The founding architect of Poetics Aristotle is quoted in regards to a genuine passion for the art of teaching and instruction: "Educating the mind, without the heart, is no education after all." I believe passionately crafting an environment which encourages and supports critical thinking of students' is key to who I am as an English educator. This drive is the foundation in which my perspective is grounded in to assume the position of tutor. As a graduate of NYU Steinhardt's Teaching & Learning Department, and with the knowledge and reflectionary wisdom from middle and high school tutoring and instruction in the South Bronx, East Village, and Riverdale in New York City; along with high school English and Literacy Interventionist tutoring, I bring a unique perspective of practices, values, pedagogical beliefs and experiences that will enrich the tutor position and responsibilities in my new home of Denver.
My direct teaching philosophy is geared towards both educating mind and heart by rejecting the banking methodology of instruction and incorporating mirroring not only in instruction (modeling work), but also within curricular choices of classroom texts and room for student-centered activities and student agency by developing their own stances in literature. I am able to foster curiosity to go beyond expectations by embedding pride and desire to reach higher standards for students themselves. I achieve this by drawing inspiration from interdisciplinary theorists such as Louise Rosenblatt's reader response transactional theory, bell hook's embodied pedagogies, and culturally responsive pedagogy. By building on existing cultural & linguistic intelligences in the classroom, I anticipate the changing demographics of students and am inclusive to all students' needs, especially students with disabilities, ELL and students with IEPs/504s. Specifically in my 7th grade ELA student teaching placement [remotely on Zoom], I received glowing well-rounded feedback and criticism further into my educator persona, and further adapted and yielded towards the great opportunities for growth at South Bronx Early College Academy.
My experience in English content-based knowledge and research uniquely highlights the strengths I have a desire to share via collaboration with clients in a thoughtful execution, as I have with other projects. At NYU as a senior undergraduate, I was able to participate in, analyze and transcribe qualitative data, and contribute writing an academic research journal article with Dr. Karis Michelle Jones. I routinely synthesized and wrote memos on graduate level readings for this independent study research course dedicated to bringing in role-playing games (RPG) through a social justice, affectual theoretical lens of interactive analysis. All research conducted through Zoom, Google Drive, Word Doc, Box. In addition, my participation in a generative array of introspective discussions in my literature and writing based NYU courses such as 'Reading of Poetry' and 'Literature Seminar for English Educators' allowed me to gain expertise on poetry writing & analysis, essay and personal memoir writing, and lesson planning in line with CCSS. I believe these experiences offered me a refined sense of my strengths in interpersonal communication based on a common goal within a mission.
I believe my combination of student and educator experiences I have acquired and gained wisdom throughout are vital to my strength and my driving purpose as an English educator. Fostering grit, empathy, and compassion within my experience as a first generation American and college graduate, Afro-Latina educator will lead me to further create deeper connections with those I interact with.
