Cuentos de Alcaraz

Working with teenagers is truly a challenging responsibility.  I always knew how true of a statement that is.  However, I always believed that with time and experience, it would be a challenge that would become easier.  After 10 years of experience, working with them, I can definitely attest to say that the statement still withholds its value.  It has definitely not become easier.  Through time, things change, and with those changes it brings new challenges.  They are challenges that no one is really ever prepared for.   Going down memory lane, I remember that when I first began teaching, Snapchat was the popular app.  In its time, the app seemed harmless, however, the app itself began to bring serious issues and my then teenage students began to make terrible choices in oversharing pictures that really should not have been shared.  Students didn’t understand the gravity of how the oversharing could then spread and be distributed unwilli...

As someone who is was not very technologically inclined, I am surprised how much time I have actually invested in technology these past few weeks.  I have mentioned before that educating myself with technology in relation to education has been super important for me because of the environment that we are living in.  Technology is literally taking over our lives in so many different forms and with that, it is going to eventually take over in education as well.  Being prepared for that and for my students is really important and essential if I want to be an effective educator.  With technology evolving, learning is also evolving, and technology is part of that evolution as well.  It is my responsibility to adapt myself to my teaching environment and students and not leave them behind. Change Reflecting on everything that I have worked on these past few weeks, there has definitely been a lot of changes in my relationship with technology, especially in relation to ...

Investigating myself brought a whole new level of anxiety I did not believe could exist.  I mentioned in another post that talking about myself is something that I truly dislike.  This felt very similar to that feeling.  The anxiousness of not knowing what I can find is what made that feeling intensify.  After the extensive search, I realized that there really was not much to be anxious about.  There was not a lot of crazy information that I ran into. After completing my search through multiple websites, I realized that my digital tattoo is like one of those really small tattoos that you can probably put in places where they are not noticeable, like a small flower, heart, star, moon, star, etc.   After multiple searches through different websites, the majority of the digital information that I found about myself were my age, previous and current addresses, relatives (although some were not always correct), and my phone number (sometimes it would be my ...

There are different ways that a large number of people always come together with different purposes.  People join together at concerts to enjoy the live music.  Others get together in family social events such as family reunions, Thanksgivings, and/or Weddings, for example, to celebrate together or to enjoy each other's company.  Also, people get together for conferences or conventions to learn more about specific topics or their interests or careers.   All of the aforementioned examples have a limited number of people that can be there together at once.  That is exactly what makes a Professional Learning Network so unique and convenient.  There is no limit to it, and you can access all of the benefits necessary for whatever purpose you may need at any moment.   What is a PLN? A Professional Learning Network (PLN) is a dynamic learning environment, which will consist of people, spaces, and tools that meet an educator’s professional learning ...

As an English Language Learner, I can attest to how difficult getting my education was growing up. I did not obtain English proficiency until I reached the 5th grade.  I believe I can attribute my shyness as well to not being able to communicate with most of my peers or teachers and being judged for the way I would attempt to speak my very limited English.  I will never forget the teacher who on the first day of school asked us all to raise our hands if we do not understand English.  I was too embarrassed to raise my hand and say that I was one of those who did not really understand it, so I kept it down.  Even though she was a bilingual teacher, since no one raised their hand, she refused to do what a teacher is supposed to do and that is to learn and differentiate for any of us.  I almost failed that year, but I really tried my hardest not to because my parents were always very strict about school, and I was too afraid to fail.  I am looking at it through...