Lourdes Houston
We are so excited to announce Lourdes Houston, a kindergarten teacher from Houston, Texas as August’s dual language teacher of the month! Lourdes works at Coop Elementary in Houston Independent School District (HISD), where she has worked for the past 24 years.
Since she was a middle school student in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, Lourdes has had a strong desire to be a teacher. In elementary school, Lourdes’ principal recognized her passion for teaching; her principal, soon after, approached Lourdes and her mother about working with illiterate adults. Thrilled by with idea, Lourdes took on the challenge, working alongside her mother to help teach basic literacy skills to adults.
Her early teaching experience led Lourdes to pursue a career in education. After receiving her degree, she kickstarted her teaching career in Mexico. During this time, Lourdes was recruited to participate in an Alternative Certification Program (ACP) program, leading her to move to Houston, Texas, where she began her career at Houston Independent School District.
For 20 years, Lourdes taught as a kindergarten teacher in a bilingual classroom. Ready for a change, she moved to teaching kindergarten in a dual language immersion program, where she has been for the past four years. Lourdes has been grateful for the opportunity to find new challenges, set new expectations, and prepare students for a global society.
Lourdes greatly enjoys working with the younger children because of their eagerness to learn. When asked what her favorite part of being a teacher was, she responded,
“When I see the faces of my students, English speakers and Spanish speakers once they hear themselves reading for first time! When I see that my students do great things, I have faith in them, in teaching, and in a better future.”
Continue to the next page to learn more about Lourdes Houston, our August Teacher of the Month…
The Houston Area Independent School Districts are driven by the simple value that every child can, and should, learn; this happens to be a philosophy that Lourdes believes strongly. Like her peers, Lourdes works toward creating a high-quality educational environment that serves the needs of the increasingly diverse student population in the area. She prides herself on creating a collaborative environment where her students participate and are actively engaged. She involves the students in these important decisions because she believes they will be more engaged if they are a part of creating their classroom community.
“The importance of a safe place for students who are learning in language that is not their home language helps students to feel safe while learning another language. This is the first step in preparing them to be global citizens.”
Lourdes’ classroom is always bustling with each new unit of study that her class tackles throughout the year. She pulls from a variety of resources – including guest speakers, field walks, anchor charts, and science presentations – to help students explore and investigate their classroom topics. These activities help to foster an environment where students feel safe and supported as they learn.
The importance of a safe place for students who are learning in language that is not their home language helps students to feel safe while learning another language. This is the first step in preparing them to be global citizens.
Continue to the next page to learn more about Lourdes Houston, our August Teacher of the Month…
As a teacher in a dual language immersion program, Lourdes ensures that her students understand the meaning and importance of being biliterate. She accomplishes this by sharing with her kindergarten students and their families,
“Even though I teach a Kindergarten class it is never too early to have conversations with the students about the value of being in a Dual Language Classroom. In this case, I have a lot of conversations not only with my students but with their families as well about the positive impact of biliteracy in a culturally diverse city and world”.
Lourdes understands that she is laying the foundation for these young students to take their place as leaders in the ever-growing global economy. Likewise, she hopes that her students will understand and embrace the importance of making mistakes and the learning process that comes with it.
In addition to being an outstanding classroom teacher, Lourdes has sought out professional development opportunities to ensure that she is incorporating the best teaching practices based on current research. She participated in the creation of Dual Language curriculum for HISD, which included conducting monthly conferences with teachers. These conferences focus on discussing the everyday issues that teachers face daily in their classroom and creating effective classroom practices that benefit both the students and teachers.
Lourdes has certainly earned the reputation that precedes her in HISD. The person who nominated her, had the following to share about her: “This is a teacher who goes above and beyond to provide students with amazing dual language classroom strategies like PVR, cross-linguistic connections, etc. She is also great at coaching/helping other dual language teachers on campus, as well as supporting other teachers with classroom strategies that support all ELLs. Ms. Houston is a mentor to new dual language teachers in her campus and collaborates at the district level when talking to perspective teachers and college students about dual language. She is a dual language exemplary teacher and has a model classroom which has been visited from people like Dr. Thomas and Dr. Collier, other HISD campuses, and other school districts from Texas.”
We congratulate Lourdes on her nomination and thank her for all her hard work in growing future global citizens.
