Amanda Morales Story

Amanda Morales: The greatest potential for your work to be rewarding, it requires a courage and a vulnerability to teach about issues related to social justice. I see myself reflected in the students that I interact with everyday especially first-generation students, culturally and linguistically diverse students who are clearly the very first person in their family to try and do college. Because I see myself reflected back, I see the challenges that they encounter. Part of what I find so rewarding about working in higher ed is that I'm able to help them navigate through that.

I had an amazing childhood, I absolutely loved it. I felt like the older community kind of helped raise the kids in the neighborhood. I think there was some tension between my family and the town primarily because of culture and socio-economic status but I never really felt like it was a major issue for me. I think I had really good relationships with teachers. I played some sports, primarily volleyball. I needed to work. I worked a lot of hours in addition to going to school. I've had about every kind of job that you can imagine. I worked for the long-term care as a nurse's aide, I worked for the county, I painted fences, I cleaned out stalls at the fairgrounds, I washed dishes. I spent a lot of time finding ways to make money to pay for things like senior pictures, my prom dress, my car. I knew that if I wanted to have the stuff that I wanted to have that I had to work for it. And I think that's a good thing. [Oh, and there's me at the chalkboard.]

Lynette Rodriguez, Amanda's mother: I said yesterday that you were always teaching school and that you lived in a classroom your whole life.

You can kind of get the bent of a kid just by watching them play. She was always teaching school. She was always doing some scientific project and experiments and she expressed herself through her art from the time she was very small. When her dad came to town, he was the only Hispanic here for a long time and now we have a lot of Hispanic families, and they're doing very well. He really had to make a place for himself in this community and he didn't choose to do it the very best way. But yet being the minority, there's just a feel that comes across, it's hard to put to words, you know, but you know you're different. And it's evident that everyone else knows you're different. But you know, my girls never really let that stop them. But, I know they were hurt by things.

Jaizy Jordan Rodriguez, Amanda's sister: She has never put herself on a higher pedestal, ever. Growing up, she was always for the underdog. If anyone was remotely harder-off than what we were, she would be right there. She has definitely put a hunger for learning in her, makes my daughter want to do more science and hands-on stuff.

Lynette Rodriguez: I always wanted my girls to go on to school. You know, there's that mentality that if you are this, you won't be this. And I always encouraged them to break that mold, not let anybody put them in a box. 

Tom Freiss, math teacher, USD 412: First time that I met Amanda she was a sophomore in high school. She was in my geometry class. She's just one of those people, her personality is splendid. It's gonna bring the best out of people. She's not gonna not give a compliment when it's due but she's also gonna make sure that they know that if they are not doing their best, they can do better and she can do it in a way that's not gonna be hurtful. It's just gonna make them think about 'well gosh, maybe she's right'. She's just got a great gift.

Amanda Morales: I would describe my mission as being two-fold, to ensure that the students who we have that they are prepared to be highly effective, culturally responsive, advocates for all types of students. The other piece of my mission would be to increase the representation and preparation of culturally and linguistically diverse teachers. Over the years, I've been able to develop some powerful relationships with people. They see the need for quality education for ESL migrant, Latino student populations and so that's where a lot of my work has resided.

I don't feel like social justice is the golden rule because it's difficult for us to disconnect our own socialization and identity and experiences to really understand what others want or might want to be treated. So I can say the golden rule applies, treat others the way you would wanna be treated but the way you wanna be treated is couched within the context of your own background, your own culture, your own socialization and while it's a great rule of thumb I think it's important for us to be able to set aside our lens and truly see the world with new eyes.

For me social justice in the classroom is very different than the one short celebration of Cinco de Mayo or putting the poster up on Martin Luther King Day. I challenge the students to think beyond festivals and foods. I challenge them to push past those superficial treatments of culture and get to the real depth of student's identities. What their struggles are and what their dreams are and it's so much more than that. It's about extremely high expectations for students, maintaining that at all cost, giving students multiple opportunities to demonstrate their worth, saying, you know what, this isn't your best work and I've seen what you can do. I'm gonna give you another chance to redo this for me and we'll just keep doing it until I know we can get it right. That to me is social justice, because it's ensuring that that student is demonstrating their best work. [Isn't that so cool?]