From the Bronx to the Blackboard: Embracing Dual Identities and Educational Resilience - Edwin Berroa - How Do You Say Success in Spanglish?

Episode Transcript
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Raul Lopez (00:04):
This is Raul Lopez, and you're listening to how Do
you Save Success in Spanglish?
The path to success isn't easyFor minorities and people of
color.
Many attempt this journey withlittle to no guidance.
Join me as I sit down withindividuals who share their
stories of perseverance so thattogether, we can learn how to
say success in Spanglish what'sgood, mi gente, Welcome back.

(00:32):
It's your boy, Raul.
Thanks for joining me here onhow Do you Say Success in
Spanglish.
Today I have a very specialguest, Edwin Mbiroa.
How are you doing, Edwin?
Raul, what's good brother.
Chilling man.
How's it going, man?
It's been a while, I'm glad,Edwin Bro what's good, brother,
Chilling man.
How's it going, man it's been awhile.
I know it's been far too long,man.
Far too long?
Yeah, it really has.
I've known him for quite sometime, since I was a young little
kid.

(00:52):
What it's been like 20 years now.
It's been like 20 years now, bro.
It's crazy, right.
It's been like City publicschool system has been in
education for over a decade.
Edwin has a pulse in buildingcapacity and building community

(01:15):
to ensure success.
Growing up in a Dominicanhousehold, he's been around
people in his family that haveseen struggles and have been
resilient in their efforts.
He believes in the elevationand social emotional wellness of
students, as well as inclusionand equitable access to the next
generation of tomorrow's greatminds.
Edwin, welcome to the show.
Thank you.
Thank you very much for havingme, my brother.

(01:36):
Yeah, man, I'm really happy thatyou're here.
I know you got.
You know I have my long list ofpeople and you know I've always
you've always held the specialplace in my spot since like
early on and when I firststarted college.
When we started college, wewent through the fraternity and
I was like, well, when you hitme up, like oh, I'm so glad, I'm
so glad you hit me up, dude.

(02:02):
So, but I guess to start off,you know, tell me you know who
is Edwin Baroa.
Oh, okay, all right.
So just like you started, youknow my family is from the
Dominican Republic.
I guess, to start off, comefrom a family of having five
sisters and a brother.
I'm the youngest of seven.
We're kind of like the LatinoBrady bunch, if you will,
because my mom had her previousrelationship and had a daughter.

(02:22):
My dad had previousrelationships.
I had four daughters and thenwhen they got together they had
my brother and me.
From there we were raised inthe Bronx, just a kind of
backstory.
My parents they came to theUnited States in the 60s.
My mom first started in PuertoRico.
My grandmother, working in anumbrella factory, took all her

(02:43):
kids over to Puerto Rico just toget a better life because DR
just wasn't it.
And then one thing led toanother.
They came to new york uh, mydad was always a family friend,
so they got to know each other,they found a relationship and
then that kind of just springedoff.
My, uh dad worked all of hislife as a what they call a
platform worker, which is a aperson that works the back of
the actual 16 trailer trucks.

(03:03):
Um, just to put all themerchandise in it and then my
mom was a daycare teacher upuntil her retirement nice,
awesome.
So so what was?
Uh?
I don't want to make you soundold, what?
Was life before living in thebronx when you were growing up,
because that was a completelydifferent time than the way
things are now yeah, man, I meanlike growing up in the 80s.

(03:24):
I mean it was during the crackepidemic you know so like I
still remember being on thefirst floor because we were
raising a project.
You know so, john Adams Houseswas my projects and my mom still
lives there.
But I still remember living onthe first floor and looking
outside my window and all yousee is crack box.
You know, it was just like theysaid man, it was a dangerous

(03:45):
thing around.
You know one of the.
You know you had to be mindfulin reference to making
relationships and buildingrelationships and walking a
particular way and not being outat a certain time.
You know so my parents reallytook that to heart and living in

(04:06):
that part of town was alsomaking sure that.
You know cops didn't see you asa threat you know, because in
that environment you know, likethey didn't know what they were
working with.
You know you're in a housingdevelopment where there's four
buildings around you.
Each one is 20 floors up, youknow.
So you don't know who knowwho's who you know, but
definitely do remember myencounters of you know, uh,

(04:29):
getting patted down for noparticular reason, just because
they were just being precautious.
But you know, um, I was neverone of those kids to get into
trouble, so I was okay, yeah,yeah, and I mean it is a
struggle.
I mean people see videos andmovies now in new york.
It's very glamorized and verylike, amazing and beautiful.
And then you watch movies fromthe 80s.
New York was a different image,even on screen, where you know,

(04:50):
I remember coming to visitfamily in Queens in the 90s and
things like that and it was, itwas a scarier version of New
York, but you also had, you know, you being kind of living dual
roles in Latino and beingAfro-Latino.
Oh, absolutely, you know ithits all over the place, right?
Yeah, that one like that'sactually a good point.

(05:11):
Like, yeah, I tend to dabble inthat world.
I'm saying like you know,because you know, being in the
Dominican house, of course myfirst language is Spanish, you
know, but also living in thisparticular area, you area,
everyone thought I wasAfrican-American.
So I love the fact that I coulddabble between both worlds
because it made me who I was.
I'm able to code, switch, speakthis way, but then speak a

(05:35):
completely different way.
But I also love it because I cancatch people off guard and
that's been a constant thingwhere people first thing, the
first thing they're going to belike you speak Spanish Like yeah
, you know.
It's constant, you know.
I got it as a matter of fact,the first when I started working
at my new school.
You know no one really knewthat I was Dominican until I

(05:58):
started talking Spanish.
But then you know it.
Just, everybody just knows.
Now you know.
Yeah, exactly, I mean's.
It's hard to miss when, whenforget you.
It's hard to forget you whenthey meet you.
It's like it was like oh yeah,we know, everyone, I was like it
was like yeah, okay yeah,exactly so.
But um, also in in part of yourinterview uh your pre-interview
you talked about you know therewere some obstacles you had to
overcome.
You know growing up, you knowspeech impediment, weight

(06:21):
bullying and things like that.
Can you tell me a little bitabout that?
absolutely um all right.
So growing up, I guess um, youknow my family growing up always
called me, you know um always,because I I have speech
impediment.
I just started, you know um,I'm happy that I was never.
I never had to do like speechtherapy or anything to try to
fix it.
But I vividly remember fresh,uh, fresh out of kindergarten,

(06:46):
first grade, second grade, I hadthe speech impediment where it
just took me forever to just saywhat I had to say.
You know um, it got so badwhere it took me forever to ask
the teacher can I use therestroom?
And I wound up, you know, justurinating on myself.
Oh, no, no damn it, um, butnonetheless you know that it
became up and down up untiljunior, high school, high school
, but then in high school,that's where I guess it started

(07:09):
to fade away, only because Ifelt more accepted you know,
like the friends around medidn't really care the fact that
I had a speech impediment.
You know, they just liked me.
For me, you know, um, I don'tknow what triggered in my
adolescent years or or how itchanged, but one thing is for
sure that high school theyreally slowed down a lot you
know, there are some times whereyou know it tends to just flare

(07:31):
up because I might beexcessively nervous or maybe I
don't have the words to say, butyou know it's pretty much gone
good and you mentioned you.
You were bullied as well,growing up a bit yeah, uh,
bullying happened in middleschool.
You know, um, it's one of thosewhere, you know, I I've never
been one to get into anyphysical altercations, you know,

(07:51):
uh, to this day, not on what Iknow about in the physical fight
, you know, um, but middleschool was that that time where
I guess I was being tested.
You know, it's the testy waters, you know.
So I still remember the actualuh bullier, or you know, I won't
mention his name.
You know, it's the testy waters, you know.
So I still remember the actualuh bullier, or you know, I won't
mention his name.
You know, but, uh, thatindividual you know was bullying
me to just try to do hishomework.

(08:12):
You know, I guess I had a knackfor just doing my work or
whatever.
But one thing led to another, itwas just like, you know,
eventually the bullying had tostop because I got fed up, you
know, and that was that one dayI just stood up, I was like no,
I'm doing this, like so what yougoing to do, you know, and at
that moment that's when hestopped.
You know, that was I think itwas eighth grade, if I'm not
mistaken you know, it was justphysically stopped.

