My Teaching Experiences: Who am I?    

I am a lifelong learner. I am an educator.                       

I graduated in 2012 from San Diego State University with a Bachelor’s degree in English literature and a minor in Spanish. Shortly after my college graduation, I continued my studies to be a high school English teacher. In 2013, I earned the single subject teaching credential in English and Spanish, with the bilingual authorization in Spanish. In 2015, I decided to return to school and by the end of 2017, I earned my multiple subject and special education (mild/moderate disabilities) teaching credentials.

I am an experienced educator with seven years of classroom teaching experience. In other words, I am an experienced educator with varied teaching experiences as I have taught in diverse schools and diverse neighborhoods. I was a substitute teacher approximately for five years. I have worked both in South Bay, East County, and the San Diego City Schools. Other than subbing, I have taught in schools in the role of intervention teacher. In this role, I teach general and special education students who need academic reading, writing, and math support. Furthermore, I was a virtual high school English teacher at a public high school and, a first-grade teacher at a small Catholic school.

Due to my “varied teaching experiences,” you may be wondering if I have a preference towards any particular subjects or teaching age groups. To this day, I enjoy learning about the English language, literature, writing, and due to my involvement with Toastmasters International, I have an increasing interest in communication and public speaking. In terms of age groups, I have loved teaching the most students in elementary school and I definitely found first graders an enjoyable and enthusiastic bunch! It would be an amazing experience to teach language arts to fifth and sixth graders, or middle school students too.

Other than an increasing interest in public speaking, I have newfound knowledge related to learning how to approach and use varying technology tools. Due to my involvement as a public relations officer in my Toastmasters club, I learned to engage strategically with social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogs and Vlogs, etc. Additionally, I decided to create and am in progress of developing my own teaching website as this will be an online space where I can showcase myself, my learning experiences as an educator, post future lesson plans and instructional activities, etc.

Furthermore, I have noticed that schools are transitioning either to a blended learning or online environment; hence, teachers are expected to use a variety of online tools in their classroom and students learn to use these tools in a meaningful way. Back in mid-2016, I earned the Leading Edge Certification (LEC) through the San Diego County Office of Education (SDCOE). In this class, I learned about the Google Suite (GSuite) applications; record screencasts for lessons; and use multiple Web 2.0 tools to create activities.