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Introduction
Kindergarten Class of 1994Alexander Perez, 3rd row, 4th column (green sweater w/tie)Friend Jessica Guardado, 1st row, 1st column (red button shirt)
"Throughout life there are things I call 'new beginnings' and 'endings'. My first major ending was when I graduated from high school. There is always something special about endings that never leave your memory. For me it was realizing I can do something with my life after high school. I had always been an average or below average student never realizing what I can accomplish with some hard work. During high school I found two new aspirations in life, this is that story..." (Perez, 2011).
I wrote these words 12 years ago on a blog as I was about to graduate with a bachelor's degree in Liberal Studies from California Polytechnic State University, Pomona. At the time I was on the verge of beginning my teaching career. Now, I sit here writing the autobiography section completing a graduate program at the University California of Los Angeles for the Principal Leadership Institute.
My name is Steve Alexander Perez; I am the son of Mexican immigrants, a 1st generation born Mexican-American, father, educator, lover of arts, nature, and a social justice advocate. This is my journey.
Eearly Years
From the beginning of my academic memory all I can remember is constantly feeling behind. I remember taking an English and Spanish test, and the STAR test and feeling completely lost. My summers were constantly taken away because I was always behind in reading and math and needed extra help to catch up. I remember the last day of summer school before 6th grade wondering how I would survive middle school because my summer school teacher made my constant academic struggles feel as if it would ruin any future I had. So I did what any embarrassed and failing student would do. I became the class clown to distract from my academic shortcomings. This made one particular teacher hate me. I would fool around, make jokes, and not follow the rules to the point of this teacher yelling right into my ear, "Shut up!". I remember the anger I felt after that happened. If the constant failures in reading and math, losing summers to be in class, or boredom didn't start my resentment for school, this teacher definitely did.
Steve Perez, Kindergarten 1994
7th grade was hardly any different with another teacher disrespecting me by patting me down to take away a toy skateboard I had brought to class. Then, another teacher accused me of plagiarising when I used the word whom in an essay. However, little did I know this single word changed my academic trajectory because that was what helped me exit my ELD class, and move to a new English class the next week.
High School
High School graduation 2006. Steve Perez & childhood friend Jessica Guardado
Steve Perez Varsity Cross Country, 2005.
High school was a lot of the same attitude and failures in school, until my junior year English class. Everyone seems to have that one teacher who made a difference for them, and this is when life decided to introduce me to mine. Mrs. Kari Vargas was a brand new teacher. She would laugh, joke, smile, and be sarcastic with students, and never showed anger, frustration, or annoyance towards us. However, the most important thing she did was take time to treat us like people. I remember feeling especially depressed one day, which was very different from my usual class clown and talkative personality. She saw how unusual that was for me and simply asked if I was okay, if I wanted to drink some water, walk around outside with a friend for a bit, and come back when I was ready. This single moment has stayed with me for nearly 20 years. I walked with my friend Jessica, found a tennis ball near the vending machines, drank some water, walked around the quad, and back to her class. She showed me kindness and compassion when so many other teachers had not.
This then helped me listen in class and really think about what she was teaching us. I remember reading "The Heart of Darkness", and writing and discussing controversial topics like cloning, artificial intelligence, and LGBTQ rights. What made her class my favorite was that I began understanding how to be a better writer. Her class provided me the first time I felt pride in my academic work. I earned the second-highest score in my class for an essay she assigned us. The very next year I had her as my teacher again and things continued to get better for me.
Cal Poly University, Pomona
The most note-worthy academic experience while at Cal Poly University, Pomona was being challenged by one professor during my freshmen year. I remember she was a Stanford University graduate with a doctorate degree in education. This was the first time I had a teacher or professor from an institute that held so much weight behind it. So naturally, I listened a little more closely. However, it was how she gave long wait time to the questions she posed to us and how she emphasized that we must take charge of our education and be fully invested and involved that had the biggest impact on me. She was not going to spoon-feed us knowledge, or answers, or anything we weren't capable of doing ourselves. If my recollection is correct I got a C- in that class. However, while in her office she noted my growth after being my professor once more during my senior year, and I received a letter of recommendation from her to apply for the teaching credential program.
Career in Teaching
It has been a very fulfilling job as an elementary general education teacher. I was allowed to create an environment to foster the academic growth and well-being of my students. For four years it was going great, but little by little, hurdles and circumstances affected the potential to help my students. I thought that perhaps a school site change could mean those hurdles and issues would disappear. I assumed incorrectly. In my next school, it seemed as if more hurdles and concerns would arise, or perhaps I was more aware of how things would affect the classroom. In short, I was becoming frustrated by not getting the resources or the support both my students and I needed. I want to be a voice for change in this field, and by seeking a Master’s degree at the University of California Los Angeles, I can make my goal of facilitating social justice in public schools a reality. During my career thus far, it has seemed as if at every turn there was a roadblock preventing me from doing things the right way. I exhausted my limits as a teacher in my eight years in education and sought to learn new avenues.
