EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) —A teacher in Canutillo Independent School District is making transformations not only to her classroom, but also for her students.
Alma Ramos is a dual-language fourth-grade math and science teacher for Reyes Elementary School and has been teaching for seven years.
Alma Ramos, a teacher at Reyes Elementary School. Photo by Jocelyn Flores – KTSM
Ramos was only 5 years old when she came to the U.S. with her family.
“I’m from Chihuahua, Mexico, so when I came to the United States, it was a whole new world for us. We didn’t have anyone over here. It was just my mom, my brother and myself,” Ramos said.
Teacher Appreciation Week runs from Monday, May 6 to Friday, May 10. KTSM.com will be profiling inspiring teachers from different school districts from around the El Paso region all week.
Ramos felt the impact of not understanding the language well, especially for statewide tests.
“At the time, there was a bilingual program, but the teachers were not very fluent in Spanish, so it was like a sink or swim,” Ramos said. “There were times that I felt, ‘What is she saying?’ during the times my teachers would speak to me in English, and I was completely lost”.
“Math was my safe spot. It’s universal. I would see my teacher do multiplications with little drawings and those visuals helped me keep afloat,” she said.
She says at home, Spanish was the only language spoken, so a lot of the practice of learning English was done at school with her teachers, peers and friends.
“Ever since then, I’ve always thought, ‘It can’t be this bad’ so I’m here to try to make a difference and advocate for those emerging bilinguals and for those newcomers who are just coming from Mexico or any other country, to help them and support them in any way that they may need,” Ramos said.
Ramos with a student talking about a project. Photo by Jocelyn Flores – KTSM
As a teacher, Ramos now has students of her own who are from Mexico and are barely starting to understand English, a very familiar feeling that she knows.
“I see them and it takes me back when I came in,” Ramos said.
Ramos is apart of multiple organizations and chairs advocating for students in the “English is a Second Language” program such as the Language Proficiency Assessment Committee and the TEA Educator Committee. She has also presented at a national conferences such as the National Association of Bilingual Education.
Teacher Alma Ramos with her two fourth grade classes. Photos taken by Jocelyn Flores – KTSM
Utilizing the same imagery she used for learning math, Ramos uses visual strategies in her classroom to teach her students.
One of the best ways for visualize learning that Ramos is known for is her classroom transformations.
“One of the hardest things of teaching is keeping the kids engaged which is why I always do classrooms transformations. What I mean by transformation is for example if we want Dunkin’ Donuts, the entire classroom is changed to look like Dunkin’ Donuts,” he said.
“I set up everything for the kids and all of my activities are about Dunkin’ Donuts. This year they wanted Starbuck so I reached out to Starbucks for some materials and they provided me with some things and they reviewed everything for STAAR with STAARbucks,” Ramos said.
Ramos enjoys the results after the hard work she puts into the transformations.
“Had I not done that (classroom transformation) they would’ve been like, ‘Oh my gosh again? We still need to practice?’ But they didn’t even feel it and they say it. They are talking among themselves and you hear them say, ‘This is the best day ever,'” said Ramos.
Ramos gives out advice to potential teachers wanting to embark this journey.
“Be ready to give it your all because we’re here for the kids. Ultimately, that’s the mission for a teacher. No matter what, there will be stressful days. There will be days they’re not cooperating with you but to just remember the end goal: everything we do is for them,” she said.
Ramos attended and graduated from the University of Texas at El Paso in 2017 with her bachelor’s in interdisciplinary studies in bilingual education and is currently pursuing her masters in education administration.
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