About Me

      My name is Jimena Santillano and I am a secondary English teacher. My goals in teaching are to be constantly changing, growing, and learning new ways to improve my pedagogy. In the classroom, my aim is to foster a culture of reciprocity wherein I am learning from my students, my students are learning from me, and there is room for mistakes and experimentation.

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      My goals for student learning is to get students involved in their education and position them to contribute and collaborate in the learning process. I want to prepare adolescents to be able to think critically and empathetically in a way that helps them deal with real-world issues they may face outside of school.

 

      I chose English education as my field of study because I believe it is an avenue to expand student's views on the world, while establishing strategies to think critically. I want to be a teacher because I love children, and I want to help students become well rounded people and citizens by showing them a variety of perspectives through literature and meaningful communication and writing. When my students walk out of my classroom, my intention is for them to see themselves as credible writers, readers, speakers, and life-long learners.

 

      As a Latina, I am uniquely positioned to teach students, especially students of color, considering the rising minority population. My experience as a minority impacts my lens as a teacher in that I recognize the need for representation and diversity in the texts taught in the classroom, and the need to validate and uplift students of color as valuable members of society and as scholars.