Odwuar Quiñonez, is a kindergarten Spanish teacher at Bryan Elementary, a dual language school in Lexington, NE. In 2019, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education from the University of Nebraska at Kearney. He received his English as a Second Language endorsement from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln summer of 2023. Currently, he is studying to obtain his Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education MA. Odwuar has a true passion for working with younger learners. He enjoys helping each student progress in all areas of their development and making sure they are successful. Personally, he has lived in Guatemala for ten years. Through traveling, he has learned about different cultures, languages, education, and foods. He has traveled to Canada, Portugal, South Korea, France, England, Spain, Italy, El Salvador, and Guatemala.

Research Interests

Kindergarten Students Learning Spanish with the the Use of American Sign
Language
Dual Language School Benefits
School Uniforms
School Safety

Publications & Conference Presentations

Guatemalans of the Great Plains: Exploring the educational implications of meatpacking and migration for immigrant communities of Two Geographies

Immigrant children and families living, working, and learning on the Great Plains often must negotiate life in reference to more than one geography. Many with transnational identities, are both of their current home and of their country of origin. This has many implications for workplaces (as meatpacking is a major explanation for why most with immigrant roots are here) and for schools. In this interactive session, panelists from the field
of education will discuss the current contexts, challenges, and possibilities of one such population, Guatemalan children and families living in Nebraska, and how schools and communities could/should/are responding in various ways.

Panelists—two of whom are current Nebraska kindergarten public school teachers, one of whom is a former public school teacher in Guatemala, and three of whom are teacher educators in Nebraska—will take up problems of practice such as effectively engaging little ones who are of two places, are of two (or more) languages, and whether they should get to continue to be so. Furthermore, they will invite the audience to consider our collective responsibilities to the Guatemalan-heritage community given its core roles in Great Plains food production. In particular panelists will consider how children of this community are welcomed at school and what they are taught—i.e., what languages, what literacy skills, and what broader messages about how they are and what/how they should become.

Panelists:

Odwuar Quiñonez: Kindergarten Teacher, Lexington Public Schools

Daniel Moran, Kindergarten Teacher and Dual Language Coordinator, Fremont Public Schools

Hector Palala-Martínez, Graduate Teaching Assistant, TLTE, UNL

Amanda Morales, Associate Professor, UNL

Edmund ‘Ted’ Hamann, Professor, UNL