Hello! My name is Aleide Bustillos, and I am a bilingual educator with a degree in Bilingual Education. I teach both Spanish and English and have over five years of classroom teaching experience, working with both middle school and high school students. I also have experience tutoring students both online and in person. I was born in Chihuahua, Mexico, and Spanish is my first language. As someone who learned English as a second language, I understand the challenges and rewards of becoming bilingual. This personal experience helps me connect with my students and support them with patience, encouragement, and understanding. My teaching style is fun, interactive, and student-centered. I believe students learn best when they are actively engaged, so I create lessons that are meaningful, enjoyable, and tailored to each learner's needs. I love using a variety of teaching methods and real-life contexts, including games, songs, visuals, conversations, and interactive activities, to make learning both effective and enjoyable. Teaching is truly my passion. I enjoy building positive relationships with my students and creating a supportive environment where they feel confident asking questions, making mistakes, and celebrating their progress. Whether you're learning Spanish or English, my goal is to help you achieve your language goals while making every lesson engaging, enjoyable, and rewarding.

We can all learn. Struggling only means success feels greater and I know what it was like to struggle. I was able to learn when others said I could not. I am here to help you in any way possible. I have had significant training in Common Core State Standards, rigorous math training and Close Reading strategies. I have training directly from top educators including Mike Fisher, for Close reading and Annette Brinkmen in small group instruction. My goal is to help every student be successful.

I have tutored students, especially in music subjects for 24 years. I have an alternative teaching certification in New Mexico. I am studying education at New Mexico Highlands University. I have a bachelor's degree in music from the University of New Mexico. I can help with a wide variety of topics including math, English, science, music, and history. I believe in culturally responsive teaching and in student centered teaching.

My love for learning motivates me to ignite the passion in others. I believe that being a positive role model and sharing what inspires me will help to motivate and encourage children to develop a positive relationship and understanding of their learning. Through my education at the University of New Mexico, I have gained a better understanding of the cognitive development and science of learning in order to enhance the cognitive processes for myself and to better serve my students. I have learned ways to help my students use metacognitive strategies to grow as learners.I am a believer in the power of positive thinking and positive reinforcement. My teaching philosophy and personality reflect those beliefs. Thoughts have a unique power to create one's future. Positive thinking will be stressed in my classroom. I want to encourage my students to use all of their life experiences to think critically, reflect, and work towards their goals.I was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where I worked as a fourth grade teacher at Albuquerque School of Excellence, a STEAM focused school (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math). I enjoyed working together with teachers and parents on Brain Day activities, coaching soccer after school, and participating in hands-on science activity tubs.

As a teacher, my journey began in engineering, but a personal illness redirected my path towards understanding human rights. This transformative experience propelled me to pursue a bachelor's degree in political science, deepening my knowledge of social justice and equity. Combining my technical expertise with a profound understanding of human rights, I am passionate about empowering students to critically analyze scientific advancements within the broader context of ethical responsibilities and societal impact. Together, we can foster a generation of conscientious scientists and global citizens.

The love of learning. That's what it's all about. My Dad imparted the love of learning to me, and I to my kids when they were little. We read together, and I made up stories for them. When I became a teacher, I wanted my students to have that love of learning too. It didn't matter which class, math, science, English, history, my goal was to have the students have fun and enjoy being in school. To do that, they have to want to learn. When I taught Newton's Laws of Motion to my 8th graders, I used the Road Runner and Coyote cartoons, because much of their actions followed one law or another. It was fun, and the students really got into identifying each law shown. After years of working in customer service and construction, I realized I was missing what I really wanted to do - teach. So I went back to school (New Mexico Highlands University) and earned my B.A. in English and my Teaching Certificate. But that wasn't quite enough, as I didn't want to limit myself and what I could teach. I took the Praxis test, which tests your knowledge on other subjects to see if you could teach them, and passed them all; I was then able to teach all elementary and middle school subjects, as well as high school English. While I didn't teach high school, I taught all the other subjects in middle school, and they're also the subjects I will tutor. My favorite, though, is writing, whether the student is doing creative writing, or a term paper, or expository writing, it's all writing to me, and I love it. I learn so much from them, and enjoy helping them improve their writing skills. If you are wondering what my teaching philosophy is, it's getting students to think--think through the problem, think about what you're writing, think about the moon and stars, or think about why something happened in history. To learn is to think, and to think is to see the possibilities in learning. One is never too old to learn, and I'm a prime example of that. When I'm not teaching/tutoring, I'm sometimes writing poetry or stories. Other times I'll be taking a long walk, or hike trails, and with winter approaching, I'm hoping to get some ice skating in. I enjoy sports, playing and watching, and I like watching a good movie.