First Facebook Live ever!!!!

Join this Math Teacher  Sundays 7pm on Facebook Live, as we talk about teaching Secondary Math to struggling students. Check out my first live ever below.

Math Teacher

I am Natalia Mendoza from Ms. Mendoza’s Math. I decided to get into teaching to work as a Math Teacher in  Title I secondary schools and make a positive impact in those students. I have been doing that for awhile now. My mission is to empower and support Math teachers doing the same thing. It was just a few years ago where I was there, struggling with very little direction. My goal is to make your life easier as you work and serve this amazing population.

I do come from a family of teachers. I always joke that I got into teaching since birth because both of my parents were teachers. Growing up I was “voluntold” to grade papers, help with resources,  bulletin boards, tutor, etc. Can any children of teachers relate?

One thing this did was give me a front row view of 2 things 1) How hard teachers work and as a result I never wanted to be a teacher! 2) What a great teachers, do, sound like, how they teach, and most importantly how much they care . My parents were not just great teachers, they were Rockstar Teachers. I am not saying this because they are my parents. I have heard countless of testimonials from former students about the impact they made in their lives as I randomly run into them in my life.

My Journey to becoming a Math Teacher

As I stated above, I never wanted to be a teacher. I thought, it is too much work, for very little pay. But life(GOD)  has a way of putting you in the path you are meant to be on, to realize your purpose. Fast forward post 3 kids, I was ready to work outside our home. An opportunity came up for me to tutor all subjects at a Middle/High Charter School. I loved working with these students. I guess I was doing a good job, because I was offered an opportunity to work in Special Education Department and offer support to Special Education students. This was such a great learning experience. Not only was I learning how to work with struggling students, but I was able to go into different teachers’ classes and learn from them. This is where I decided I wanted to be a Secondary Math Teacher.

Secondary Math Teacher

I started in the classroom at a Middle School because

A) Yes, I am crazy!

B) I felt this is where I could make the biggest impact.

Here the first few years, I was just trying to figure it out with very little guidance. My team of teachers were great, but I still felt alone in what I wanted to accomplish with my students. I was not okay with students just barely getting it. What I wanted was for students to thrive and take that with them to high school.

Our school was a “failing school” and had been put in the dreaded IR list, which means that our school had failed to meet state standards for several consecutive years in a row. Also our grade level Math Team was in last place in our district for the 2nd year in a row. We had to do something

. I looked at my partner teacher and said, “We cannot be in last place again.” Her reply was, “What do we do?”

Math Teacher: What we did

We regrouped. I became a lead for our 8th grade Math team. We worked over the summer to turn things around. We added 2 new amazing team members, from a different grade level and content. They jumped on board with turning things around for our grade level. But when our first meeting at the beginning of the year arrived, we looked at our data and only 33% of our students had passed the state assessment the year before. We persisted through it and ended the school year with 86% of our grade level passing the state assessments. This also gave us a big push to get out of IR. It was a great moment for our students and it gave them the boos they needed as they continued on to high school.

After that we all kind of scattered, but I have been able to take what I learned from that year , modify and apply it to my classroom with the same success, substantial growth in students. I am now at a high school, teaching Algebra to struggling students, that are there to recover credit and am still seeing this substantial growth in them. Just this past December, even with the craziness of what this pandemic has put upon our classrooms, my students went from 0% passing the state assessment to 67% passing. Many of them growing at least 20 percentage points.

Why am I here?

I tell you this not to brag, but to show you that it is not impossible, even though sometimes it feels like it is. I am here to share everything I learned and successfully put into place with my students, to see the substantial growth in them time after time. The Ms. Mendoza’s Math community  is about sharing ideas, supporting and empowering each other, as we work every day to make that positive impact in our students.

Make sure you sign up to receive the “5 Rockstar Teacher Must Haves to Grow your Secondary Math Students.

So Welcome! I look forward to working with you.

Facebook Lives Sundays 7pm

Don’t forget to join me Sundays 7pm. This month of February is the I ❤️ Solving Equations series. Where we talk about how to ensure students success with this essential standard.