About me:

Hello! My name is Maria Chavez. I have been a K-8 gifted education teacher for thirteen years. At the middle school level I have taught Gifted Math, Gifted ELA, and Seminar. 

I'm a wife, mom of three grown kids, who were all APS students in the gifted program at Monte Vista Elementary. I'm a New Mexico native, raised in Los Alamos, but I spent fourteen years living in Chicago, where I attended middle school, high school, and college. 

I attended University of Illinois at Chicago, where I received my BFA in Photography & Film in 1991. I also attended UNM, where I received my MA in Elementary Education in 2011. 

Some of my hobbies are reading, traveling, photography, listening to music, singing, boxing, studying French, and spending time with my family & my three dogs.