(08:34):
He just stopped asking forhomework stopped everything, but
I felt really proud of myselfbecause I was able to actually
overcome that and I and I waslike you know what, whatever
happens right now, is gonnahappen if we gotta throw down,
I'll fake it till I make it, butwe gonna do this you know.
But but he definitely backed offand that was my, I think my
only incident of being bullied,but it was something that was
really annoying and I think itwas a little bit traumatizing

(08:57):
because, you know, you felthelpless.
You felt like, um, peoplearound you saw it, but they just
kind of just let it be.
You know, some people didn'tintervene and I wish they did
intervene, but, you know, thankgoodness I was able to handle it
.
Yeah, it was different back thenwhen we did stuff, because I
mean, I think, very similargrowing up, you know, smart,

(09:18):
overweight, quiet at the time.
I was real quiet back then.
I'm not quiet now, but I wasquiet.
I was very quiet back then.
I'm not quiet now.
I was very quiet.
I was the quiet kid that wassmart and I was just a big guy
and uh and so, yeah, same thing.
You dealt with your level ofbullies for whatever reason,
because they knew you were thequiet kid and picked up and same
thing I had a situation where abully picked me up the, it
might ended differently.
I did end up, uh, getting in afight and breaking his nose, so

(09:40):
it was it was on a different endof the spectrum.
Yeah, what you dealt with, butit was also, you know, a lot of
same thing, like every day wasdealing with the same thing, the
same things, and so no knowingthe stuff that you dealt with,
like that back in the day as a,as a teacher now oh, I'm sorry
assistant principal, now youknow how does that impact some
of what, what you do like, howyou look at things in school now
?

(10:00):
that's a good question.
I actually never really thoughtabout it that way.
I think it impacts it in asense that I'm always on the
lookout.
You know, like I don't want astudent to feel like helpless,
you know, or that someone istaking advantage of them, simply
because you know of theirniceness or because of their
humbleness.
You know, like, everyonedeserves a free shot, to be free

(10:23):
and to do what they need to do.
But you know, everyone needs toput in their own effort.
You know, um, definitely feelthat you know the individual,
the students, the communityneeds to be protected.
You know, and, as an assistantprincipal, I think my, my role
is to make them feel safe andmake them feel comfortable in
their own skin so they don'thave to put that facade on.

(10:45):
You know, um, as a matter offact, uh, we had a assistant
principal meeting a couple weeksago.
It was like where we weretalking about this, because a
lot of times you have a lot ofthe youth that you know, um,
some of them are straightforward, but some of them tend to hide,
and they hide in a particularshell but they don't show their
true self.
So imagine just having like anouter layer skin that you can

(11:08):
just unzip, you know.
So a lot of times the studentyou know tends to show off or
just be that comical kid.
That's not their nature.
Or maybe they might be defiantor just argumentative, but
that's not their nature.
But there might be anunderlying reason, you know.
But I think part of it isbuilding that relationship to

(11:29):
make sure that they're seen, youknow, and part of my mission, I
think, is to make sure thatthese kids are seen, you know
when you're seen, you're able toperform better, you're able to
do better, you know, but youhave to build that connection
and relationship with the kid.
You know a lot of the kids.
You know they come fromdifferent personalities,

(11:50):
different homes, differentsituations.
You know got a lot of kids thatcome from single family homes.
You know, and they're dealingwith a lot, a lot more than I
think you and I were dealingwith back in the eighties and
nineties.
Oh, really it's something.
I.
I mean we think about how muchworse things were like, probably

(12:10):
socioeconomically, like in thecity, but there's so much more
interactive with kids nowadayswhen it comes to the internet
and like they can't they can'tescape anymore, that it's like I
have a daughter.
You know she's 10 and she'sabout to do middle school and I
know when you talked aboutmiddle school being that
transition between good kid andpunk, I mean I was a really good
kid until middle school.

(12:31):
You know what I mean?
I was like I never gotdetention, I never got anything
until middle school.
Not that I was a horrible kid,but you know, it's a, it's a big
, like you said, testing,testing grounds.
Absolutely Listen.
Middle school.
In my eyes middle school ismeant to.
It is what I call the testingyears.
You know, like you tend tofigure out a little bit about
who you are.
You know, high school is kindof what builds you up, but

(12:54):
college is what defines you.
You know.
So like those are theincremental steps.
In that middle school you'retrying to find yourself, you're
trying to be socially awkward orin awkward.
You're trying to fit in Highschool.
You're're trying to be sociallyawkward or in awkward, you're
trying to fit in high school.
You're still trying to fit in.
But now you know, adolescenceis kicking in.
Now you get more rationale inyour thinking, you know, and
you're building that character.
But then in college, that'swhere, like it's like you know,

(13:16):
you're chipping off all thoseimperfections so that way you
can become that better personyeah, and I agree.
Like I said, I remember my like.
I have my daughter.
She's going to start middleschool next year.
I remember my transition tomiddle school and I am scared
just to see what's coming next.
But you know, I trust her, Ilove her in middle school and

(13:47):
high school transition is to notlet go.
You know, and and what I meanby that is, you know, depending
on what era you were raised in,a lot of our parents had a
tendency to make sure that youdid your whatever academics from
middle school to high schoolright, but they never let go.
They never gave you that levelof independence right.
Today in age, if you kind oflook at it, a lot of parents
tend to give a level ofindependence, but you shouldn't.

(14:09):
This should be the time thatyou grasp on a little bit
tighter, because you know thisis that firm, fine line that a
student can do a lot of right ora lot of wrong.
I'm not telling you to be ahelicopter parent, but at the
same time you have to be theparent.
You know you have to take thatcharge and make sure that you
are looking out for their bestinterest, because they're still

(14:29):
a child.
You know, like, once highschool is done and whatever, and
depending on the dynamics ofthe household, you feel 18 is
good enough, all right, cool.
You feel 21 is good enough, allright.
But that 14, 15, 16, 17, 18years, those are pivotal man
like, if, I think if a lot oftimes and I've seen it with a
lot of parents, you know theyhow do I put it?

(14:50):
It's more friend than parent.
That makes any sense and beinga friend is cool, but sometimes
that friendship doesn't allowyou to see the parent side, you
know.
So therefore, like you know,you have to take that parent to
control and make sure that thekid is doing right.
You know because if not, thenyou might have a hiccup in your

(15:14):
hand that you may not know whatto do.
You know, we have a lot ofparents that come to us and they
literally say I don't know whatto do with my child.
But you know, I don't know howthe upbringing was with the
child, but you can definitelytell that there's a difference
in dynamic.
It's not the overprotectiveparent, it's not the you know,
like they all want what's bestfor the child.

(15:34):
But I think that's that missinglink of like this is the line
that you don't cross.
Yeah, and parenting is always abalancing act, because you never
know.
You know, sometimes you givetoo hard, sometimes you don't
give enough, and you never knowuntil it's too late sometimes.
So, yeah, no, I totally agreewith you, man.
But I mean, I love my daughter,I'm the same way, I'm still

(15:54):
your parent, I'm still your dad.
You know, I'm still going tomake rules, exactly, you know,
like you know having that superlove always great.
You know the kids need the love.
The kids need that consistentlove and and affection.
But also, at the same time,like you, gotta hold them
accountable yeah you know, um,they still have academics to do.
Teachers still have a role toplay.
You know, teachers are stilltrying to be.

(16:15):
You know, their, theirmotivators, their cheerleaders.
You know, but it's thatpartnership between school and
home that makes that childelevate.
You know, they always say thatit takes a village.
You know, but we got to build avillage yep, and we got to work
together too.
So so one of just kind of goback a little bit I wanted to
did mention was, you know, theimportance of creating a
relationship, you know, with um,the students and yes in your in

(16:38):
your pre-interview stuff thatyou wrote up for me.
You mentioned a teacher, mrSeavers, and an assistant
principal, dr Gregory Hodge, andthe positive impact that they
had on you in that relationshipwith him.
Were they kind of like aguiding light to you on how
teachers and educatorsrelationship with students
should be?

