Tag Archives: Latino American Teachers

Teachers who were Latino Americans, or who worked with Latino American student populations.

Eighth grade teacher, poet, and author Elizabeth Acevedo

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Elizabeth Acevedo

Eighth grade teacher, poet, and author Elizabeth Acevedo.

There are many examples of excellent teachers who have earned acclaim in arenas outside the classroom. One of these is Elizabeth Acevedo, an eighth grade schoolteacher who is also a poet and author of young adult novels.

Elizabeth, who identifies as Afro-Latina, was born to parents who immigrated from the Dominican Republican. She was raised in New York. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Performing Arts from George Washington University. She earned her Master’s degree in Fine Arts with an emphasis in Creative Writing from the University of Maryland.

As a 2010 Teach for America Corps participant, Elizabeth went into the classroom following her college graduation. She taught eighth grade in Prince George’s County, Maryland.

Elizabeth’s books include, Beastgirl & Other Origin Myths published in 2016, and With the Fire on High published in 2019. Her first novel, The Poet X (2018), The Poet X, was published in 2018, and instantly became a New York Times Bestseller. The novel won the 2018 Boston Globe-Hornbook Award, the Walter Dean Myers Award for Outstanding Children’s Literature, the 2018 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, and the 2019 Michael L. Printz Award.

Today, Elizabeth lives in Washington, DC. She is involved in a variety of poetry workshops at high schools and universities. She also works as a visiting instructor at an adjudicated youth center in Washington, DC, where she works with incarcerated women and with teenagers. In addition, she attends a lot of poetry slams as a host or judge, and she was once a coach.

“Being around teenagers all the time makes me aware of the emotional scale that they’re on and how they’re responding to things,” Elizabeth says. “If nothing else, it’s a reminder of how brilliant they are,” she asserts. “Some adults write down to young people, but, if you listen to them, they’ll tell you what they need. Oftentimes, I think they’re more able to handle difficult subjects than we give them credit for,” she concludes.

 

Lin Manuel Miranda pays tribute to his 8th grade teacher

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Talented playwright, composer, lyricist, actor, and singer Lin Manuel Miranda was visibly moved yesterday when he received a special message from his eighth grade teacher Dr. Rembert Herbert. After watching the message, the Golden Globe Award winning Miranda paid tribute to his former teacher.

“Dr. Herbert’s the reason I’m sitting here talking to you,” Miranda confessed to David Begnaud of CBS News. “I wrote a musical instead of doing my homework for his class in eighth grade. He said, ‘You could be good at this, and you should stop hibernating in my class, and you should be doing this.’ Because we had a student-written theater club at my high school and Rembert’s the one who nudged me in that direction and he sort of changed my life forever with that,” Miranda remembered.

You can watch the segment from CBS This Morning below.

Read more about yesterday’s interview of Lin Manuel Miranda at the following link: www.cbsnews.com.

Talented band directors help Puerto Rican students achieve Rose Parade appearance

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Maribel Lopez Garcia

Band Director Maribel Lugo Garcia, center, is one of three talented music educators who will lead the Banda Escolar de Guayanilla Puerto Rico in th Rose Parade on January 1, 2019. The other two are Parker Bixby and Kyle Thompson of Mercer Island School District.

Three talented music educators will lead the Banda Escolar de Guayanilla Puerto Rico through the coveted Rose Parade route on January 1, 2019. The 156 members of the band feel fortunate to march this year, having survived two category-5 hurricanes, Irma and Maria, immediately following their acceptance of the coveted invitation to appear. In the hurricanes, the band lost their instruments and their infrastructure. But they were able to pull themselves together, with the tenacity of their Band Director, Maribel Lugo Garcia and the generous assistance of Band Directors Parker Bixby and Kyle Thompson of Mercer Island School District in Mercer, Washington.

