Danette Valdez has just been selected as The National Teacher of the Year for her work in the Albuquerque Public Schools. She has been employed with APS, as a government teacher, for the last five years, and is currently working on completing her masters. Ms. Valdez has accomplished many of her goals by creating one the first “We the People Honor Civics Competitive”at a local high school. She continually pushes her students to be effective agents for social change with their community, state, and nation. Her administration describes her as being a “sophisticated and knowledgeable teacher that knows what it takes to be a supportive educator in APS.”
“As a teacher in APS you’ll find your classroom to be diverse ethnically and culturally, and as an educator it is your job to provide your students with the knowledge and skills necessary to find their own voices.” Her goal for the last five-years has been to help students reflect on their constitutional rights as American citizens living in a democratic society, and help students to improve and develop their own minds by cultivating their own understandings of societal norms. Ms. Valdez argues that she has seen many inequalities and injustices occurring in her local school system, and that there are different levels of support given to schools and students based on their location within the city. Over the last five-years she has brought much awareness to the different attitudes toward the diversity of her students. She explained that ethnicity and social-class show the inequalities that a lot of her students experience on day to day bases. Through the diversity of her students and the honor civics program, she continues to enhance the quality of life here in New Mexico. Her students describe her as being “motivating and inspiring.” Ms. Valdez is grateful for even being nominated and considered for The National Teacher of the Year Award, and notes that the most rewarding aspect of her job is the diversity of her students. As one of her senior students put it, “She has shown us that we have a voice and choices outside of what is ‘Socially prescribed to us by society.’”
I feel like in this article you are very in tuned with your students backgrounds. I hope that when we are teachers, we can change this huge array of inequities in our schooling system. It sounds like to me you are going to be a very empowering and uplifting teacher and giving to the students lessons of life. "Cultivating" is huge when it comes to teaching. Planting a seed in our students for future growth is an everlasting resource that keeps giving through generations.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to hear of your emphasis on knowing the Constitution as you teach. There is so much ignorance in our country, especially in our young people, about what the Constitution actually provides. Many today believe they have a Constitutional right to certain benefits, such as an education, but that is not explicitly in the Constitution. There is no other document like our Constitution. What a shame more citizens don't spend time learning what it says. Now, with that said, I need to go back and reread the Constitution, since I haven't read it since Poli-Sci in college!
ReplyDeleteI definitely want my daughter in your class! I agree that it is so important for the youth of this country to actually understand the world around them; socially, culturally and politically. It is so sad to see students who just go through life without an awareness of the bigger picture. It is also crucial that students understand how they fit into that puzzle, as every individual has a voice, and something important to contribute.
ReplyDelete