Reflective Commentary 

As a bilingual educator, I prioritize creating a nurturing classroom environment that values each individual's strengths and curiosity to effectively teach. I strive for each lesson to follow these steps: 1) create a nurturing environment through empathy, 2) facilitate curiosity and peer learning, 3) instill personal agency throughout the educational journey. I aim to recognize the unique perspective each student brings through the materials and guided activities used. Each student possesses an inherent curiosity that can be guided towards learning new topics. By creating an environment where students feel safe to ask questions, they are able to learn from one another. Guiding students to share their ideas with their peers instills a sense of self efficacy in their learning journey, because they gain confidence in their ideas and share them in a group setting. As I lead each group of students, I hope to demonstrate those steps modeled through guided practice. 

In order for the three steps to be achieved throughout each learning experience, I value educational linguistic equity. Each student deserves a quality educational experience that responds to their linguistic and cultural backgrounds. This motivates me to deliberately include Spanish and English language in my printed texts, powerpoints, activity handouts, and spoken instruction when teaching. Repeating words, including gestures, and putting Spanish first throughout my lesson enables me to decentralize power within the traditionally English dominant curriculums. A great teacher is someone who understands their educational audience and actively changes their actions to include everyone when learning new topics or questioning old ones. My goal as an educator aims to practice those values through my actions, behavior and the way I communicate. 

In the first lesson of the Aves Compartidas program, we walked through the different geographic scales of continents, countries, states, and cities. I noticed one student was very shy and had difficulties following along when labeling and coloring each continent. I sat down next to him and asked in English if he was okay or needed clarification. Initially he did not respond, so I repeated the questions in Spanish. He nodded in agreement when I asked ¿en español?. Our brief conversation immediately allowed me to understand his linguistic background and initial hesitancy to participate. Pairing him next to a student comfortable in English and Spanish, and guiding them to help each other gradually encouraged him to participate. By the end of the activity students were asking why Mexico was not part of South America and what makes it a country and not a continent. Their curiosity helped guide the rest of the lesson and they felt comfortable enough to question me and each other. I learned after that lesson that to be an impactful educator, I must come open and prepared to understand students' backgrounds, and teach with an inquisitive perspective. 

During my time in the Environmental Leadership Program, I had the opportunity to facilitate lessons at River Road/El Camino del Río Elementary for eight weeks. I was assigned to lead one of the three fourth-grade classes consisting of 21 students. Throughout this teaching journey, I gained three valuable lessons: prioritizing students' natural curiosity over a rigid structure, leveraging my strengths to enhance the lessons, and the importance of framing everything.

After my first day in the classroom, I quickly learned the importance of lesson one. Initially, I had a fixed mindset, aiming to adhere to a strict lesson plan and try to complete all the activities within the allocated time. However, during lesson one, the students displayed a lot of curiosity about the Chipe Amarillo (Yellow Warbler), leading to a shortage of time for the final map activity. Afterwards, I felt anxious and concerned that we hadn't accomplished our learning goals. I started to note down the students' questions that I couldn't immediately answer and adjusted future lessons accordingly based on their questions. This experience taught me the significance of utilizing a child's natural curiosity to guide the lesson. This adaptive approach enabled me to align the lessons with the students' natural interests while providing a quality education.

The second lesson clicked during our first field trip to Mt. Pisgah. While my knowledge of birds was still growing, as a heritage language speaker of Spanish, the language came naturally to me, which was a key component of the Aves Compartidas program. I discovered that incorporating more Spanish into the lessons significantly enhanced student engagement. I discussed this revelation with one of my mentors, who referred to it as "finding my edge." By leveraging my strengths and integrating them into the field trip's objectives, both the students and I enjoyed a more comprehensive learning experience.

The third, but certainly not final, lesson I learned, was the importance of framing everything. As an educator, it is crucial to set students up for success by employing effective pedagogical strategies. By framing activities, lessons, and practices in a way that fosters student engagement and excitement for learning, I was able to enhance the value of each experience.

Moving forward in my professional career, regardless of the field I choose, I will apply these three lessons. Prioritizing students' natural curiosity will ensure dynamic engagement, while leveraging my strengths will enrich my environment. Additionally, framing my work in a way that aligns with my ultimate goals is a skill I will continue to use. These lessons will undoubtedly shape my future professional endeavors, enabling me to create engaging and meaningful experiences in any field I pursue.

