Our May Marigolds are....

After a few years, we moved back to California, but I had a difficult time finding a job! Then in 2006, I was fortunate that in February of 2006, Principal Murray hired me at Grant HS to fill a position of a Spanish teacher that had an emergency. It was challenging to start in the middle of the school year, but from the beginning, It felt right. I felt like I belonged there. I started teaching Spanish 1 and 2, and after a couple of years, I was teaching all four levels and worked intensively to increase enrollment in our Native Speaker program. Today, that program is solid. I teach Spanish to native speakers and AP Spanish primarily for 10th and 11th graders. Teaching those classes, in particular, is very rewarding because it allows me to join my students in an exciting exploration of language development and the culture of Latin America. I have the gift to help or, at the very least, show my students that it is OK to be proud of who we are, embrace the culture their parents or themselves came from and that each of us has a unique identity that deserves to be respected. By teaching them that, they will learn to appreciate their diversity. 

I am being honest; I never intended to become a teacher; my dream was to be a dentist. Due to my family situation, age, and limited control of the English language, I somehow became a teacher. I never planned it, but it was perfect. I raised my children and shared so many beautiful moments as they were growing up that perhaps I never would have had the opportunity in a different career. I could not explain what drew me exactly to become a teacher, but I can say that my students have drawn me to be a teacher ever since I can remember. It may sound like something nice to share in an interview,  but honestly, I tell you, my job is a significant part of who I am and my identity. Last year, I was invited to be part of the mentorship program, and I can say without hesitation that it has been one of the highlights of this school year. It is a well-run program by two great professionals in the district and SCOE. 

In ten years, looking back at 2021-2022, I want to celebrate that schools were reopened; that students, despite their academic deficiencies, students and teachers showed up after living through the pandemic. I want to celebrate that we did not give up. Yes, it was tough, and there were many gaps to fill, but we did not give up. As a matter of fact, it made us stronger because we had to learn so many new things, from recognizing students by only looking at their eyes due to the mask mandate to so many new educational technology tools we had to learn to help support students’ learning. 

As a mentor, my most accomplishing story is to have had the opportunity to collaborate with an admirable, disciplined young lady with whom I shared several classroom teaching strategies and who, in exchange, injected me with her fresh, new energy and enthusiasm. I will remember this year as a year of renewing and reinventing myself, thanks to my colleagues, administration, and this mentorship program.  I want to remember this year as the year I learned to reconnect with myself as I became, maybe for the first time, more aware of my own emotions and others.

I teach music at three different schools, Beginning Band and Choir at Martin Luther King Jr Technical Academy, and general music at Fairbanks Elementary and Hazel Strauch Elementary. 

I was drawn to the teaching profession by a string of life events. However, I vowed never to teach after growing up in a household of educators. My parents were both teachers. My mother taught elementary school and a couple of years of middle school. My father taught elementary, middle school, and high school in special education, and completed his teaching career as a  music teacher. I saw the highs and lows of education early in life and felt that was not for me. However, as I left to study music at Long Beach State University, I taught drum lessons throughout my college career and continued to do so as I embarked on a career in the performing arts for a number of years. 

After years of studio work, tours, and traveling, I decided to begin working in the community in South Central Los Angeles and began working with non-profit agencies servicing youth and families. I then relocated to Sacramento and continued to work with probation youth. I soon transitioned to working with Sacramento City Unified School District under an Academic Mentor Program for Foster Youth Services. I later took a position with Woodland Unified School District, facilitating an Alcohol Abatement grant program. I began looking for work that was more related to music. I then applied for a specialist position in the Visual and Performing Arts Department here in Twin Rivers. I was not hired for this position, but in turn, was offered a teaching position as a music teacher. I accepted the position and really felt a calling to put all my past experience to work. I knew at that point, that a season was changing and headed in a new direction. My tenure here at TR has been challenging and rewarding. I continue to learn and grow at my current position and have much to still learn, contribute, and share with the students I serve.

I believe ten years from now I would like to think back on this school year and celebrate a season of perseverance, patience, and growth. My most important story of accomplishment is the hope that I have been able to instill in students the value of education and a desire to learn and appreciate their potential as individuals. I hope their exposure and participation in the performing arts grant them the desire to continue to grow and engage in the contributions of others and seek to contribute to those around them.    

A bit about myself, I was born in Mexico and came to the U.S. when I was 10 years old. I’m the youngest of 7 siblings and the first in my family to go to college. From a young age I was drawn to teaching, but it wasn’t until I began college that I formally began my teaching journey. Throughout my undergrad and my Master's, I taught Spanish for a non-profit organization called Teach Another Language to Kids (T.A.L.K) in Davis, California. Doing this reinforced my calling to become a Spanish teacher.

10 years from now thinking back to this school year I would celebrate a successful and rewarding first year of teaching. This year was full of growth, successes and challenges. 

I never imagined my first year would be at alternative high schools, but being where I’m at  allowed me to witness growth and resilience. At both schools I was able to create positive relationships with my students, many of whom graduated mid-term. One of my favorite moments was when I asked the graduates to share words of encouragement for their peers on the last day of the Fall semester. Many students thanked me, but what one student said stuck with me. His words were ‘Thank you, I wouldn’t have finished if it weren’t for you. You always pushed me to keep going and believed in me”. Their stories of success inspire me, graduating high school despite what statistics say about them shows me resilience.