A PERFECT POSITIVE CORRELATION: Math/ESL and I

I am an ESL certified teacher teaching at an International high school. In teaching

ESL through math I give my students a voice and the skills to be successful in their
future jobs and in higher education.
My journey started in an urban high school in the barrio of San Antonio, Texas. I
came from a low income, low education level family. My extended family never went to
college and only a few got their GED. My mom was pregnant at 17 with my eldest sister.
Four children later she got her GED. My father finished two years of college and enlisted
in the Navy. When my sisters and I were in kindergarten we were held back because
they assumed we only spoke Spanish. My father insisted that we stop speaking Spanish
and only allowed us to speak English so that we would not be regarded as uneducated.
He hoped that speaking only English would keep us from being judged in the classroom.
My parents had to work three jobs to support us. One of those jobs was cleaning
doctors offices at night. My sisters and I went to school during the day and at night we
helped clean those offices. In between all of this we found time to do our schoolwork.
On our way home from that job my dad would drive us through the nice neighborhoods
and ask us the question Why cant we have that (pointing to the big houses and cars)?
He would make us all reply, Because you didnt finish college. It seemed annoying and
crazy at the time but it was my fathers belief in education that paved my journey to get
to where I am now and has helped me to fashion my educational beliefs.
My educational journey is riddled with holes, bumps, and more importantly,
ORGULLO. When I was in 6th grade I failed my math course. That summer my dad made
my sisters and I attend a summer engineering program. It was a program that gave lowincome students a stipend for attending the program for three years. I was locked in and
not happy about it. However, it was my summer job and I had to help support my family.
In this program I was introduced to many projects and had fun while doing them. In the

program I worked harder than I ever had before. When I returned to school my Math
and English grades improved because our engineering classes required us to write in
addition to learning math. Those summers I built my first robot, took my first business
ethics class, banned grapes in protest with Cesar Chavez and mi gente, and pulled my
first all-nighter studying for a final. My hard work and accomplishments filled me with
orgullo. I saw how much I improved and I no longer felt like the stupid one in my class.
I felt like I was college bound and being college bound was my way of showing my dad
that even though he didnt complete his journey of graduating from college, I would
someday. In the beginning, a college degree was his dream but as my journey through
higher education continued, I learned what that goal meant for me. Higher education
was my way of not only providing for my family but for paving a way for many people
that grew up like me or grew up with less than me. I wanted them to see that we are all
capable of attaining a higher education.
My educational journey is similar to that of many of NYC students, especially the
immigrant population of students that I teach. My experience in urban schools has
highly influenced my teaching philosophy. I strongly believe that every child has the
ability to learn. I believe that as a teacher, my role is to provide all students access to
information through various means. As a teacher I provide my students with many
opportunities to study things that are meaningful and relevant to their lives and
interests. Thus I feel it is important to spend time developing a curriculum around
student interests and to take the time to know what those interests are. In addition,
many of my students have a mindset that English and Math are too hard for them. Even
more students have the mindset that College is unattainable for them. At every level I
challenge my students to push their understanding and thinking. I provide them with a
safe environment to face their language and mathematical fears and make mistakes so
that they can turn those mistakes into deeper understanding and learning. I teach to

change their fear into understanding and love of mathematics as I had changed for me
when I was younger.
I have a passion for teaching language and math to students of all levels and
believe that I can help any student to improve their language and math skills. My
background knowledge of their identity issues around speaking another language and
their issues around not feeling successful in Math are areas that I seek to change through
the many real world projects that I incorporate in my teaching. Using my own
experiences and their experiences, I make language and math relatable to their present
lives. I try to inspire them to develop these skills for success in their future schooling
and jobs.
May 18, 2012, six of my senior boys gathered to present their Senior Graduation
Portfolio. We began discussing human rights issues they learned about in media arts
class and how that has affected the world through out history and today. They discussed
their own countries and their views on slavery and womens rights. They discussed their
rights to an education and the pressure they felt to better their lives and their families
lives. They had my full attention and I knew exactly what they meant. We then
discussed their relationship to the English language and how the ideas they studied in
Pygmalion tied into their relationships with the English language. Abismael, extremely
smart class clown, told a story about his eye doctor visit. He said that his doctor asked
him how long he had been in the country. Abismeal proudly stated, 4 years. The
doctor gasped and told him, What? And you still dont know English? This surprised
Abismael because his English improved greatly from when he was a 9th grader and he
was proud of that accomplishment. The doctor incident made him feel unequal again
and frustrated like he would never belong here. The rest of the boys chimed in with their
own stories and began to discuss this Pygmalion theme of not belonging in our country
and not fully belonging in theirs. They compared themselves to the character of Eliza

and after much discussion, disagreement, and agreement about the way they thought
English had affected them, Carlos said, It doesnt matter what any one else thinks now.
Its what we think. Abismael said he felt proud yet still lost because he is human and
wants to belong. The other boys agreed and then Carlos said, well we do belong we
all feel the same and understand each other even though we are not the same race. I
wanted to cry and group hug them. I shared my experience with them as well and
encouraged them to keep pushing through. Something in me made my heart skip beats
like loud drum beats. I realized that what I was feeling was ORGULLO and a sense of
belonging. I knew exactly how they felt and at that moment I realized I was among my
own. I was in a school community that understood me without having to ever know me
nor I them. This boom is why I teachboom boom, is what I said to myself as I
was filled with ORGULLO from where my journey has brought me thus far.