher we need to get to know our student and it would explain alot of what we see. We do not have time. I would love to be able to truely know my students and meet there needs but me are so test driven. It is almost like who cares about the students and their needs. We as teachers do care but the highes ups don't which is who is breathing down our necks. Our students have needs that need to be meet for education at times.

We have no idea what some of these kids have been through and what they've seen. It is a miracle that make it to our classrooms and yet we expect and demand so much from them. Their stories could be artifacts for our history instruction, if only we would give them time to share. My daughter is 11 and I can't fathom her even crossing a busy street in a major city, let alone what these kids have been through.