April 2023 Teacher Voice 

As a lifelong learner, I value professional engagement as a way to grow in my practice and ultimately impact student learning in ways I couldn’t imagine if I worked in isolation. It is important to  continuously reflect on my craft and pedagogical practices, while seeking feedback to refine and improve.  I engage in professional learning from CCTM, Dual Language education of New Mexico, and the La Cosecha Dual Language Conference and courses at the district level. I have a goal of immediately implementing new learning from a conference or workshop. Then continuing to refine the new practice so that students benefit from this learning right away and into the future.  I am always willing to take the risk and try something new if I feel like my students and colleagues can benefit.

Learning in my classroom is fostered through the development of mathematical discordant voice, critical thinking, and student agency. I do this by applying tools and routines such as sentence and questions stems, think/pair/share, significant wait time, collaborative work structures, Question Formulation Technique (QFT), Number Talks, Discourse Trios, and Contemplate then Calculate along with other structures from Kelemaniks, Lucenta and Creighton’s Routines for Reasoning.  The development of mathematical and academic discourse not only improves students’ second language proficiency, but also helps student’s articulation of mathematical thoughts and reasoning. As a result of this productive discourse, students own and retain more learning. Most importantly, increasing mathematical discourse helps students gain the confidence to advocate for themselves and become lifelong learners.

As a teacher, every day brings new challenges and successes, and I am invested in the students and the subjects I teach. I am a lifelong learner and strive to empower my students to be the same. At the end of the day, I truly hope I leave students wanting more. In my class, students from differing mathematical, linguistic and cultural backgrounds and experiences are all exposed to high levels of math, setting the expectation for high achievement. All students are then supported to be successful while building a collaborative and positive classroom culture. I believe learners are intuitive and can sense a teacher’s true expectations and beliefs about them. It is important to be clear and transparent with students about these beliefs and expectations, and in turn students rise to the occasion.