I was born and raised in Colombia, South America, until my family moved to Pasadena when I was 10 years old (fifth grade age!). I attended Madison Elementary and Marshall Fundamental - both Pasadena public schools. My family moved to Georgia during my junior year of high school, where I lived until I moved back to Pasadena for the beginning of my second year of college. I graduated from Cal State Northridge with a B.A. in Music Education. Later I received a multiple-subject CA Teaching Credential from Cal State Dominguez Hills. Finally, I also have an M.A. in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary.
I am musical by nature (not outrageously talented or anything like that) so this is one area I gladly incorporate into my classroom instruction. In fact, I have written a few educational songs to help my students learn content in science and social studies. Of course, I also write songs as it is my way of including one of my favorite hobbies into my time of teaching - music in general. At the end of the 2009-2010 school year I wrote a song to honor those teachers at our school who received a layoff notice from the district due to state-wide budget cuts. I wanted them to know that things will work out in the end, no matter what happens with their job. (Check it out: RIF Song (Rise in Faith) I first taught one year of special education (severely handicapped) and I am now beginning my twelfth year teaching fifth grade. Fifth grade is a great school year to teach as all of the subjects excite me. Besides, there's something special about fifth grade for many people I talk to. It is the school year most people remember, and it's usually fondly - unless they got a nightmare teacher (I hopefully will not be that kind of teacher to your child!). I have been happily married for 18 years and I still feel very young and full of energy! I have two children. My daughter is now in 8th grade and my son is in 6th grade. They both have been the product of a public school education and of McKinley in particular. My wife continues to volunteer her time at McKinley (helping me at home and in the classroom), and also substitute teaches here. For our 2011 summer vacation, we visited family in Syracuse, NY, with my kids getting to spend quality time with their six cousins - a wonderful time for all. I also got the opportunity to go to New Jersey for a special Little Kids Rock Conference where, along with other music teachers and regular teachers who teach guitars/keyboards, we got to contribute to music curriculum that will benefit many teachers across the nation, including myself. We also went camping at Carpinteria State Beach on two different occasions with family and friends, among other local outings. One special project I took up this summer was to familiarize myself with a programming language called Scratch, designed for kids and free, so they can create flash-based video games, interactive stories, animations, presentations, etc. and share their creations on the web. This was an enjoyable task as I got to learn it alongside my son Josiah, each one of us creating different flash-based interactive projects. We certainly learned from each other and now have a very good grasp of this powerful design tool. We have found that the potential of this program is high for any students who takes it seriously. Creativity, design skills, critical thinking skills and problem solving skills all benefit greatly those who immerse themselves in such programming. I hope to inspire some of my students to take on this amazing program and even apply it to projects that we will carry out in class. For this purpose I created a "Scratch" webpage to key links that will help students interested in this program to get started and go deeper (Scratch Online Resources). Here's one of the projects I created (Cell Labeling Interactive) and here's one my son did (Nightmare Land). Every summer I also make revamping my website one of my most important teaching goals. This site is the product of that effort (over many years). I see my classroom website as a wonderful collection of countless online resources I will use in the classroom to enhance my instruction. My students will have quick and easy access to these many awesome resources both at school and at home (if you have a computer) and parents will also benefit from what I have set up here (not to mention a number of other teachers who regularly use my site).
As always, I try to learn new things in the summer that will enhance my classroom instruction. This summer in particular I read a number of books that have gotten me thinking about teaching and changes I would like to make for the new school year. I am coming back refreshed and ready to make this my best year yet. I am looking forward to what this year holds and to the new group of students who will be with me for this new school year! Check out my family pictures below: |
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