(16:59):
I think so.
Yeah man Like Dr Hodge was myhigh school assistant principal
and Mr Severs was my middleschool English teacher, you know
, and I remember him vividlybecause he was one of the first
teachers that looked like me,you know, and I love the fact of
you know, he had a particularknack of how to talk to people,

(17:20):
but also he commanded a level ofrespect but also was very
humble and appreciative, youknow.
But what I loved about him wasthe fact that he, in that middle
school, he had my brother andhe had some of my sisters.
So therefore, like he lookedout because he saw the lineage,
you know, but his way ofteaching engaged me to the point

(17:44):
that I just kept going, youknow.
But he never allowed for, youknow, for any uninterrupted time
.
Like he said, these 45 minutesare dedicated to us to learn, to
engage in the work and just todo what we need to do, but he
always kept us accountable inevery shape or form.

(18:05):
Dr Hodge was a different animalof educator.
So if you can envision thehuman version of Dr Mario, the
human version of the MarioBrothers, right.
But he was such a great educatorin the sense of, you know, he
looked forward to buildingcapacity in every single student

(18:26):
.
He was the one that walkedaround and knew every student by
name, you know.
But he was one that you.
He walks in the room and hecommanded respect.
You know, he also taught mybrother, he taught some of my
sisters, but he was also myEnglish teacher at a.
But he was also my Englishteacher at a program that I was

(18:46):
at in Fordham University, youknow, where.
It was an enrichment programcalled the Fordham Upper Brown
Program, and there he gave us alove for analyzing and being
critical thinkers and I thinkthat's what I appreciated a lot,
because that gave me a lot ofskills that to this day I still
use.
You know he always was one ofthose.

(19:09):
All right, you got me to pointeight, give me a little bit more
.
You know he always wanted youto look at certain things in
multiple perspectives.
But you know, I think that'swhat I grasped from him and
that's what I appreciate so much.
You know it got up to a pointwhere we actually just we
disconnected for a while, andprior to his passing I was

(19:30):
teaching and one of theassistant principals walks in
the door and he walks in withhim and I'm like Dr Hodge, what
are you doing here?
You know, and it was just greatto the fact that he saw you know
from the little child that Iwas to being an educator and he
was able to sit in my classroomand actually see me do my magic.
You know, so like it just camearound full circle that's
awesome, man.
It's because it's nice, when youcan, to show someone who made a

(19:51):
positive influence you andcatch them later, like I made it
, I'm here, thank you man,that's awesome, I'm sure yeah,
it was a very important day foryou.
So well, absolutely, man, andbut then also you know he.
He was one that educated me alot in New York City public
education pension.
You know like when you become ateacher there's a lot to say

(20:14):
about, you know, like saving upfor retirement and saving up for
your pensions, but no onereally educates you on it, you
know.
So he was able to kind of guidemyself and my wife in reference
to how do you navigate thesewaters.
So that way at the end of yourretirement you are shining
bright, you know.
So that way you walk around withhaving all those funds you know
, but that's one of the thingsthat he kind of gave an analogy

(20:36):
on, because a lot of he gave ananalogy to the way how he was
brought up in comparison to me.
So he is a Jewish man.
You know that worked in theBronx for majority of his life.
But he also said that in theJewish heritage what happens is
that they, you know, when achild goes for the bat mitzvah

(21:00):
or mitzvah, they tend to educatethem on financials.
In our communities they don't.
You know a lot of our parents,if you remember.
They live in check to check,you know.
So he was able to.
He kind of gave me thatknowledge.
You know that inside scoop oflike, make sure that whoever
else you speak to give them thisknowledge, because you want

(21:20):
everyone to be as financiallywell so that way they can make
their own decisions.
But they need to have theinformation.
You know, um, which issomething that I really enjoy,
because now in age um, there's alot more talk about financial
literacy and financial educationand getting students to
understand all those intricatepoints about how to manage money

(21:41):
and how money works in america.
You know, um, but yeah, butit's.
That was one of the interestingparts.
That kind of got me.
Like you know, make sure youfix whatever you can here, so
that way you can see the fruitto your labor later, yeah, yeah
financial literacy is a big one,uh, in our community that we
struggle with as a whole.
Um, you know, hopefully, as westart building ourselves up,

(22:05):
we're preparing the nextgeneration a little better than
we did and slowly get ourselvesout of that hole.
Yeah, man, that's true.
I mean, listen, we always haveto figure out.
What is it that we need?
versus.
What is it that we want, andthat's something that I speak to
.
When I was in the classroom, Ispoke to a lot of my kids about
that.
It's the fact that you wantsneakers, I mean, or that you

(22:30):
need sneakers but you wantjordans, you know but you have
to compare that like you'respent.
You want two, three hundreddollars worth of jordans, but
yet did you realize what the momand dad need to do to get those
jordans?
Or what bill didn't they pay soyou can get those jordans?
You know, that's, that's aconversation I think they never
know.
And then once they hear that,they're like damn, mr you right
you know like did you misssomething in the fridge, so that
way you can get those pair ofjeans.

(22:52):
Yep, did your parents work forthree days to get you those
shoes?
exactly did your parents, yeah,and yeah, they, they, they bust
their butt to do whatever it isthat they can just to make you
happy.
But yet did you see thesacrifice or do you just see the
reward?
Yep, and it doesn't get anyeasier when you have money,
because then they get a littleless worried about it because

(23:15):
they don't see the struggleExactly.
Then you get the other end ofthe spectrum where they want
everything but they don't evenhave any frame of reference to
know if there was a struggle oranything you know so yeah I
guess, a parenting ground.
It's a balancing act, always abalancing act, uh.
So, moving on, um, you know,when you, you ended up going to
college in stony brook and and,uh, that didn't necessarily

(23:38):
turned out well, uh, initiallyfor you.
No, no, it didn't um, actually,before going to stony Brook, I
went to CW Post, right?
So I went to CW Post for a year, but I guess let me just
backtrack there.
So, um my senior year ofcollege.
I mean senior high school.
Um, still remember my guidancecounselor, kind of giving my
options, you know, um, I thinkduring the time of high school I

(24:02):
didn't know how to properlystudy, you know.
So I knew about college becauseI visited my sister in college.
I visited my brother in college,but you know, I didn't really
know what it took to get tocollege.
All I know was you know, youtake your classes, you take your
SAT, hoping to get you.
You know I still remembertaking the SAT twice and getting

(24:22):
the same score twice.
I got a 720.
You know 720, you think aboutit.
700, 800 is what you would getin the math or the writing.
That's my combined score forboth parts, you know.
So I don't know if it was thefact that I wasn't taught how to
take the SAT, or maybe I didn't, maybe my mind wasn't wrapped
around looking at it aparticular way, but when I

(24:45):
graduated I had two options.
I can actually three.
I can either go to concordiacollege.
I can either go to sullivancounty community college, which
is in new york, about four hoursup, or I can go to liucw post.
You know, liucw post seemedlike a better option, you know,
something that was able to getout and explore, you know.
But you know, things happenedand I wound up transferring over

(25:06):
to Stony Brook.
Now to answer your question,stony Brook was uh, I say in the
beginning it was a gift and acurse, but then it became a gift
.
You know it was a gift becauseI was able to get into Stony
Brook.
I actually didn't get in thefirst time, but then I
transferred.
And still remember my firstsemester, you know, trying to

(25:27):
figure out what I wanted tostudy.
First semester I think I gotlike a 2.5.
Like OK, no problem.
Next semester they told us thatour dorm is closing so we need
to move into suites.
We all know what happens insuites.
You know you got one of twooptions.
You either have a really,really simple sweet life or you

(25:49):
have sweet mates that want toparty and rock out mine was the
latter, you know.
So.
You know, it was literally mysweet had activity from
wednesday to sunday, you know,um, and it wasn't even our
fraternity brothers, just randompeople that they put me in a
suite, you know.
So that semester I messed up,you know, not strongly, but I

(26:10):
did mess up.
Yeah, and the following in thatwas my junior year.
You know, at that point I thinkI was going into computer
science.
I was thinking about it becauseI was one of those I can't do
math and I can't do scienceright.
But I started testing thewaters.
First I started with themedical field.

