Season 1, Episode 8
Teaching takes trust, starring Luz Selenia Mu帽oz
Today on Beyond My Years, host Ana Torres walks alongside Luz Selenia Mu帽oz as she retraces the path that led her from planning to become a psychologist in Puerto Rico to living in Chicago as a veteran bilingual teacher with 20 years under her belt. Luz shares how finding her happy place in second grade took time, describing how she quickly learned that teaching upper elementary was not for her. She also gives into how moving from Puerto Rico to the United States taught her how to persevere through the struggles of a new environment, and how she learned to balance her independence with reliance on and trust in her fellow educators for support. Luz stresses some of the most important lessons she has learned along the way, including teaching a culture rather than just a language, staying focused on your target language, making connections with students, trying something different instead of giving up, and understanding that tomorrow will get better.
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Meet our guest, Luz Selenia Mu帽oz.
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Luz S. Mu帽oz is a Grade 2 dual language teacher who has been teaching for almost 20 years. Her primary responsibilities include planning lessons in Spanish, developing in-classroom strategies, meeting parents, getting to know her students, and connecting with them every day. Luz has a master鈥檚 degree in curriculum education.
During time off from teaching, she is walking outdoors, reading, and having fun with her family. Luz is always seeking inspiration to make her class more enjoyable and fun for her students, and sharing her ideas with other teachers.
Meet our host, Ana Torres.
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Ana has been an educator for 30 years, working in both the K鈥�8 and higher education sectors. She served as an administrator and instructor at various public and private colleges and universities and as a bilingual and dual language teacher, dual language math and reading interventionist, dual language instructional coach, assistant principal, and principal in K鈥�8 schools. Ana is currently the bilingual and multilingual specialist on 抖阴成人版app鈥檚 product specialist team, and delivers literacy and biliteracy presentations across the nation. Ana鈥檚 passion and advocacy for biliteracy and multiculturalism has led her to educate leaders, teachers, and parents about the positive impact of bilingualism and biliteracy in our world.
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Meet our Classroom Insider, Eric Cross.
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Eric Cross is a middle school science teacher who hopes to someday be a lifelong educator, like the guests on Beyond My Years! In each episode, Eric connects with host Ana Torres to discuss her guests鈥� best insights gleaned from their long and rewarding careers in the classroom. Then, Eric talks about bringing some of their wisdom into his current classroom and busy life.
Transcripts and additional resources
- Connect with Luz Selenia Mu帽oz:
- Listen: Check out Luz Mu帽oz鈥檚 bonus conversation with Ana Torres in Spanish
Quotes
- 鈥淪ometimes people say, 鈥極h, teaching is not for me. I tried for one year and it didn’t work.鈥� Maybe you were in the wrong place. Maybe that’s not the grade level for you. Just try something different before quitting. Try something different.鈥� 鈥擫uz S. Mu帽oz
- 鈥淵ou need a lot of love for your students. Doesn’t matter where you are. You need love for your students and understanding that tomorrow is going to get better.鈥� 鈥擫uz S. Mu帽oz
- 鈥淲hen you transition, especially from one country to another country, you don’t have any family. Every day you are going to wake up and you need to solve everything by yourself. It鈥檚 tough, but you grow up as a person. You become more independent and you make more friends. You get deeper connections with everyone around you, because those are the people that you count on.鈥� 鈥擫uz S. Mu帽oz
- 鈥淚’m here to teach this language. And it’s not just the language鈥攊t’s the culture that comes with the language.鈥� 鈥擫uz S. Mu帽oz
