My Background

From kindergarten to 12th grade, I never saw anyone in the school that looked like me – students or adults. I never saw any characters in stories that came even close to reflecting my identity. I never understood the references in stories and tests because it wasn’t anything my family did on the weekend. I never saw myself in the surveys when my only option was to fill out ‘other.’ As a first-generation Filipino American living in the Midwest, I always felt like an ‘other’ at school and I was on the outside looking in. To be successful, I needed to figure out how to get ‘in,’ first I had to understand what they were talking about (especially in reading class), then figure out the actual skill I was supposed to be mastering. It never felt fun to learn. It felt like a job.

It wasn’t till I was a first-year teacher in Charlotte that I realized I could choose to do something different with my students. Learning could be fun. Learning didn’t have to feel like a job. Learning could be designed FOR my students. I looked for texts where my students could see themselves. I searched for experiences that would deepen my students’ interest in school and learning. When we read something they didn’t understand, we explored and made sense of it together. It made a difference in our classroom culture and ultimately made a difference in what we were able to achieve together. This experience shifted how I thought about education – learning can be inclusive and fun. I took that lesson into the rest of my classrooms in North Carolina, China, and Ohio. I kept that philosophy as I coached beginning teachers and it was foundational as I co-authored social-emotional learning curricula. Learning, whether for students or adults, is more meaningful and impactful when you can make a personal connection and have fun along the way. As the Senior Designer of Adult Learning at reDesign, I work to create engaging learning experiences that help to set up classrooms and schools for change so that all learners can thrive.