Feedback from River Road/El Camino del Río teachers:

One key piece of feedback I received from the 4th-grade teachers was that I needed to be more assertive with behavior management in the classroom. As part of my role in the Environmental Leadership Program for each day in the field, I led one lesson and supported my fellow facilitators in two other lessons. This required me to ensure students remained on task and actively participated in the lessons. Initially, I struggled with being more assertive because I didn't want to lose their trust. However, I recognized the importance of finding a balance between decentering my power as an educator and maintaining student engagement.

To address this challenge, I tried different methods each week, building off of one another. The most effective approach I discovered was changing the format of the lessons I led to group-centered activities away from their desks. In lessons where I was the supporting role, my teammate and I designated different areas of the classroom to each other. This allowed us to get to know one group of students better and develop stronger relationships with the students to establish mutual respect. When students veered off task, I saw it as an opportunity for a new learning experience. I would ask them if they had understood the previous point, and if they responded negatively, I would briefly review the material with enthusiasm. This approach naturally re-engaged the students, as it presented them with a fresh task instead of simply telling them to stop talking.

By adopting this method, I learned when to set clear boundaries and when to provide students with opportunities to rejoin the learning journey. This approach helped me create a balance between maintaining classroom discipline and fostering an environment where students felt comfortable and motivated to participate.

Feedback from our community partners: 

Our community partner provided valuable feedback regarding the need to integrate the theme of migration throughout the field trip. Initially, our main goal was to teach students how to use binoculars and apply their classroom knowledge to birdwatching. However, my focus on this approach did not emphasize enough the underlying reason behind the abundance of bird species at Mt. Pisgah. Following feedback received during the fourth-grade field trip, I aimed to reinforce the lessons on bird migration during the fifth-grade excursion.

To address this feedback, I reframed the field trip for the fifth-grade students. I began by prompting students to identify the current season and discuss its implications for the bird species they would encounter at Mt. Pisgah. As an environmental educator, my aim was to help students connect migration patterns with the scientific principles underlying their observations. This involved identifying nests, distinguishing between bird calls and songs, and exploring questions related to the behavior of male and female birds. By incorporating the reasons for bird migration and actively seeking signs of birds throughout the field trip, we were able to align the lessons learned in the classroom with the theme of migration. The day concluded with a reflection on what we had learned, reinforcing the connection to our initial introduction about bird migration. This allowed us to effectively align the scientific aspects of migration with our program's goal of drawing parallels between the birds in Oregon and Guanajuato. By utilizing the feedback provided by our community partners, I was able to enhance the integration of migration themes throughout the field trip, and foster a deeper understanding of bird behavior and scientific concepts among the students. 

Feedback from my project manager and professor: 

I received feedback from my professor and project manager regarding the need to create a balance between using a commanding voice to capture students' attention and allowing them to become excited about the lessons. Another significant point of feedback was to frame the lessons in a way that inspires empathy towards birds rather than solely focusing on teaching about them. The feedback I received paralleled with the suggestions from the teachers at River Road/El Camino del Río, emphasizing the importance of improving behavior management practices. 

I adjusted my approach by implementing attention-grabbing techniques, such as using phrases like "muestrame su pico" ("show me your beak"). Once I had the students' attention, I redirected it back to the lesson by asking follow-up questions. In each lesson, I actively employed these strategies by first capturing attention and then using questions to refocus the students on the topic at hand. I noticed that students who became more engaged and developed a sense of empathy for the birds we were studying were more likely to participate actively and required less behavior management.

As the lead for the 4th-grade class, which was the last class of the day, I was able to apply this feedback to my lesson. I divided the students into two groups: "el Zorzalito de Swainson" (Swainson's Thrush) and "el Chipe Amarillo" (the Yellow Warbler). I encouraged students to "flap their wings" as they played the migration game. Although seemingly small adjustments at the time, I observed improved engagement as students eagerly aimed to migrate across. I realized that building empathy, both among students and towards the subject matter, is an essential aspect of being an educator. By incorporating the feedback received and focusing on empathy-building, I enhanced student engagement and fostered a deeper connection between the students and the content being taught.