Written by Joanna Mijares
Being a teacher is a notoriously difficult job. Teaching and taking care of countless students daily is no small feat; therefore, teachers are sometimes recognized for their hard work with awards. Every year, several teachers from schools all around the country are nominated to be Teacher of the Year at their own schools. This year, the MAST@FIU Teacher of the Year is Mrs. Garcia, an English and Journalism teacher. In an interview with Mrs. Garcia on November 18th, 2020, Mrs. Garcia elaborated on her journey to becoming a teacher and what makes her unique as an educator.
Mrs. Garcia knew that she wanted to pursue a career in education from a very young
age. She fully realized that she wanted to become a teacher after accidentally signing up for a Shakespeare elective in 10th grade. Her teacher made the class extremely interesting and made Garcia realize that she wanted to make her classroom an engaging environment and inspire future generations to love learning as well. Due to her parents’ initial protests, Mrs. Garcia started off college by pursuing a nursing degree but realized that her true passion lay with teaching. She received a bachelor’s in English Literature and earned a Master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction.
Interacting with students is Mrs. Garcia’s favorite thing about being a teacher. “I realized
that giving students their own space to think can generate amazing ideas,” said Garcia. She
loves to engage her students with class discussions to hear their creative suggestions. Relating to the freedom that she likes to give students, Mrs. Garcia’s least favorite thing about teaching is being forced to teach specifically for a test. “My challenge is to think creatively about teaching for an exam but in a way that doesn’t feel like we’re just doing question and answer every day,” explained Garcia.
With the COVID-19 pandemic forcing classes to remain half online and half in-person,
Mrs. Garcia looks at engaging her entire class as an interesting challenge. She found that some assignments are easier to manage online, as it’s easier to do frequent check-ins with her students’ work. However, keeping everyone engaged is quite a challenge. Garcia lamented that “This year, it was challenging to get a reaction out of all of my students.” She promotes engagement of both online and physical students by picking on kids to answer questions from both in-person and the online world.
Mrs. Garcia’s unique teaching style and dedication to interacting with her students were factors considered in her nomination for the MAST@FIU Teacher of the Year Award. After being nominated at a faculty meeting, the MAST@FIU staff voted on who would win this award, and Mrs. Garcia was eventually declared victorious. She wrote a brief biography following her accolade, as seen below.
“I’m pretty awkward when it comes to receiving awards, but it feels nice to be the Teacher of the Year. I’m really appreciative of my colleagues who nominated me and thought I was worthy of the title. It feels nice to be recognized,” said Garcia.
Mrs. Garcia is going beyond the MAST@FIU Teacher of the Year distinction by aiming for the District-wide award. In order to be considered Teacher of the Year at a larger scale, Garcia must submit a complete detailed portfolio with her work as an educator. Hopefully, she’ll be able to be recognized for her hard work even more in the future!
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