(San Antonio, TX) – A group of Southside ISD teachers has reached a level of professional honor that many never see, being published. Not only will the work of nine teachers from Southside ISD be featured by the state, but these lessons will also be published for ALL teachers in the state of Texas to use as an example of the exemplary curriculum. Even more impressive, Dual Language lessons are at the forefront of this achievement which has never happened in the history of Texas public education. The Southside ISD Director of Bilingual Services, Adriana Bermea help to lead the team to this amazing task.
A major part of Bermea’s role at the district is to welcome the opportunity to build capacity in the bilingual team, to offer opportunities for lifelong learning, and most importantly strengthen our program so that our students ultimately reap these benefits. When approached about an initiative by Service Center Region 20, Bermea didn’t hesitate, “This is a huge honor for Southside ISD.”
Southside teachers took part in a project that is job-embedded professional development. The project allows these teachers to study priority TEKS that traditionally are challenging for students. In this endeavor, supported by Commissioner Mike Morath, teachers do research and write exemplar lessons that have the opportunity to be published on the Texas Gateway, a TEA-organized website for educators. Under the facilitation of Ms. Jessica Acosta, a Literacy Consultant and Texas Lesson Study Facilitator with ESC Region 20 teachers at SISD practiced this unique educational pathway that has long been the method of educational research in Japan.
Several teachers who participated in the Texas Lesson Study have been awarded as published teachers. All three schools who have participated have been honored by TEA and Region 20: Freedom Elementary, Heritage Elementary, and Pearce Elementary. These teachers were honored Wednesday, January 27th at the SISD Board of Manager meeting.
Teachers:
Melissa Martinez Heritage Elementary Elizabeth Lopez Heritage Elementary Evangelina Avalos Freedom Elementary Esperanza Chulo Freedom Elementary Carla Escamilla Pearce Elementary Alejandra Chavez Pearce Elementary Facilitators support: Melissa Martinez & Elizabeth Lopez
Venessa Cerda Heritage Elementary Angelita Monroy Heritage Elementary Karla Montemayor Heritage Elementary
The Bilingual administrators were also honored:
Ms. Jessica Acosta says, “This is an exemplary feat, very few teachers participate in Texas Lesson Study and earn the right of the lesson being published on TEA websites.”
Southside ISD got published in all three campuses that participated! Even more exciting is that several of these lessons were done in dual language, which constitutes the ONLY dual-language lessons presented on the TEA website thus far. 