Two years into teaching, I became my school's Early Language & Literacy Plan designee to help implement homogenous small group rotations across classrooms for reading intervention. I conducted professional development for teachers and met during staff time to go over assessment and diagnostic material, as well as go over student data. I enjoyed learning how to dive deeper into data and pinpoint where to best provide intervention for our struggling readers. I also joined our school Green Team committee and helped write a proposal to successfully have our garden fully funded at our school in the middle of downtown Los Angeles. Our Green Team Committee members advocated for more green space for students in our proposal by discussing how it creates a welcoming environment, and the opportunity to conduct lessons outside. I would frequently use that space and give lessons about topics such as the states of matter, the positioning of the sun throughout the day, seasons of the year, how shadows change, plant science, and even use the outside space when safely observing the partial solar eclipse that year.
Preparing for the 1st Spelling Bee @ Fries Ave.
The following year I wanted to help foster a love for science and bring new resources to my combination class. I took it upon myself to start a Donors Choose and was funded nearly $900 in science realia and resources. Then the next year with my 4th grade class I raised funding for a 3D printer. This would help my students practice valuable science, technology, engineering, and arts skills. I showed my 4th-grade class how to create simple Word documents, PowerPoint, and finally how to use a 3D printing website to create their work. As mentioned before, this school is in the heart of downtown Los Angeles and is also in a historically impoverished community. This community would experience houseless individuals at the steps of our school entrance, violence reported every day, a bomb scare, police chases, and a high immigrant population. I undoubtedly have had a handful of houseless students while teaching at this school. This pushed me to provide lessons and experiences for my at-risk students so that it could be their escape from this tough environment. I knew that every student deserves to learn S.T.E.A.M. lessons regardless of socio-economic status.
Then, I made the change to a different school. The struggle and hard work of bringing meaningful lessons and experiences to my students continued. However, my methods evolved. I was no longer content with providing a memorable learning environment solely for my class. I wanted to bring change beyond my class and to our school. I recall attending a meeting about my school’s community and was taken aback at the amount of trauma, poverty, and foster care, as well as one of the highest homicide rates in Los Angeles that existed there. Our students were coming to us with so much on their plate already that learning was always going to take a back seat to survival. I used this information to bring it to my school site council meeting and helped convince my fellow committee members that we should bring a psychological social worker to our school, even if the budget only allowed for one day. This resource proved to be valuable and our teachers and principal have supported using more of our budget to add more days of support to our school.
Then, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and advocating for the safety of students and teachers became my next goal. There is far too much to cover regarding the inequities the pandemic revealed in education, but with my role in the COVID Safety Committee, I helped make the transition to hybrid and in-person learning as safe as possible. I created a space to share important information with my colleagues and keep them up to date with the latest protocols and COVID cases, as well as communicate important information to our student parents. I learned that I needed to be involved in decision-making committees to have a wider impact. Yet, I still wanted to help reach the students I had a personal connection to, the at-risk, English Learners, and struggling students. As an elementary teacher with a multi-subject credential, I could only do so much. I decided to add the Reading Language Added Authorization credential so that I may better provide direct and explicit reading instruction to struggling readers. When I completed that process I took my new skills and became the Intervention Support Coordinator at my school. In this position, I knew I would be able to help the at-risk student population directly. Once again I used Donors Choose and received $1,700 worth of reading resource material in my first four months out of the classroom. With these new resources, the kindergarten teacher team and I were able to raise our kindergarten students’ reading scores from 93% below to far below the reading benchmark, to 72% at or above the reading benchmark. A 65% positive turnaround was a result I was truly happy to work for. Now in my second year as the Intervention Support Coordinator, I could continue that work and see lasting change in our students' reading abilities.
However, being ‘out of the class’ opened my eyes to a new world in the school system. I noticed other inequities at the school site level. At this time I was also my school's teacher union representative, so when I noticed certain issues I began to read over contracts, the School Plan for Student Achievement documents, grant documents, countless bulletins, and inter-office correspondences to understand exactly what should be going on and question why it was not. As I brought these issues to my principal I realized I was taking a peek into the administrative side of the school setting. This new world intrigued me because it had the potential to bring the most change with documents and written language to support our at-risk student population beyond one year.
Becoming the Fries Avenue mascot
Subsequently, this is what brought me to further seek higher education and work towards a master’s degree in education. It took me eight years to realize that I could expand the walls of my classroom and bring equitable change to the school as a whole. Nearly every year of teaching I learned a lesson that brought me closer to this realization. I gained confidence, data analysis skills, and leadership skills when I became the Early Language & Literacy designee. Green Team taught me to work as a team and make our vision come to life. Funding my projects showed I had the determination and drive to bring new resources to my class when I lacked those resources in my school. As a member of the school site council, advocating for a PSW helped me make data-driven decisions for the benefit of our at-risk population with a lasting effect. With a new credential and as an Intervention Support Coordinator I refined my skills to provide explicit reading instruction and gained insight into the workings of a school site. This also helped me work across different grades, classes, and teachers to collaborate and create a strong intervention plan for each student. Finally, as the teacher union representative at my school, I embraced using my voice to bring concerns and ideas to my colleagues and gain their trust and support.
With every year and lesson learned I have chosen to build upon them as much as I can. The next logical step for me is to participate in a program designed to bring social justice to struggling communities through a democratic process. The Principal Leadership Institute program at UCLA School of Education and Information Studies fits my personal view the most.
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