(26:31):
I knew I wasn't going anywherewith a D plus in chemistry.
I just wasn't going anywhere.
You know, luckily for calculusI was able to pass the first
year because my TA at the timeshe helped me out greatly Come
to find out that junior year Irack up a credit and then I make

(26:51):
the bold decision to pledge ofeternity right.
It's after the add drop periodperiod, so I can't drop a class,
you know.
So that semester was by far, ofcourse, one of the most
difficult ones, because you'reengaging in, you know, social,
emotional things, mental work.
You're still doing academics,I'm working, I'm still traveling

(27:12):
back and forth to home and thenI get into academic probation,
right, um, and this is partwhere you know I'll get into it
about the concept of buildingrelationships.
You know, I've always been oneto build relationships wherever
I go.
Um, so that following semesterI finish up, my average goes up,

(27:34):
but it's not enough to get mepast the academic probation.
So stony brook saysunfortunately, you are no longer
a student at stony brook.
It's like, damn, okay, we allknow as college students that
the letters don't go home, youknow.
So there's nothing addressed tomom and dad.
Um, so that summer I stay, uh,around stony brook and I'm

(27:57):
working at like a as like a headcounselor for like a summer
camp.
But in the midst of that, youknow, I'm appealing to try to go
back.
But I also have which I didn'trealize it was a couple of my
friends that vouched for me withthe, with the Dean of students,
to try to convince me to comeback to Stony Brook.
You know they definitelyexplained to the dean of

(28:18):
students that what you see onpaper wasn't it's not me.
You know it was.
It was a result of certainthings, but that's not my normal
behavior.
So one thing led to another.
I had an appointment with thedean of students and she gave me
a second chance.
You know, she's like the reasonwhy I'm giving you a second
chance, cause you had a wholebunch of people come and vouch
for you to come in, so I'm gonnagive you one more shot.

(28:39):
And from that point I neverlooked back, you know.
So that's where the giftstarted to come, you know.
So, from that moment on, mygrades started elevating
graduated stony brook, uh, andthen the following semester,
after graduating stony brook, Iwent into the human resource
program, wanted to get mymaster's in human resource

(28:59):
management, but I wasn'tofficially in the program.
I needed to do everything in anon-admission way, so I needed
to take classes just to prove myworth, and then, once I got the
average, then they admitted meinto the program.
So I went from having a 2.3 inmy undergrad to graduating with

(29:20):
a 3.2.
So I was like you know whatI'll take it.
But my problem which was thecommon practice of a lot of
people that don't have a lot ofguidance is that I never got an
internship.
A lot of people don't realizethe beauty of an internship,
where you get to be in the fieldand understand how it works and

(29:42):
therefore get yourself onelevel ahead of the curve being
in human resources.
For many people that arelistening, that know the human
resource world, it is a fieldthat has a very low turnover
rate.
You know so.
For me, I had a double-edgedsword.
I was overqualified because Ihad a master's but

(30:02):
underqualified because I didn'thave experience.
So my first job coming out ofStony Brook with my master's was
I was a part of the managementtrainee program at Geico, you
know so.
Therefore, I'm learning theinsurance game.
I become licensed in auto homeand they're trying to build me

(30:24):
in capacity to become one of themanagers inside of Geico.
But in the midst of it and thisis where building relationships
works out great one of mycousins is an admissions
counselor for two-year collegeand he's like listen, I know
that you've been looking for hrwork.
Would you consider being anadjunct?

(30:45):
That way you can make someextra money and still practice
your craft?
I gave it a shot.
I was like, all right, cool.
One thing led to another.
I started and I loved it.
You know I was what 24, 25being an adjunct professor.
You know my first, you knowlike extra job.
But that was the taste of myeducational career being an

(31:05):
adjunct professor, teachinghuman research classes and
business 101 andentrepreneurship.
You know um.
Later on, the school closed itsdoors.
But then in in 2009, 2010, Idecided to make the transition
and I was like you know what I'mgoing to go for it?
I'm going to go for educationand just the world, the building

(31:27):
relationships.
One thing led to another and Iwas able to get someone that
gave me the opportunity to startteaching history at a charter
school.
So I worked at a charter schoolfor three years.
I got married to the love of mylife in 2013.
And then in 2013, this is wherethat hits you, you know 2013,.

(31:50):
I get married, just got a brandnew job working at the New York
City Department of Education,being a founding teacher of a
school, and I wound up in ahospital.
So I got what they call abilateral pulmonary embolism,
right?
So for those of you that don'tknow, that's when you get blood

(32:14):
clots in both side of your lungs, you know.
So there, you know, I justfinished getting married.
We went to our honeymoon, youknow.
And when we come back, you knowI.
You know, I just finishedgetting married.
We went to our honeymoon, youknow.
And when we come back, you know, I'm feeling a little bit off,
you know.
And at that point, like I wasworking out, you know, um.
So typically, when you know, atthat time I was able to run
three, four miles with noproblem, I couldn't get through
a quarter mile without huffingand puffing.
You know, grabbing bags, itwould take me about four minutes

(32:34):
just to get up a flight ofstairs only because I'm huffing
and puffing.
You know, grabbing bags, itwill take me about four minutes
just to get up a flight ofstairs only because I'm huffing
and puffing.
But I didn't know what it was.
I thought it was extreme asthma, but then that's when they
picked it up.
But my first week of working ata brand new school and being
married and doing everything, Iwas in the hospital.
You know it must have been scaryoh, dude, it was scary because
I didn't really know what washappening, you you know until

(32:55):
the doctor actually sat me downand was like listen, you could
have died.
You know, like, luckily, youknow, you were in a proper place
and you came right away, but itcould have stopped in your head
, you could have caught a stroke.
You could have stopped in yourheart, you could have had a
heart attack.
You know, and what's funnyenough is that I didn't know
that I was the one that brokethe knot.
I mean, that broke the actualclot for it to travel.

(33:19):
So the clot was actually in myleg and at that time I thought I
just had a knot in my calf so Iworked it out.
But I was actually working outthe clot.
And once it broke up, thenthat's when it started.
Oh wow, that's crazy, yeah, man, but thank the Lord I'm good.
You know, it's been about 10years now and the only thing I'm

(33:40):
on is a baby aspirin.
Yeah, good, that's good, that'sgood to hear, but I mean as
someone who's gone to his ownlevel of health stuff, it
changes your momentum and itchanges your path and your
vision.
What impacts did that have onhow you treated your career
moving forward?

(34:00):
I think it didn't.
I mean, I think it definitelydidn't change the trajectory,
but it made me second guess andthink certain things.
Right, because now, like itmade me think about longevity,
you know, like I was there inthe moment.
But you know, like I was therein the moment, but you know I
need to build a career, you know, like you know, being with my

(34:23):
son and my wife, you know, can'tjust think about the moment.
I gotta think about what is mylife looking like in 10, 15, 20
years, you know?
um, so I think it made me digdeep into my craft and try to be
the best teacher that I can youknow, um, and from that moment
it's been all about, like,getting to know my kids, getting
to understand who are thestudents that are sitting in the

(34:43):
classroom.
Uh, what dynamics they comefrom.
You know, um, it's a lot ofstories that are shared.
Man, a lot of people don'trealize that teachers are a
child's second parent frommorning to afternoon, really,
depending on the relationshipthat they have, but we
definitely do become theirparent.
They come to us for snacks,they come to us for guidance,

(35:05):
they come to us if they have anailment.
A lot of these students, theyonly need one person to trust.
That trusting factor can be thedifference of elevating the kid
or just letting them just kindof follow with it, you know, but
I always believe, like everystudent needs that one person to

(35:27):
to trust, to walk the fine linewith, to find that guidance, to
just give them whatever social,emotional support that they
need in order to be that nextgeneration of person.
You know, um, and and that'spart of like the mantra that I
tell my teachers a lot you knowlike these students, like some
of them, are just looking forsomeone.

(35:51):
You know like they may not havethat one at home, you know.
So, by you building, buildingthat level of understanding and
trust in the kid.
The student might come on, ourattendance might come higher,
you know, um, and it thingsmight be a little bit better for
that child because they knowthat they're coming into a safe
zone.

