Educator Spotlights

In the spirit of Culturally Responsive Collaborators, who aim to hold space for educators of all backgrounds and areas of expertise, we will be highlighting various educators. We are all better together, and frankly teachers need other teachers! That statement has never been truer.


Without further ado, please meet Katy Chavez!


Katy Chavez is a UNM Graduate Student who is going to be Student Teaching in a 12th grade classroom this coming school year. She is currently working on her Masters in Secondary Education and hopes to bring more cultural diversity and equality into the classroom.


"Coming into the world of teaching in 2020 is like being blindfolded at the edge of a cliff, being told to walk around, and *hopefully* it’ll all be ok. In this world of pandemics, political chaos, unjust laws, unjust economics, and lack of leadership, I am entering the world of teaching.

            Race and equality have been in the forefront of most recent conversations. We have been asked to check our own privileges and really look at the long and ugly history of systematic racism we have in the United States. This is not a black and white issue. It is an African American, Native American, Mexican American, Hispanic, Latino, Asian American, Muslim American, Immigrant, minority, issue. The inequalities that many individuals in the US face, often spills over into our classrooms. How do we teach our students equality when they live with inequalities in their daily lives?

            I worry about being able to create a curriculum that includes all my students. How do I, as a teacher, create a classroom that respects all my (150+) student’s personal discourses and life experiences. How do I make sure I am respecting and representing all the cultures that I have in each classroom, and how do I create lasting change, so when my students go out into the world, they know they are valued and respected?

I worry about being able to connect with students through a computer screen. I worry about being able to come up with curriculum that reflects my students and their needs when I cannot interact with them face to face. So much in communication depends on the small nuances of physically being with someone while talking to them. A lot can get lost in translation when things are sent through email or text. Creating videos to teach new material is one aspect of online teaching but through this, how do we as educators, make up for the fact that students cannot ask questions, cannot get involved in the learning process, by watching a video?

Utilizing what I’ve learned in my graduate classes, my experience with low-income and minority families, and knowledge of how the current systems affects students, I hope to create a classroom based not only on state regulations and test scores, but on the basis that every student has their own knowledge and experiences that can contribute greatly to a classroom. I want to build a curriculum based on the student’s own discourses because this will do more to serve them and their educational paths than just sticking with a curriculum that is “one size fits all”.

Coming into the world of teaching in 2020 is like being blindfolded at the edge of a cliff. But…. I know the end of the cliff isn’t really a cliff at all and underneath it is a mattress to land on. Through my years volunteering at my daughter’s school and getting to know the teachers and people who work with our students, I have learned just how resilient and strong the teachers of Albuquerque are. I know that there is a massive amount of resources out there for any new teacher willing to look. Not only through websites, articles, and books, but in other teachers who are willing to answer questions, create dialogue, and work to help us new teachers create classrooms that are truly socially just. We can create classrooms that will reflect and celebrate our many students’ differences and support them on their educational paths."

Please leave any questions or comments for Katy below 


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