April: United States: Jan 09, 2023

I have been an educator in three different US states, across different geographic regions in the country, and have served populations in rural, urban, and suburban districts. My student populations have varied from majority white, to majority Black, to majority Hispanic and Native. A constant throughout my
varied experiences is the transformative power of building strong relationships with school stakeholders. Some of my greatest joys in working with students are seeing the hard work of trust-building, collaboration, and respect pay off in ways that allow students to fully be themselves and succeed. The diversity of my student populations also inspired me to start learning Spanish and to become certified in TEFL so as to better support the needs of my English Language Learners. Even in my current position, I have found these skills to have a positive impact on my students. When playing games with my students, I choose question sets with basic, introductory vocabulary to minimize any disadvantage for students who may not have acquired more advanced English vocabulary. I’ve also been more mindful about adding realia such as photos, videos, and objects to illustrate our lesson topics.
As a School Counselor, my job includes teaching social and emotional skills to students across different ages and skill levels. Throughout my career, I would teach 3-6 classes per day in grade levels ranging from preschool to 8th grade. These classes would range in size from 10-28 students, each with their own individual needs. I have always felt a partnership with my students and work with them to determine what topics and skills to teach. I use needs assessments and student surveys to get a holistic picture of my students’ needs and what is relevant to them. In addition to using those needs assessments for determining lesson topics and student needs, I believe that level of student feedback allows me to know more about my students that I might not learn organically in a lesson. It also shows students how important their voice is in their education when I apply their feedback into the classroom. For students with more individual needs, I meet with them individually or in a small group to work on more specialized skills. These lessons are particularly rewarding to me as an educator, because it allows me to see student growth up-close and build closer relationships with my students.