Edwin Berroa (36:10):
You know safe and protected zone yeah, no man,
that makes sense, no it does it,does I mean it's it's.

Raul Lopez (36:24):
You grow up and you tell you know you spend.
As an adult you spend most ofyour time at work and so you're
working and becoming almost likeyour family.
But for kids you know theydon't go to work, they go to
school and they're in schoolright seven, eight hours a day
and you know the teacher is asmuch as their life, as some of
the parents are, and sometimesmore.
You know, especially you knowif you have parents that work
double jobs, two jobs and stufflike that, they might see they
might be able to.
The teacher might be able topick up things that are going on

(36:45):
with the kid's life before theparents will, just because you
know what they do.
So you know it's alwaysimperative.
I think it's always wonderfulwhen you talk to a teacher.
It's hard right now forteachers in general, but almost

(37:05):
every teacher you talk to thereis a drive that pushes them
through all that stuff that theydo.
It's what I call like.
What is your why?
You know like why do you wakeup in the morning and fix your
lesson plans and come to school?
Why is it that you stand infront of your classroom and, you
know, greet your kids?
Why is it that you build arelationship with that kid you?
Know like there's a reason whyyou walk into the door, you know

(37:26):
like you signed up for this,but there must be a reason why
you signed up for this.
You know you didn't just grabteaching because it was a easy
job to have summers off and, bythe way, just to demystify this
whole thing about summers off.
You know, yes, teachers do getsummers off, but they earn it,
you know like.
You know like they work anumerous amount of hours and

(37:48):
there's hours that people don'tsee.
You know like teachers taketheir work and they take it home
and they work nonstop.
You know, to try to get thosegrades in, to try to get those
updates, because they need toprovide that feedback to the
students.
You know.
So.
Therefore, like when youcalculate those hours, it equals
out to that time frame over thesummer.

(38:09):
You know, but also, at the sametime, like I think people tend
to realize that teachers, justlike everyone else, need to
regenerate their batteries.
You know like they need thattime to get back into the zone.
You know, because it's it'sgood to go go time, but there's
only so much go time you needbefore you need a break.

(38:30):
So, like you know, that's whyteachers tend to have those
summers off.
Of course, other institutionsor jurisdictions of educational
systems, they might have adifferent way of looking at
summers.
You know, like some teachersneed to go back in August.
New York City teachers comeback in September, you know.
But I do think teachersdefinitely earn it.

(38:50):
No, I mean it's crazy how muchteachers have to put up with and
how much stuff they deal withand how much mental and
emotional stresses they dealwith at work, and then they come
home and they're still gradingpapers till 10 o'clock at night
and then come in the next daydoing their, you know and they
got to come up with a plan.
They're not planning whilethey're in school because
they're busy doing school stuffall day.

(39:10):
You know, and then you know likeI have teachers at my
daughter's school that are greatand they're staying after
school with programs andteaching the kids extra stuff
after school and helping themout with stuff.
So, yeah, I mean, like I said,and yeah, and what's crazy
enough is that teachers, youknow, and just like any
administrator, anyone that worksin the education system people
forget that we're human.
Yeah, you know, and that is oneof the the key pieces like, we

(39:34):
are human and we also haveemotion.
Many times teachers are what Icall the best actors in the
world.
Why?
Because it's not that they'retrained, but they need to build
up that particular emotionalwall to not say things personal
and do their job the best thatthey can, but then also, when
they get home, decompress and dowhatever they need to do.

(39:56):
My hat's off to anyone that'sin the educational aspect in any
shape or form, because it takesa lot.
Yeah, it is.
It is so, speaking about youknow, teaching, eventually you
go into, I mean eventually youbecome assistant principal.
Obviously you know what is thattransition Like?
How does it?
How do you go from being ateacher and then being like, oh,

(40:18):
I mean, I'm going to become?
I'm not sure it didn't happenovernight, but you know what is
that transition?
No, it definitely wasn'tovernight, while I was teaching
right.
So, just like you mentioned,you know I have a decade over a
decade in teaching right.
So I started off in the charterschool, then I went over to the
New York City Public SchoolDuring that time teaching,

(40:39):
teaching or whatever.
You know, I get involved withmultiple overtime opportunities.
You know, in New York City wecall it a procession.
So I get involved with aprogram called the YABC program,
the Young Adult Borough Office,and the purpose of that program
is technically kind of like anight school, so it allows a

(41:00):
student that's over age andundercredited the opportunity to
get credit accumulation fasteror also disengage from day
school and only stay at thenight.
So that way we can concentrateon that person's efforts, right?
So I started working in thisprogram and I work with one of
my administrative mentors.
His name is Martin Smallhornand he starts to show me this

(41:23):
major shift of having studentshave a particular different way
of thinking.
He wants students to have arich mindset and not a poor
mindset, you know, and he's nottalking about poor mindset when
it comes to money, but poor inreference to the poor decisions
that you might make.
You know, but that rich mindsetis, you know, elevating

(41:47):
yourself, putting yourself nextto people that can elevate your
thinking and elevate your game,you know, but a lot of these
students, you know he reworksthe program, but I start working
with him and working with himand I, you know he reworks the
program, but I start workingwith him and working with him
and I one summer, my wife and Iactually worked for him and he
allows me the opportunity to bekind of like a part of his
administrative team, justhelping with, like, managing the

(42:08):
classrooms and stuff like that.
But they convinced me to go andtake administrative classes.
I didn't want to.
Honestly, I didn't think aboutit.
It wasn't something that was onmy radar.
So it was like you know what,why don't you take it?
I was like all right, fine, theyfinally convinced me I took the
classes and I will tell you, itis a different perspective that

(42:32):
I have now from when I startedto when I finished the program,
because now you see everythingin both lenses.
You see it in how it is andwhere it should be.
You know being an administratorgives you, you know like anyone
can be an administrator, butit's it's the lessons that are
taught inside of it that makeyou really think about what's

(42:52):
next for the students, you know.
So I wound up taking theclasses and I have these two
certifications one that's calledschool building leadership,
that allows me to be theassistant principal or principal
, and then school districtleadership, which allows me to
work outside of the building.
So if I wanted to work for thesuperintendent's office or
something within the district, Ican actually do that.

(43:12):
Um, so my last year of teachingi'm'm there minding my own
business, and then that couplemonths I decided to transition
to go to another school, notbecause the school was doing
anything wrong, but you know,I've been here for so long I
felt like I needed a change.
So I get picked up by adifferent school and I start

(43:37):
arranging my curriculum.
I'm a social studies teacher bytrade, so I'm preparing for US
history.
One thing leads to another, andone of the members or one of my
colleagues from the districtleadership classes calls me and
is like hey, what's up?
Do you remember me?
I?
was like, yay, what's up?
Hey, hi, you know.
So she happens to be one of theprincipals of a school, but she

(44:03):
was taking the classes with usbecause she wanted the other
certification.
So one thing leads to another,and she's like you know, are you
still looking?
And I was like, yeah, you know.
So one thing leads to another.
We met up at a coffee shop, youknow.
Know, we start talking aboutschool and administrative work
and stuff, and she had anopening, you know so one thing
led to another.
I put my name in the hat and Igot the job right, you know so

(44:27):
thank you.
So it it just worked out, man,and I think that transition from
being a teacher to an assistantprincipal, it is great, but
it's scary Now.
It's great because the fact ofyou're filling out that whole
trajectory right, you start fromthe beginning and you keep

(44:47):
going so you can see how it goesand you can see the impact that
you have on these studentsright.
So I'm going from having aclassroom of 34 students to now
helping to operate a school thathas close to 400 kids.
You know um of differentmodalities, different cultures,
different backgrounds, differentways of thinking, but it's also

(45:12):
scary because you don't want tomess up.
You know, and also you want tomake sure that the kids are
protected, but you also want tomake sure that you don't make
the news.
You know, and a sense ofprinciples journey is, you are
what I call the chaoscoordinator, if that makes sense
, right.

