In these difficult times, teachers and parents have taken on new roles and responsibilities in their lives. It’s more important than ever we honor the crucial role teachers play in the lives of our children. That’s why today, we honor Angie Cruz, who has been involved in education as the following: as a teacher for 11 years, a substitute teacher 6 years, a classroom volunteer 2 years, and as a PTA Board member for 3 years.
The biggest influence in becoming a teacher were my educators in elementary school who taught me the importance of an education and made school a place I loved going to. They became my role models.
After subbing and finally securing a permanent position as a teacher, Angie was moved to her school due to low classroom numbers at a previous school. Because of the passion she developed for education, she completed a master’s program where she researched the lack of resources for Bilingual Students.
My favorite part of being a teacher are my students. I love making connections with them, help them with Social Emotional Learning, and seeing them come into my classroom eager to learn, yet leave with so much progress embedded in them due to what they learned from me.
She was inspired to research this topic through firsthand experience, as at times she must create resources for her students and do more research to find resources. She says that slowly more Bilingual resources are becoming available, but not enough.
One thing Angie does that we were so impressed by, was her method for challenging student performance/creativity outside of the classroom by making connections to their experiences, and sharing her own as well.
Angie exhibits immense passion for a career that allows her to put in over 100% into it, she is dedicated because she will do all she can to make her students feel protected and safe when they are with her. She also believes that patience at all grade levels is so important and supports her passion and dedication.
What makes my classroom stand out is when you walk into my classroom, you will always see my students engaged, positive, happy, and well behaved in an organized environment. I get to know my students and create a relationship with them. So much so that my classroom was chosen to appear in our ribbon cutting newspaper and is on YouTube.
Angie helps her students understand the value of biliteracy by posting her SWRL posters and going over it everyday in the class in both in English and Spanish. The SWRL poster represents, Metacognitive Thinking, Listening, Speaking, Writing, and Speaking according to the language being done at the time, since she teaches both languages to her students.
Biliteracy to me means someone who can read, listen, write, and speak in two languages, along with competency in accepting other social ways.
Angie sees the impact her students will have in the world by ensuring they see themselves having the brightest futures, whether that means going to college or acquiring a professional job from a very young age.
The impact I hope to have on my students is that I too lived in a low social economic community. With perseverance and commitment, I was able to achieve my goal of a great career as a teacher which I am so passionate about. They can do it too and do not let anyone tell you otherwise.
