Proud To Be A Top Bloguera With #Latism14

This year marked my second time applying for Top Bloguera with the frame of mind, “Just try, what do you have to lose?” I wasn’t being negative but, as with most things, for some reason I apply “just to see,” never thinking that it would happen. This year I just thought it would be a no because it was in California and every excuse under the sun came up in my mind. To be selected as a Top Bloguera with Latism is a true honor and to actually be chosen this year was a tremendous surprise. I was taken aback!

 I have worked tirelessly since my first days on social media. Learning is an everyday process and cheering others on is what I do and how I live. What I do at MommyTeaches is all about my love for education since a very tender age and just keeping it real from the perspective of a parent first and foremost, and as an educator too of course! It’s important for those to read my blog to know that parenting is first in my book and that our school system, even as I am a part of it, has gaps that we as parents must fight to have fixed.

 

I have written about everything from what took place with Avonte Aquendo to teachers as role models to children being socially accepted and parents being their advocates first! I am not scared to tweet, Facebook, Instagram or write about how I feel about our school system. I keep it real by teaching within the school system, being a product of the public school system myself and allowing my two boys to attend public schools instead of private schools. If I am going to talk about it, then I have to really be about it, is what I say.

 

As a parent, I discuss what works for me and what doesn’t! I also love to share my life as a working mother raising my two Latino boys. As a Latina, I always knew I had the odds against me but fought my way through because I knew that I didn’t have to be a product of my own environment. I know in my heart that I am role model for the children that I teach in the borough that I grew up in, and I handle myself as such both in public and in private. Whatever choices I make as an educator and as a parent, I keep my children (both in and out of the classroom) in mind.

I have always appreciated the way Latism recognizes and makes education a top priority. Latism knows that es el momento to work with our children and encourage them to go to school and focus on the prize, just as I did! I am super honored to have been chosen as a Top Bloguera again this year. MommyTeaches is a labor of love from a girl who came from Brooklyn and made it out with a Master’s degree with honors from New York University. I have never forgotten where I started and where I came from and I definitely remember those who thought that I would just be a statistic. To them I say this: “Thank you. You didn’t believe in me but I believed in myself. Partly because of your doubt, I rose above and achieved greatness. I believed in myself just as I believe in each and every one of my students because si se puede!”

 

Join me as I head off to Anaheim, California for the very first time by registering here. I would really love for you to accompany me on this journey of learning. Follow the hashtag #Latism14 and if you can make it there, do so… you won’t regret the experience!