(45:33):
There's a lot of chaos.
That happens.
Right, assistant principals areputting out little fires
everywhere.
You know my job being I'm anassistant principal of
supervision, so I work closelywith the dean.
I work closely with differentdepartments to make sure that
pedagogical practices are stillhappening.
But it's you know, putting outthe little fires.

(45:53):
You know, because you don'twant the big fire to emerge.
You know, um, making sure thestudents are accountable, making
sure teachers are keeping thekids accountable and that
learning is still happening.
Making sure that, you know, welook at discipline when it comes
to our students that aregetting in trouble, in a more
restorative lens and not aconsequential lens, you know um.

(46:13):
But also trying to give all thesupports that the students need
.
You know, and it's scary because, like for me, I've been so many
years as a teacher.
Sometimes I still think as ateacher, you know, and I don't
want to let that go.
But there are times where, likeyou, don't have a choice.
You have to think like ateacher, you know, but it's you

(46:35):
know.
The other scary part is where Ineeded to reflect and think
about this.
I'm in a marathon and not arace.
You understand what I mean.
Right.
Working in a marathon and not arace, Like we need to build this
step-by-step.
I can't throw every single newinitiative all in one year,

(46:56):
because then you knowsomething's going to fall.
But if you have smallinitiatives that you try to
build up and you make it go andthen you go to the next one,
then eventually it's going togrow legs and it's going to grow
into the fruition that you want.
Mel Gibson said it best in themovie the Patriot aim small,

(47:18):
miss small, you know.
So you know I was fortunatethat my principal gave me the
opportunity and therefore, youknow, I've been able to do a lot
of changes and the students seethe changes.
You know I got a lot ofstudents that mentioned, like Mr
, Like you know, since you gotin here, like the school has
gotten better because a lot ofyour ideas, like we're doing it,
you know, like it feels like Ican come here and there's

(47:42):
activities going on, you know,and it's not to say that they
weren't doing things, but Iguess I had a different
perspective because I came fromthe outside world.
That's awesome, man.
I mean, it's um, you know, oneof the things I was going to ask
is you know, because you guys,as an administrator, you're,
you're, you're doing a tightropeapp between the teachers, the
students and the uh, yes, theschool board, you know that
stuff like that.
It's a difficult thing to think.

(48:04):
So what other kind ofchallenges that you deal with?
You know, as an assistantperson, when it comes to that
balancing act that you have to?
do.
I think I think the thedifficult component comes with.
Of course.
I think it's three parts, youknow part one is making sure
that the that yourself and theteachers are aligned.
You know, a lot of times youmight throw some initiatives,

(48:29):
but I'm one that believes that Iwouldn't give you an initiative
to do if I wouldn't do itmyself.
You know like one thing is tothrow something at you, but if
you see me doing it, then youknow it's possible, you know, or
providing the resources thatare necessary.
One of the challenges, I think,for me the first year with
teachers was letting themunderstand that I'm on their
side.
You know I don't believe in theI got your approach.

(48:52):
You know I wanna build you tothe best version of yourself,
but I need to do it in time, youknow.
But I also need you to take aself look at where you're doing
good and what are yourdeficiencies.
You know I can look at it whenit comes to observations and
feedback, but you also need totake a second to figure out not
only where do you need working,but what's the relationship you
have with your kids.

(49:12):
You know, and I think that'swhere the second part is.
It's that the difficult, tightrope between teacher and student
interaction right so as anadministrator.
You know you tend to besometimes a mediator, but of
course you have to put theadministrative lens on.
But sometimes there are somefriction between teacher and
student because you know it justhappens.

(49:33):
But, um, I do think teachershow do I put it?
Sometimes teachers need to takea back seat to see what the
student needs.
You know, um, part of thefriction that I see, which
causes a little bit of like backand forth play, is some

(49:53):
teachers setting up systems androutines in order to ensure
success in their classroom.
Right, so, like you know a bosstelling you like these are the
rules, right, a boss needs totell you the rules from the
beginning, so that way you knownot to cross it.
But you can't give the rules indecember when you started in
september, you know, um.
So that's where I think some ofthe tightrope problems tend to

(50:16):
happen.
But I also feel the tightropeproblem when it comes to the
outside perspective is makingsure parents are on your side.
You know, one of the problemswe're having today and as a
matter of fact, new York Timeshad a big article on it was
talking about chronicabsenteeism.

(50:45):
You know, and just, we have alot of students that are not
going to school.
You know, um, and it'ssomething that has become
noticeable across the states,you know, um, and for whatever
reasons, you know, uh, everyonesays that is due to the rippling
effects from covid, which istrue, but then I think not only
is it the ripp effects, but it'salso we haven't been able to
talk about it and get to a placewhere we're comfortable.
A lot of students that I see Ihave what they call chronic

(51:08):
absenteeism and students thatare chronically late.
Our schools start at 8.30.
I got kids coming in at 9, 10o'clock.
You already missed like aquarter of the day, you know,
and some of them, like there'sthat accountability measure is
missing.
You know, I think part of it is.

(51:29):
You know, there's a lot ofthings happening at home.
Some of the students are takingtheir younger siblings to work
to school while mom and theirguardians are going to work.

Some of them parents think that they've
gotten up to go to school, butnaturally, they're still
sleeping, you know, um, and someof them are doing things
outside the school that we can'tcontrol.

Raul Lopez (51:47):
There's stuff in our sphere of influence that we
can't control and things wecan't, you know.
But I also I also feel thatsome of the tightrope problems
that comes in is understandingthat traditional aspects of
looking at how we seeabsenteeism in the way and the

(52:08):
role of how parent engagement ishas changed.
So traditional thinking of howwe want parents to engage with
us has changed.
A simple text for them is fine.
You know phone calls they don'tcall or pick up.
You know emails they ratherblock.
You know depending on theparent.
But you know, like, like, wehave the different levels of
parents.
We have the over-engaged, wehave the don't bother me as much

(52:31):
, or the ones that you know I'mgoing to pop in whenever I need
to, you know'm gonna pop inwhenever I need to, you know.
But it's, I think that's theone thing that can round up
everything, if we get thoseparents engaged with us so they
understand that, you know, notonly is a national problem, but
your child can become bettersuccessful if they come to
school.
You know, um, so those arethose three challenges, you know

(52:54):
teachers, would you know,trying to find their balance
with systems and structures, thekids trying to figure out what
they are and the parents justtrying to build that
relationship.
Yeah, dude, it's, I mean, myparenting different from when my
parents were, because obviouslyI just I have the luxury of
time that my parents never had,so, yeah, I can be more involved

(53:17):
, I can talk about.
One of the greatest things now,I think, is just the, the way
technology is being used whereyou can have these you know apps
at the school with the teacher.
oh, kids are doing this inschool now.
Or, like the other day, mydaughter uh, I don't take
offense to the troubles ofsaying kids that show up late.
You know I'm always latedropping, dropping my daughter

(53:38):
off at school, but it's like 10,5, 10 minutes late Carline is
done.
I'm dropping her off in thefront of the school and say
hurry up, run, run, run.
Our mornings are always a mess,but she's always there.
But that's different.
It's different because 5, 10minutes is different than 4
hours.
Yeah.
So I started like, oh shit, I'mon that list he's talking about

(54:03):
.
And it was like, oh yeah,they're coming in.
I tell you, okay, we're notthat bad, but but it's just
funny.
So but the other day my digitaldaughter off my her teacher
sent me a message.
He's like eva seemed a littleoff today, like she forgot her
glasses again, she brought hercrocs instead of her sneakers
and they had gym.
You know PE today.
I don't want to offend PEteachers, but yeah, you don't
say gym is PE.
I have a buddy who's a PEteacher, so he'll yell at me

(54:25):
when he hears this.
But but you know, so she, sheforgot her schools and so
whatever, and she thing.
And she seems a little bit offtoday.
So I was like all right, thankyou for letting me know.
And when she came home, I so Iwas like all right, thank you
for letting me know.
And when she came home I talkedto her Like you know, was
everything okay?
Was there something going on?
Today?
She's like I don't know, I justI think I'm tired.
I'm like, okay, well, let's makesure we're done earlier tonight
and you go to bed right on timeso we don't rush in the school

(54:46):
in Pawtucket that I grew up in,which is a much lower
socioeconomic school and teacherwasn't as technologically
advanced as some other teacherswere, but she's learning how to

(55:08):
read and we're in, I think.
May you know they go to endschool here in june and texas
are done by may, but it was likelate april, early may and I'm
like she's still strugglingreading.
We have to read the sentencelike three times before she
remembers what was on thatsentence and it takes us three
times and she's like, yeah, Iknow she's been struggling with
that all year and I'm like whydidn't you tell me anything like
november?

