I currently teach 5th grade at Patricia Faye Knowles Elementary as a self-contained bilingual teacher in Leander Independent School District (ISD), located in Central Texas near Austin. Before coming to the Austin area, I taught in Weslaco ISD at both Cleckler-Heald Elementary and Beatriz Garza Middle School. Weslaco ISD is located in deep-south Texas just a few miles from the U.S./Mexico border, commonly known as the Rio Grande Valley. During my nine years in Weslaco ISD, I taught 3rd, 4th, 6th, and 8th grades as a bilingual teacher. In 2001, I received the distinction of being Weslaco's District Teacher of the Year and proudly represented my district as a Texas Regional Teacher of the Year Nominee.

I attended Pan American University in Edinburg, Texas where I received my B.A. in Government. After several years as an urban regional planner with the Rio Grande Valley Council of Government, I returned to school to get my teaching credentials through an alternative certification program. In 2003, I received the South Texas Fellowship to attend the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas in Austin. I completed my master’s work in public policy in May 2008, achieving a life-long dream. I received an Honorable Discharge after serving in the United States Marine Corps for eight years in the Select Marine Corps Reserve as a Peacetime/Wartime public affairs specialist.

My interest and area of expertise is in bilingual education and the collection and analysis of qualitative and quantitative data to guide instruction. I am also interested in the use of technology for delivery of instruction and student application of learning. In Leander ISD, I participated in a pilot district technology program in which students used video iPods both in the classroom and at home to develop language acquisition.