Congratulations to Ms. Edy Lopez for being selected as the Teacher of the Year for Aldine 9th Grade School, 2022-2023. 

l have always believed that teaching is an empowering art that affords students opportunities and builds skills in critical thinking.  Teaching is not about providing answers; rather, it is about teaching students to ask the right questions at the right time.  I was blessed to have artful teachers whose craft welcomed me, an immigrant and foreign language learner, into their classrooms.  There, I felt safe and confident enough to understand and appreciate my needs as a student. I also felt strong enough to explore and discover on my own.  These feelings of empowerment and curiosity are what I try to bring to teaching. My biggest responsibility for my students is in assisting them to foster their learning and acquisition of the Spanish language.  I do not expect all my students to become fluent speakers or writers, of course.  However, I do hope that they will all enjoy being in my classroom, utilizing the tools of discovery that I provide. I feel confident that my students will eventually be able to converse in Spanish.  This will come at different times to different students, but I will ensure that learning continues, and I will spend any length of time to make students feel confident about learning and self-assured in speaking and listening. Learning a new language requires taking chances and I ensure that my students are in an accepting, welcoming environment.

Being a teacher is so much work and time, it is not an easy vocation.  However, the best teachers always seem to be the happiest teachers. An excellent educator should possess the ability to adapt to any conditions. Additionally, an excellent educator should have the quality to ask questions, seek support and guidance to make our school environment conducive for learning for all students . As educators, we do not possess the answer to every question, for this reason, seeking assistance is an essential ability that any educator must possess, and I believe that this is when they truly love what they do.  Of course, there are tremendous rewards like those students from past years who come to visit and share with me how much they enjoyed my class or all the wonderful things they are doing. I cannot dismiss that my job is filled with daily rewards such as smiles from colleagues and students, amusing anecdotes, and even watching students grow in wisdom, academics, and confidence.  These kinds of rewards are priceless to me. 

I am very active in my community, especially at the church, where I served as a lector and catechism teacher. As a catechism  teacher my duties are to prepare students from the community to be ready to take the 1st communion. Also as the Campus Face liaison I have the  opportunity to serve the Aldine community by volunteering in different events district wide. For example: I volunteered at the Aldine TCCA conference and was able to interact with vendors and other educators from all over the State. I also volunteer at the Fall Family Conference where I assisted

 parents in learning strategies and resources on how they can help their children succeed. I particularly love volunteering at the annual toy drive and back to school events. These two events ensure that our students have the supplies they need to start school as well as a nice Christmas gift to enjoy. Being bilingual has allowed me to connect with many of our parents and help them with any of their concerns.

We would also like to congratulate our 2022-2023 Rookie Teacher of the year, Mr. Matthew Sennef.

When I think about a philosophy for teaching, I think about the real needs of students. Students need to feel safe, motivated, and be able to see a future for themselves. That is why it is so important that as teachers, we instill good habits in our students. The students that show up on time, complete their work, and are able to solve problems will be successful later in life. What I really want is for my students is to see themselves succeeding at school and carry that over into their careers and home lives.