(55:28):
Why didn't you?
tell me.
Granted, it was.
It was a year of covid, therewas so much stuff going on, but
I was just like if I would haveknown in november I could have
worked extra harder for her,exactly, and so you know, those
little things really do make adifference sometimes for parents
.
So oh yeah, I mean, like youknow, getting parents the
updates that they need isbeneficial, you know um, but I

(55:48):
also feel that you know not onlycalling parents for the bad
stuff, but definitely call forthe good stuff.

you stuff it's great to receive a phone call.
That's like your child's not introuble, Just want to see how
good they were doing.

Raul Lopez (55:59):
That will elevate the game, because it's a
different approach that theparent will give to the child
and the child will come in thenext day feeling a different
type of way.
It's an amazing feeling when yougo to school I mean I really
love my daughter's school.
I mean I really love mydaughter's school, I mean it's a
great school.
And you come to the like, theparent-teacher conference.
They give you the little reportcard and you see the little
section where they write a noteand I remember growing up it was

(56:21):
always like you know talks toomuch in school.
It doesn't pay attention.
It was just like but it was likeand so now it's like he's got
this like super paragraph oflike she does this and then
she's great at this and she'salways helpful and she does that
and I'm like I reallyappreciate the fact that you

(56:41):
went out of your way to write alegitimate paragraph to tell me
how she's doing, even though hedoes tell me stuff throughout
the year and he's his manager.
It just makes a big differencewhere you know the teacher cares
enough to know your daughter,your kid, and what they're doing
, what their struggles are, andreally pays attention to what
they were doing.
And so it makes you feel goodas a parent when you go there
and you're like, fuck, yeah, man.

(57:02):
Listen, that little piece ofdetails or stuff that also you
may not be able to see, you knowonly because, like you know,
you see your kids at a certainhour, like you're not there for
most of the academic developmentyou know.
So, like, it's great to getthat feedback because now you
know how to support it.
You know, yeah, um, but it alsohelps with that social emotional
learning because, like thestudent feels seen, you know

(57:23):
what I'm saying and when theyfeel seen and heard, they're
able to learn a little betteryou know, and it's helpful too,
because with the technologystuff is like, I mean, when my
daughter, you know my teacher,the teacher sent me a message
but she's like in first grade,uh, please don't uh have eva,
come with any more shirts thatthey have, like the little
glitter shirts that when youfold them one way you should
like she's just been all dayplaying with it.
It was like all right, eva, youcan't wear that shirt to school,

(57:45):
no more.
But it's a little thing whereit's like, okay, this is a
obviously a distraction, youknow.
As opposed to back in the dayand so well, good man, I'm glad
to hear that.
So for teachers who are lookingto want to make that jump into
something more administrative,you know what I mean.
What's something they should bedoing?
Should they be taking thoseclasses, should they be taking

(58:08):
these extra overtimeorganizations, or whatever?
I mean stuff.
Yeah, I think for someone that'slooking to elevate their game
and get to the next level, Idefinitely think they shouldn't
do it straight off the cuff,like, if you're a first, second,
third-year teacher, be patient.
You know like your time willcome.

(58:29):
You know because there's acertain process of learning that
you do as a teacher right.
So year one you're buildingyour lesson plans.
You're getting to know who youare in the classroom.
Year two you're tweaking yourlesson plans.
Now you understand what youwant, right and wrong.
By year three, four, five, likeyou kind of have that
understanding, you already havea kind of like a rinse, wash,

(58:49):
repeat cycle you know, but thenyou tweak it.
But then you tweak it when, Ithink, getting involved with
certain aspects of instructionin your school, we'll start that
conversation like gettinggetting involved with, like, the
instructional leadership teamwhich is dealing with anything
instruction, how to give new,new initiatives inside the

(59:14):
school, going to professionaldevelopments, going to, you know
, being a part of somethingcalled the school leadership
team, where that's where youhave a common conversation with
the principal, parents and a lotof invested parties of the
school.
If someone is really looking tomake that jump.
I think that before they do it.

(59:34):
They need to realize why they doit.
You know, are you doing it fora paycheck?
Are you doing it for becauseyou actually want to make that
difference?
Because, again, you can get thelicense, but I think it's what
you do with it that counts.
We signed up for education, butnot everyone is meant to be an

(59:56):
educator.
You know, like for me, like I'm,I'm blessed the fact that my
change of career actually workedout great and I became the
educator that I am today.
But some people education isjust not in their wheelhouse.
You know they went to itbecause it was a job.
But I put it this way you canhit your job but love your
career.
You need to be built for thelong run of this career.

(01:00:19):
But the administrative work Iwould say, if that is what you
want, talk to your principalabout it.
Make sure that you have someonethat supports you in your
growth.
Make sure that you have amentor that's going to guide you
towards looking at the ins andouts of administrative work.
If you do decide to take theclasses, take it in a very

(01:00:40):
reflective lens, but alsonetwork with those colleagues,
because those will be theupcoming assistant principals
and principals around you.
So therefore, you can buildideas with them.
I think a lot of times, you know, just like in regular college,
we go to college but a lot ofthe guys that we graduated with

(01:01:01):
we don't really keep in contactwith.
You know, when you get to themaster's program, you tend to
keep in contact with some ofthem, depending on how intricate
the program is.
You, you tend to keep morecontact, but administrative work
like you, definitely need tokeep in contact with them.
Uh, because you never knowwhere your path may take you.
Um, I always feel like youshould never burn a bridge you

(01:01:24):
know, burning a bridge ineducation is it tends to be a
really bad one only because,like, not only are you hurting
the relationship with yourselfand another administrator, but
you're also like you couldpotentially hurt the
relationship of students if theysee that contention.
You know, um, but yeah, buttalking to the principal taking

(01:01:46):
those classes, getting thatreflective mindset, and you know
, just like podcasts, like youknow, just start listening to
different podcasts and differentaudio books and books about
education.
You have to look at where is itthat you want to go.
You know what is your focalpoint?
Like for me, when I was aneducator right, I was doing

(01:02:08):
social studies, but I was also aESL teacher.
So my framework and my frame ofthinking is more towards
immigrant children, people ofdual languages.
But there's some teachers thatmight be just a literacy teacher
that wants to go into it.
So, depending on what yourpassion is, that will kind of
guide you on where you wanna goin it.

(01:02:28):
But once you decide, just goall in.
If you go all in and you placeyourself around people that are
going to guide you and mentoryou, then I think you're going
to have some success nice,awesome.
And then I guess one otherquestion I have is um, do you
put the pal in principal?

(01:02:52):
um, I try to be.
I I definitely, I definitelytry to be a pal, you know, um,
I'm definitely one that you know, um, when I think of power, I
don't think of it as just abuddy buddy, but also think of,
like, someone that people canlook up to, you know, um.
So one thing I've made it apoint is, you know, whenever I

(01:03:14):
go to work I get dressed up tothe nines.
You know, uh, bow tie.
You know, uh, shoes.
You know, maybe I'll do thesuit with the sneakers, but I
definitely want them to see.
You know, someone that they canlook up to and someone that they
can see that you know, like, Iwant to try to emulate this

(01:03:34):
style of professionalism or thisstyle of person.
You know, everyone has theirown professional look, but I
guess that happens to be me, youknow.
But I think my pal andprincipal happens to be, like
you know, putting others first,making sure that whoever I can
assist I can, but making surethat students felt seen, felt

(01:03:55):
heard, and the fact that theschool community can build
because of the actions that us,as administrative staff, are
actually doing.
Nice man, that's awesome.
That was going to be my hardquestion for you, philip but
also man, and so usually, whenwe get to this point in the
podcast, I like to ask if youcould go back and talk to a

(01:04:16):
younger version of you and giveyourself, you know, a piece of
advice.
You know what's something youwould tell yourself.
Oh man, all right.
So I think it depends on whichversion of myself you know,
because there's been multipleversions, you know, is it the
middle school version of gettingbullied and trying to figure it
out?
The high school one?
The college one?
I would go back to my collegeone, actually high school.

