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Family involvement and engagement in school and students' learning is crucial.

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I had no knowledge about Zapotec or Natalia Toledo prior to the video and readings. I believe as teachers it is important to know our students background and history to create a positive relationship with our students.

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I had no knowledge about Zapotec or Natalia Toledo prior to the video and readings. I believe as teachers it is important to know our students background and history to create a positive relationship with our students.

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I did not know about Zapotec or Natalia until today. I visited Costa Maya during my cruise vacation in December 2019. My family had great fun in shopping, eating out, and taking pictures for a few hours when cruise embarked. After watching the video, I noticed that children walked along outside seem to be safe without adult's supervision. The street is big and spacious. Natalia is passionate to teach youth in Mexico.

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I did not have any knowledge about Zapotec or Natalia Toledo prior to watching the video, but one noticing I have after watching the video is how powerful of a vehicle poetry can be in expressing emotion and ideas in one's own language that challenge deficit views about that language.

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I have Mexican family on my maternal grandmother's side, as well as my step grandfather.  Some of our family is from that area and has Zapotec roots.  My parents, my brothers, and I spent a month traveling Oaxaca and Central Mexico visiting family and ancestral land.  (Though I know we also have colonial, likely Spanish, roots as well).

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I had a family in my class who spoke Zapoteco

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I had a family in my class who spoke Zapoteco

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Toledo strives to teach students about not only the language but the culture and values of the community--to give youth a once-deemed-unnecessary or even inferior chance to learn about the community and themselves.

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I did not have prior knowledge about Zapotec or Natalia Toledo prior to this video. A noticing I had from Toledo's poetry is the connection to the earth and environment,

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I think Toldeo is using her poetry to bring awareness back to the Zapotec language because she talked about how the younger generation isn't speaking it anymore. It also makes me think about the pressures the younger generations face to speak more "mainstream" languages (for lack of a better term

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Students need to feel seen, heard and represented in their classrooms

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Reminds me of my students whose families spoke MAM and how it is important to acknowledge all students cultures in the classroom even if we don't speak the language

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Reminds me of my students whose families spoke MAM and how it is important to acknowledge all students cultures in the classroom even if we don't speak the language

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I didn't have any prior knowledge about the Zapotec. A noticing I had was the importance of using dual language texts in order to help understanding. -Hope

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I didn't know of Zapotec or Natalia before the video/reading. Our group talked about how it was interesting how she wants to keep her native language, but we thought we heard her incorporate some Spanish while speaking. 

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I didn't know of Zapotec or Natalia before the video/reading. Our group talked about how it was interesting how she wants to keep her native language, but we thought we heard her incorporate some Spanish while speaking. 

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I am wondering how I can best provide resources for my students and their families in ways that honor their language, culture, and human dignity.  But I am thankful to be in a community of educators who do their best to share resources and make the connections their families need in order to be informed about and connceted with their children's academic experience.

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When thinking about my own teaching context, this video is challenging me to find bilingual/multilingual texts in my future classroom to provide more access to literature for multilingual leaners and value languages other than English in my classroom.

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I did not know about Zapotec or Natalia at all before this reading and video. I really enjoyed the sound of Zapotec. I found that it has a song-like tonal quality similar to Mandarin Chinese.

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I did not have any prior knowledge about Zapotec or Natalia Toledo before this video and reading. A noticing I had was the way Natalia expressed herself and her passion for her Zapotec. 

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I did not have any prior knowledge about Zapotec or Natalia Toledo before this video and reading. A noticing I had was the way Natalia expressed herself and her passion for her Zapotec. 

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Toledo's work, from her poetry to her work in literacy workshops for youths, challenge deficit views about Zapotec indigenous youth as they value Zapotec and celebrate the beauty and importance of it and its people.

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Toleda challenges deficit views by continueing to teach her beautiful language and talking about the importance of it and creating ways that students can continue to speak it by reading or poetry. 

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Toleda challenges deficit views by continueing to teach her beautiful language and talking about the importance of it and creating ways that students can continue to speak it by reading or poetry. 

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#2 Toleda challenges the deficit view of the Zapotec community by creating beautiful poetry highlighting natural imagery, knowledge of the land, and rich relationships. 

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#2 Toleda challenges the deficit view of the Zapotec community by creating beautiful poetry highlighting natural imagery, knowledge of the land, and rich relationships. 

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(Courtney)

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I did not know Zapotec or Natalia Toledo before watching the video, and it makes me think about what other voices are still in the shadow and how can we, as educators, help bring these voices forward.

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Toledo uses creative writing workshops to let Zapotec youth connect with their language and express their indigenous identities.  In contrast, often the kinds of writing taught in schools reinforce settler paradigms / dominant hegemony.  (Courtney)

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Toledo uses creative writing workshops to let Zapotec youth connect with their language and express their indigenous identities.  In contrast, often the kinds of writing taught in schools reinforce settler paradigms / dominant hegemony.  (Courtney)

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This video made me feel the charm of language and culture. In my bilingual classroom, how to retain and make students willing to share their own culture and be proud of their indigenous culture is what I am thinking about.

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I appreciated Toledo discussing the independence that youth in the community have at such an early age. I think in general we underestimate our youth and place them in deficit views in many ways, when really our children are able to contribute to our communities in so many ways at very early ages.

