This fall I found out I had been nominated by my colleagues as Teacher of the Year! Here is a photo with me and my family, as well what I wrote in response to my peers who nominated me (something were required to do but I thought I would just share it here):
Describe a project or initiative you helped create which contributed to the improvement of overall school culture. What was your role, and what is the status of this project today? Please include evidence of student impact in your response.
“Last year I had a vision of bringing back celebrations of latinidad that I remember from when my mother helped start the school over 20 years ago. I remembered Norma Paz and Iris Ramos and so many others who invested life and love into the building, leaders in Nashville’s spanish-speaking community entering the learning environment to help teach students, cultural events including folklorico and music integrated into curricula across grade levels. My desire was to rekindle the desire to partner the language we teach with the cultures that speak it. Inspired by the amazing Fabiola Edwards, I reached out to teachers in every grade level, as well as our lovely librarians, to initiate a project-based exploration of culture and place: Pasaporte al mundo. México, Colombia, Perú, Puerto Rico, Brasil, and España were all researched. Teachers were invited to teach their own lessons and extensions for learning in their classrooms: connecting to science and social studies, integrating math into reviews of architecture and populations, exploring natural flora and fauna, reading works of literary beauty, and involving art making into the already culture-rich classrooms at our school.
Art analysis and representation had already been happening in every room at Glendale and I wanted to showcase that I am not the only one responsible for engaging our students as artists and thinkers. Seeing the art they made alongside the projects and research they conducted outside of art truly filled my cup. True learning occurred and true, authentic representation of the latin/hispanic diaspora was present. The culminating event was a passport style presentation of the children’s hard work, the authentic assessment of their understanding. Families and stakeholders were invited to “visit” each country, with each grade level representing a culture and place. I believe the students felt a sense of success and increased self-confidence in demonstrating their understanding which I suppose was gained through anecdotal evidence and enthusiasm. The children came away from the entire experience with a fuller understanding of the countries they investigated. I cannot take credit for that magic. All I did was make some noise to get people excited and awakened to the idea that we could show off what we’re already doing all the time. Hopefully, even though I am expecting a baby this winter, I will be able to solidify this as a new tradition at the school. Niños son numero uno, and I know that every teacher in this school believes that.”
Thank you to all of my sweet colleagues who believe in me and the vision for our school. I will always remember this sweet time.