(01:04:43):
And the reason why I choosehigh school because, just like I
said, high school is what kindof builds you up, but college
actually defines you.
Find you, I would could.
Some of the words of wisdom Iwould tell my younger self is to
you know, on top of whateverleadership programs I was in,
you know, um, like in highschool, I was a part of the, a

(01:05:03):
speed up program, which is aleadership development program.
I was a boy scout, you know,like, um, I was part of a whole
bunch of things.
But I would say get theresources you need to elevate
yourself academically.
You know what I'm saying.
Like I can, with some of theharder things, like science and
math.

(01:05:23):
I can contextualize it now, butmy brain wasn't like, it wasn't
at that point, at that timewhere you know, it was able to
look at those concepts and tryto figure it out.
So I would say get theresources that I need so that
way I can elevate my thinkingwhen it comes to math science

(01:05:48):
ways on how to write better wayson how to speak better, and
also I would tell them to bepatient.
A lot of times things come butyou can't rush it.
You know as much as we want torush things, sometimes rushing
something doesn't work in thebest of our interest, you know.
So, take your time, neversettle.

(01:06:08):
But you know, have a go, get amagnitude, but do it in a
patient mindset you know,definitely put your ducks in a
row before you make a move.
You know, um and I say that youknow because I've been I can say
I've been blessed with havingyou know, not only working hard
and do whatever I need to do,but having people along my

(01:06:29):
journey that have beeninstrumental in just like know,
giving me a nudge or giving mean edge, or giving me an
opportunity to shine.
You know like, granted, I maybe a Leo when it comes to Zodiac
sign, you know so, always acenter of attention, but you
know, I'm always, I'm always apretty humble guy you know so
like I'm appreciative of all theopportunities given to me, you
know, and never taking it forgranted.

(01:06:52):
But I also think my younger selfneeds to understand that you
know there are going to be timesthat you're going to struggle.
There are times that you'regoing to grow.
But, you know, try to stay thecourse yeah, that's uh, I mean
it's hard when you're younger,not not realizing what's going
forward, and you go back now andit's like you know, at the end

(01:07:12):
of the year you're just like man, cut yourself some slack, yeah,
it'll come.
And we don't realize howimportant you know sometimes,
like you said, having that oneperson give you some nudge and
you like listen to that person,like don't be sorry, listen to
that person, like you know, goahead and you I'm sure you deal
that with a lot of your kids too, or you're like you know yeah,
um, yeah.

(01:07:33):
So a lot of my kids are, youknow, uh, act now, speak later.
Yeah, you know, um, but yeah,like that, that particular
segment of you know likelistening to what someone has to
say.
It.
I think it's they tend tolisten as a last resort, not not
because it went the right waythat they wanted to you know,

(01:07:55):
but they also realized at theend that there's always another
way, there's always a third wayto do something.
You know um and uh, it'sinteresting, like it's a, it's a
common lesson that I've come tolearn and also you know because
recent, last seven, eight yearsI've been, I've been doing on
brazilian jiu-jitsu, so one ofthe things that they mentioned
is that you know um, you eitherwin or you learn.

(01:08:16):
Yeah, you never lose, you justhappen to learn a valuable
lesson, so that way you couldtry to win in the next one.
So you know, I think it's goingthrough those motions and
getting that, I guess, pep talk.
So that way you can elevateyour game.
Um, definitely works great when,when you sit there and have
that reflective lens yeah,learning from failures is a is

(01:08:40):
in what's it called a trait fromwisdom and time, sometimes that
there are kids but is itfailure though no, no, but I'm
saying but.
But learning from fail, likeevery time you fail, is an
opportunity to learn and getbetter right or move, something
like that, you know.
I mean, I always go back tobatman like why do we fall?
So we learned to lift ourselvesback up.
And it's a big part of what I dowith my daughter and how I

(01:09:00):
raise her, where, you know, Idon't talk about how easy things
are, I don't.
You know, I don't go about andsay so like the things I try to
teach her is.
You know, everything's a learnto learn.
You're slowly learning.
You know, just because youdon't get it now doesn't mean
you won't get it tomorrow, andeverything's one at a time.
And if you mess up, you know, Imean it's not about the fact
that you messed up and youshould be just about that you

(01:09:20):
messed up, it's about that.
What can I learn?
I don't mess up again, you know, I mean so that she doesn't
grow up with the fear of failurethat causes us to stop
ourselves from moving forward.
You know what I mean, becausethat's what I dealt with in my
whole life.
Every time I was afraid offailure, I hit a roadblock and I
just wanted to stop.
You know what I?
mean, yeah, man, and that's, andthat's, I think, what today's
society call it productivestruggle.
You know what I'm saying.

(01:09:40):
It's like you're, you're,you're trying to get to a goal,
but you are going to reach thoseobstacles, you know, um, but
it's you know, because, like,when you understand how to

(01:10:02):
properly do something, then youcan do it on repeat, you know,
and you know that you got it, sothat continuous motion becomes
muscle memory yeah, yeah, that's, that's what I love, what I try
to teach my daughter as well.
So I'm like, oh yeah, I think asmillennial parents, and we're a
little more inept in trying tounderstand the impact as opposed

(01:10:24):
to just being a parent, likeour parents were just parents.
You do this, girls.
You know, and so, thankfullyfor some of us, it helped out
our path and I think we're alittle more retrospective in
looking okay, what else can I doto impact it?
That are slightly different,but always I'm doing it, just
doing it the way I know.
so, yeah, yeah, but but we alsohave that perspective that you

(01:10:44):
know, like we do have ourparents, but now we became the
elders and it's like this the,the youth, has the energy, but
we have the wisdom.
I was like common mention thatthat you know, we definitely
have the wisdom to keep them onthe right, but we have the
wisdom.
Common mentioned that wedefinitely have the wisdom to
keep them on the right path, butthey have the energy to keep it
going so it's like how do youcombine those two so that way
they can get a proper trajectoryof wherever they want to go For

(01:11:04):
?
sure.
And then I guess, my lastquestion for you is how do you
say success in Spanglish?

(01:11:27):
success.
In spanglish I'm gonna say youknow, like it's it's, you're
here for the journey.
You know I'm saying yourjourney is different than
everyone else's.
Your chapter, your journey, isdifferent than everyone else's.
Your chapter of development isdifferent from everyone else's.
So please make sure that youknow you stay the course.
You know, it is a marathon andnot a race.
That's why I say cojalo con tequeres Awesome.

(01:11:48):
Definitely yeah.
It's a hard thing to it's hardto see.

Edwin Berroa (01:11:55):
You know what's that?
It's hard to see the trees forthe forest, or whatever.

Raul Lopez (01:11:56):
Yeah, it's like, you know, sometimes, the forest for
the trees.
You know what I mean.
It's like, yeah, whateveryou're, you're something you're
so caught up in.
I mean, we've, I've, I've, I'vebeen there, we've all been
there, where we're like, oh, I'mnot there yet, I'm still
getting there.
So but thank you.
You know, edwin, I reallyappreciate you taking the time
to get on the show and you knowit's been it's been a great

(01:12:19):
conversation.
I really enjoy.
I loved it, man.
It's great man.
It was great to connect withyou one more time.
It was like it's connected andI look forward to kind of seeing
all the other.
You know how to say success inSpanglish stories.
Yeah, exactly, brother.
I appreciate it, man, and youhave a good one, dude.
Damn you, my brother All rightand obviously for everyone else.

(01:12:42):
Thank you once again forjoining and listening in and I
hope you'll continue to join menext time as we continue to
learn how to say success inSpanglish you.

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From the Bronx to the Blackboard: Embracing Dual Identities and Educational Resilience - Edwin Berroa

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}From the Bronx to the Blackboard: Embracing Dual Identities and Educational Resilience - Edwin Berroa