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It is important for students to fell represented in their classrooms and it is our jobs as educators to help facilitate that in whatever way possible. -Hope

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This makes me think about the idea of being culturally responsive to students.

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Before watching the video I had not heard of Natalia Toledo or her poetry and work. I really appreciated seeing the video along with the reading

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Our group talked about how Zapotec indigenous youth work and earn money starting at a young age, which leads them to independence. We talked about providing that opportunity to children here in the US.

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Our group talked about how Zapotec indigenous youth work and earn money starting at a young age, which leads them to independence. We talked about providing that opportunity to children here in the US.

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Tenemos que honorar todos los idiomas en el aula y brindarles a los estudiantes el espacio para hablar en el idioma en el que se sientan más cómodos.

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I also did not have any knowledge of Toledo or the Zapotec language going into today. Listening to her speak in poetry in Zapotec, it is such a beautiful sounding language with a cadence and flow very unique from the Latin languages, and with half a million speakers, there is no reason this language should be abandoned and disregarded in the region. As Toledo said, "Spanish is gaining too much ground." Literacy efforts should include indigenous languages and teach those skills in multiple languages.

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Students need to be provided with opportunities to feel represented and engage with resources and texts that allow them to learn or maintain their connection and identity to their heritage and native language.

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I had no previous of the Zapotec language or of Toledo before today. As I watching the video, I was engrossed by the Zapotec language when listening to the poem.

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This was a good reminder for me to always uplift students. I remember a student that was extremely hesitant to write in Spanish even though she was very fluent and her Spanish literacy was excellent. It's crazy to think that just 3 years in public education built such a huge language wall, so it was a good reminder that a teacher's job is to disrupt these systems that traumatize students and prevent them to bring their full selves.

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I had no prior knowledge of the Zapotec or Natalia Toledo before the video. After watching, I learned that schools are not teaching Zapotec and that Natalia is an advocate and is empowering the teaching of Zapotec.

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I had no idea who she was. I really enjoyed getting a glimpse into her life.

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It's extremely important to provide space for students to reflect on AND use their full linguistic repertoires.

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I did not have any knowledge of Natalia Toledo, but this year I read a Zapotec folktale with my students called La mujer que brillaba aún más que el sol, and although it was based on a Zapotec poem, the book was written in English/Spanish. Listening to Natalia Toledo made question why there wasn’t any of the Zapotec language included in the story.

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For me, this highlights the idea of language as a commodity and the elimination of languages based on whether they are viewed in a system as economically profitable. The reality is that language is rooted in culture and relationships and identity and for that reason should be taught and held on to and valued as a point of relationship

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I am wondering how to expand our ability to communicate equitably with families and students for whom our schools and districts do not provide translation or resources in their languages. I also wonder how to show respect for and celebrate these languages in order to fight for them to not be erased.

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It is important to position students as the experts of their lived experiences and cultures. We must be willing to learn about students' cultures and represent them in an appropriate way.

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Toledo's work in her program addressed learning both Spanish and Zapotec through speaking, reading, and writing. It's important to provide students any means of access to the language they choose to use, including art.

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I think one way Toledo's work challenge deficit views about Zapotec indigenous youth is when she was speaking about children being economically self-sufficient. By authentically getting to know our students & families we can learn about themselves & their cultures and how to integrate their funds of knowledge in the classroom & our curriculum.

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I like how Toledo sustains Zapotec heritage in their community. I plan to share my lived experience and cultural values to the classroom community.

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This makes me think of students in my class and school who speak indigenous languages and the specific importance of celebrating and including their language and culture in the classroom.

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I think allowing students many opportunities to express themselves creatively and utilizing the modalities and languages of their choice is a really important and fairly simple way to affirm student voice and identity

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In my classroom sharing your culture is a must. I encourage my students to say and teach me and their fellow classmates numbers, greetings or anything in their home language. I want my students to know that I think their culture is important to me as it is and should be to them. 

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In my classroom sharing your culture is a must. I encourage my students to say and teach me and their fellow classmates numbers, greetings or anything in their home language. I want my students to know that I think their culture is important to me as it is and should be to them. 

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I had no knowledge of Zapotec or Natalia

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Had no idea about Zapotec or  Natalia Toledo. This video brings up a sadness of losing ones culture whether by choice or force. The bright spot is how Natalia is trying to preserve the language by reaching out to teachers and others to teach the Zapotec language. 

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Had no idea about Zapotec or  Natalia Toledo. This video brings up a sadness of losing ones culture whether by choice or force. The bright spot is how Natalia is trying to preserve the language by reaching out to teachers and others to teach the Zapotec language. 

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I knew that there were many Indigenous languages in Mexico, and that they don't get the same support and resources that Spanish does. Mostly, I hear about Nahuatl. I didn't know anything about Zapotec! After watching the video, I could tell that Natalia was talking about very personal, important parts of her life, and it seemed to mean a lot to her to express herself in Zapotec.  I learned that Zapotec is on the decline, and is being pushed out in favor of Spanish.

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I want to know what I can do to support students whose languages don't have the same number of supports. For example, we had limited access to Somali interpreters in my school last year, even though we had multiple Somali speakers in my class. I don't know what I'd do if one of my students spoke Zapotec, since I'm pretty sure we don't have any Zapotec interpreters at South Shore.