Schools are a microcosm of society: they are political spaces where educators, students, and families interact in ways that either uphold or disrupt systems that oppress minoritized groups. In my work I look at micro moments and macro structures that are central in the education of students across nations.
I was an elementary school teacher in San Pedro Sula, Honduras and Atlanta, Georgia. These experiences were foundational to my understanding of education as deeply inequitable but also hopeful, with spaces for change in between.
As a teacher, I started to feel like my professionalism was being disregarded. Through the imposition of scripted curriculum, administrators and policymakers removed my agency and ability to craft curriculum for my students. I wanted to think and innovate instead of simply follow. This led to my doctoral studies at Teachers College.
My doctoral studies at Teachers College (TC), Columbia University focused on International Education Development and Bilingual/Bicultural Studies. There I had the opportunity to learn from and connect with powerful Latina sheroes who modeled how to forge a path that is authentic, interconnected, and based in social justice. These powerful scholars include María Torres-Guzmán, Sonia Nieto, Ofelia García, and Carmen Dinos.
While at TC and with support from my mentor, Prof. María Torres-Guzmán, I was connected to a public school that had started a bilingual program in Russian. It was the first time I was able to be part of bilingual education that was also in my home language, a point of pride in my years of bilingual advocacy.
I was proud to support the first Russian bilingual public elementary school in Brooklyn, PS 200 throughout its early years. The program had numerous hurdles to overcome, but with the power of parent leaders such as Maria Kot, the program exists to this day! Moreover, others like it have started in other boroughs.
Supporting a bilingual program within a school was special. With this experience I was able to expand even further as the opportunity emerged to be part of a team that would conceptualize and implement a fully bilingual school.
In 2013 I was a co-founder of Dos Puentes Elementary School with Drs. Victoria Hunt and Alcira Jaar, the principal and assistant principal respectively, founding teacher Rebeca Madrigal and parent coordinator Consuelo Villegas. It is a public school in the Washington Heights community of Manhattan where all students learn in a Spanish-English dual language bilingual program. Dos Puentes continues to thrive and has a strong school-university partnership with CCNY.
After working on various projects around NYC, I had the opportunity to take a sabbatical year and had the honor of teaching my first university class outside of the US.
As a Fulbright Scholar, I was able to serve as a visiting professor at La Universidad Autónoma Benito Juárez de Oaxaca (UABJO) in the Facultad de Idiomas (School of Languages). Learning from and with graduate students in Mexico, as well as with Prof. Mario López-Gopar, was a highlight of my teaching career. I was also able to bring two classes of CUNY students to study abroad in Oaxaca.