Under the leadership of Parker and Kyle, Mercer High School students raised $55,000 of the $190,000 the Guayanilla students needed to make the trip to Pasadena. In addition, the mainland students rehearsed and will participate in a joint performance as both schools march in the parade together. “This partnership is one of the things I’m most proud of in my entire career of being here (in Mercer),” remarked Parker. “This became about human beings connecting and being part of something bigger than what we’re all doing in each of our own band rooms,” he continued.

Music Director Maribel Lugo Garcia has taught music education for the pat 20 years, 17 of them at Guayanilla. She garnered her first teaching job when she was only 13 years old. That’s when she became her music teacher’s assistant during the summer vacation. While serving in this role, Maribel was able to offer saxophone lessons to children her age and younger. “It was at this moment that I realized that teaching brought me great pleasure and satisfaction,” Maribel remembers.

Parker Bixby has taught in the Mercer Island School District for 15 years. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Music from the University of Washington, and his Master’s degree in Music Education from the University of Montana, where he served a fellowship as an Assistant Director of the Grizzly Marching Band. In addition to his classroom responsibilities, Parker is an active performer as a member of the Washington Wind Symphony. He is a member of The Washington Music Educators Association and the National Association for Music Educators.

Kyle Thompson has worked in the Mercer Island School District for six years, but this is his first year teaching band. Kyle earned his Bachelor’s degree in Music at Central Washington University. Before coming to Mercer, Kyle was the Director of Bands at Cedarcrest High School in Duvall, Washington. He also served as a consultant with the UCLA Marching Band, among other positions. Kyle is an active member of the National Association for Music Education and the Washington Music Educators Association.

Ivonne Orozco: New Mexico’s 2018 Teacher of the Year

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Ivonne Orozco

Spanish teacher Ivonne Orozco from Albuquerque named New Mexico’s 2018 Teacher of the Year.

When she was only 12 years old, Ivonne’s family immigrated to the United States from Mexico. She started school in the US as an English-language learner, but by the time she reached high school, she was enrolled in honors courses. She also ran cross country and track, and graduated in the top 10% of her class. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Secondary Education at the University of New Mexico  “But I did not get here alone,” Ivonne concedes. “I had teachers and family that set core foundations along my journey that contributed to my success. These included high expectations, staying the course, building a strong voice, and valuing “teachers and education,” she describes.

After her college graduation, Ivonne garnered a position as a Spanish teacher at Public Academy for Performing Arts in Albuquerque. She is in her fourth year there. “Every day in my classroom, I keep in mind that all students can be successful, no matter where they traveled from to get here in the morning, or how much money their parents have, or how much they still have to learn. I keep my expectations high,” Ivonne declares. “It’s unclear why there’s still a misconception out there that students facing challenges at home can’t succeed at school. That is false,” she asserts. “Lowering standards for any of our kids is a disservice. They deserve high-quality standards, options, and teachers,” she concludes.

Ivonne is committed to creating interactive, challenging lessons for all students. She has worked with a team of teachers from across New Mexico to revise blueprints for state level Spanish End of Course exams. She also contributes to an effort to reduce LGBTQ adolescent suicide. In addition, Ivonne is currently pursuing her Master’s degree in Secondary Education with a focus on Reflective Practice.

 

Chalkboard Champion Mary Gannon: The teacher with no arms

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Teaching in a classroom filled with fifth-graders is already a difficult, but one chalkboard champion from Lakewood, Ohio, faces an extra challenge. Teacher Mary Gannon was born without her arms.

As a young child, Mary lived in an orphanage in Mexico City. When she was seven years old, she was adopted by American parents who brought her to this country. When she arrived, she spoke no English. Mary said growing up in an orphanage gave her a desire to help and teach kids. “Sometimes I even forget that I don’t have arms because my students don’t treat me any differently,” Mary declared. Now an adult, Mary teaches math and science at Harding Middle School  in the small Ohio city of Lakewood, located near Cleveland.

This amazing educator said she decided to share her story to show everyone that anything is possible. View her story in the video below. It’s a few years old, but the story is timeless.