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Through an account of the team’s rapid rise from a 12-student all-Hispanic beginner squad to Texas and national champions, the narrative challenges stereotypes about low-income Latino students. 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Imagine you walk into a chess club at a school. Who do you expect to see there? Be honest. White kids? Asian kids? At-risk Latino kids? Well, I have a question for you. For all of us actually. Why not at-risk Latino kids?  \nRamirez himself had been an English language learner (ELL) anda former chess champion; he knew how chess could change students’ lives. His own experiences inspired him to start the Henderson Middle School chess team. In 2015, his team of 12 ELLs  \nJohn Seidlitz is an author and educator who provides professional developmentfor teachers of English language learners.  \nfrom El Paso, Texas, most of whom had never previously heard of chess, went on to become national chess champions.  \nHenderson is a low-income school located in one of the poorest zip codes in the United States, right on the border with Mexico. If you stand on the roof of the school, you can see across the Rio Grande to Juárez, Mexico. About half of the kids who attend Henderson are English language learners. Many of them are from Juárez and have witnessed the violence that is an unfortunate part of life there. In the years when these students attended elementary school, two of every 10 drug-related murders in Mexico occurred in Juárez.1  \nI first heard about Ramirez’s story in the spring of 2015 while I was at Henderson conducting staff development for teachers of ELLs. It was one of those days where nothing seemed to be going right; some of the teachers were having trouble finding substitutes, and the sound system wasn’t working. I decided to try something different to get us into a positive mindset. I asked the teachers to share some success stories that they had witnessed while teaching. I expected to hear stories about kids rapidly gain-  \n24 AMERICAN EDUCATOR | FALL 2018  \ning English proficiency, maybe some improvement in test scores, but what I heard far exceeded my expectations.  \nOne of the teachers shared the story of the Henderson chess champions. He described how in the fall of 2014, only 12 students signed up for Ramirez’s fledgling team: 11 sixth-grade boys and one seventh-grade girl, most of whom were ELLs. He taught them the rules and began taking them to tournaments.  \nGradually, the students began winning local competitionsand beating teams from other schools. In the spring of 2015, Ramirez believed they were ready forthe state championship tournament, which was being held in McAllen, Texas. With hopeful hearts, he and the team piled into a van and drove all the way to McAllen from El Paso. The 790-mile journey took the team two days to complete.  \nWalking in, the students could tell that they were different from the other teams. The Henderson team didn’t have uniforms; the students didn’t even have a practice room because they couldn’t afford to rent one; they satin the hallway to play practice games. They were an allHispanic team, with only 12 very inexperienced players. But they had worked hard, and Ramirez believed in them. Despite feeling intimidated, they won first place in their beginners division for the state of Texas. The Henderson Middle School Hornets were now state champions! They were given a hero’s welcome when, trophies in hand, they returned to El Paso.  \nRamirez had promised his team that if they won at state, he would take them to the national championship tournament in Louisville, Kentucky. Off they went—and won first place.  \nHearing this story, I was stunned. How had I not heard about this great win? How was this news to me? I couldn’t stop thinking about it, and immediately felt compelled to share th","cbCaipOkyqNLzw6P","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaipOkyqNLzw6P","pdf",349277,"English","# Border-School Champions\n## Chess and English Language Learners\n## A Renewed Focus on ELL Potential\n## Discovering Student Strengths","[{\"question\":\"What teaching practices does the article highlight as behind Ramirez’s impact on students?\",\"answer\":\"It emphasizes connecting personally with students from the first meeting, listening beyond labels and negative experiences, and being “radically available” to support students’ strengths with presence and commitment.\"}]","Border-School Champions - Chess and English Language Learners | PDF",1792072812]