Welcome! iBienvenidos!
Personal Photo: Me visiting The Montjuïc Castle in Barcelona
Hi! My name is Cristina and I am a Biliteracy Instructional Coach in West Chicago.
Welcome to my page Tech Tuesday Martes de tecnología! iBienvenidos a mi citio web!
A high school teacher once asked me, "Are you sure you want to be a teacher?," and since then, my answer has been yes! My career in education began early when in high school I was nominated as a Golden Apple Scholar. Through the scholarship,
I gained experience in working from primary to high school levels.
After
receiving my Bachelor’s in Elementary Education and ELL/Bilingual Endorsement from
the University of Illinois at Chicago, I taught first grade transitional
bilingual for six years.Teaching bilingual and English language learners has always been in my heart. I then joined District 45 where
I began my journey in Dual Language education. In wanting to build on the students' literacy skills, I obtained my Master’s in Curriculum and Instruction with a Reading Teacher Endorsement from Lewis University. This Master's gave me the opportunity to become the Spanish Literacy Leader
for dual language teachers across the Villa Park District.
I recently joined the West Chicago District where I became one of the Biliteracy Instructional Coaches at an elementary school. In my coaching role, I use my knowledge of both Spanish and English
Language Arts by providing professional development, coaching and modeling
effective biiteracy strategies in dual language classrooms.
Besides teaching and coaching, I love traveling! Just this year alone, my family and I visited about 8 countries. Most countries were in the European region. If you want to see waterfalls and a beautiful scenery, you have got to visit Iceland!
Personal Photo: Me visiting Iceland
With hopes of becoming a subject matter expert in the area of technology, this Fall I enrolled in a Technology Endorsement Cohort through the Dominican University. Technology now plays an important role in today's education and the world in general. I look forward to learning more about technology and sharing this new learning adventure.
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Thank you for visiting my page!
Wow! You have quite the resume! It is incredibly impressive all that you have done and seen. I can only imagine how your traveling experiences have helped you to become so well-rounded. I look forward to getting to know you better throughout this cohort!
ReplyDeleteThank you! I also look forward to getting to know you as well as the rest of the classmates.
DeleteOh my goodness- I have only been to 3 countries (all in North America)! I have some catching up to do. Thanks for the great intro to who you are as an educator. Looking forward to learning with you this fall!
ReplyDeleteThank you! Perhaps your daughter or son get to study abroad for one semester and that will give you the perfect opportunity to visit another country.
DeleteYour teaching background was very interesting to read about. You have a great balance of having been a classroom teacher, along with district level leadership, and now a building level leadership role. Do you find that your own experience as a bilingual classroom teacher has shaped how you help teachers in your current role as a Biliteracy Instructional Coach? Are you hoping to improve how the bilingual program uses technology in instruction? Or are you also thinking about technology use across the entire school?
ReplyDeleteHi Bete! Those are great questions. I feel that working in the bilingual classroom and mostly with English Language Learners has given me the opportunity to see things from a cultural and linguistic lense. In my experience, I have often seen bilingual and dual language teachers implementing practices for monolingual students, when in reality these practices should look different because they are working with bilingual students. I hope to find out more about technology in general, so that I can provide teachers with a variety of tools to meet the needs of their students.
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