Growing up my mother would always tell me, “Yo no soy rica. No te puedo dejar una herencia monetaria. La herencia que si te puedo dejar es la de tu educación y eso nadie te lo puede quitar.” This loosely translates to, “I am not rich. I cannot leave you a wealthy inheritance. The inheritance that I can give you is your education and that is something that no one can take from you.”
My relationship to education has always been deep, complex and evolving. At first, I thought receiving a “good education” and earning good grades was something I had to do to keep my mother content. Later I viewed education as my ticket “out” of generational poverty and into a better life. It wasn’t until I went to college that I realized that education can do so much more than help you climb socio-economic ladders. I began to understand the power of knowledge, of questioning the status quo and figuring out solutions to make communities, like my own, better, safer and more equitable for everyone. With this realization, I began to teach, thus commencing my journey as a lifelong learner.
MY PHILOSOPHY
I became a teacher to empower students to carve their own fulfilling paths, to become critical, lifelong thinkers and to determine what their success looks like on their own terms. I believe that education should focus on nurturing good thinkers as well as good people. I feel that the best teaching and learning happens in engaging, inclusive, and loving communities. It is in this type of learning environment, where students feel safe to take risks, make mistakes and learn from them, as well as build relationships with their community members. I also believe in offering students choices, so that they have power over making decisions that affect their learning, and ultimately, their lives. When we focus solely on teaching academics, we rob our students of a tremendous opportunity to help develop their character. For me, character education coupled with culturally-relevant teaching and anti-bias practices helps young people to become caring, socially responsible, agents of change. Moreover, I feel that students who have a deep sense of self-worth and belief in themselves are more apt to raise their voices and uplift others against inequalities, which is why I work to help students foster self-confidence and self-love.
My relationship to education has always been deep, complex and evolving. At first, I thought receiving a “good education” and earning good grades was something I had to do to keep my mother content. Later I viewed education as my ticket “out” of generational poverty and into a better life. It wasn’t until I went to college that I realized that education can do so much more than help you climb socio-economic ladders. I began to understand the power of knowledge, of questioning the status quo and figuring out solutions to make communities, like my own, better, safer and more equitable for everyone. With this realization, I began to teach, thus commencing my journey as a lifelong learner.
MY PHILOSOPHY
I became a teacher to empower students to carve their own fulfilling paths, to become critical, lifelong thinkers and to determine what their success looks like on their own terms. I believe that education should focus on nurturing good thinkers as well as good people. I feel that the best teaching and learning happens in engaging, inclusive, and loving communities. It is in this type of learning environment, where students feel safe to take risks, make mistakes and learn from them, as well as build relationships with their community members. I also believe in offering students choices, so that they have power over making decisions that affect their learning, and ultimately, their lives. When we focus solely on teaching academics, we rob our students of a tremendous opportunity to help develop their character. For me, character education coupled with culturally-relevant teaching and anti-bias practices helps young people to become caring, socially responsible, agents of change. Moreover, I feel that students who have a deep sense of self-worth and belief in themselves are more apt to raise their voices and uplift others against inequalities, which is why I work to help students foster self-confidence and self-love.
COMMITMENT TO SOCIAL JUSTICE
A central theme to my teaching philosophy is social justice. My lessons center on the following social justice elements: Self-love, Love for Others, Social Justice, and Awareness Raising. When students develop a deep sense of who they are, where the come from, and why they matter, they develop love and respect for themselves. From this point of self-love, they are then able to learn about how they are similar and different from others. In celebrating those similarities and differences, they are able to show love and respect for one another. In learning about social justice issues and inequalities, students become informed, critical thinkers and problem-solvers. With this knowledge, they are then able to raise awareness in their communities about the injustices they wish to combat, while coming up with effective and collaborative solutions to said problems. One of my main goals as an educator is to help students use their education as vehicle to produce transformational social change for all people.