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Courtney Wais 2013 2014 MTLD Vision

Who I am
My identity, my experience, and my struggles inform my deepest values and fears and aspirations, provide the
platform from which I act, and create the lens through which I view my world.

Growing up in Hawaii, I always felt the effects of colonization. In school, I learned
my peoples history through the lens of local teachers and family oral
histories. When I went to college, a predominantly white institution, I felt I had to
leave behind my experience, my family, and my beliefs to be successful. It was
inspiring to be around so many strong women, but I felt increasingly more isolated
as I navigated the predominantly white institution with its unfamiliar social and
academic framework. Facing microaggressions and outright racism (compounded
by my gender) led me to race / ethnic studies classes, where I found solace and
healing. Every new framework or term breathed new life into me, and I felt
legitimized, valued, and loved. In short, I started a continuous cycle of re-learning
my history and un-learning my Western education.

It is from this narrative that my personal belief in the necessity of an education for
liberation. While part of the reason why I flourished academically is because I had
unlimited access to local educational opportunities (barring location and distance)
due to my middle-income status, the other part lies in the type of education I received, which was culturally
relevant and empowering, at once angering and hopeful.

It is my personal experience, and my experience as an educator, that has shaped my belief in what it takes for all
children in the Rio Grande Valley to receive an excellent education. Here in South Texas, education has been used
as a tool of oppression, while mine often felt like a tool of liberation. When the legacy of colonization is left out of
curriculum, I participate in the conscious amnesia of a resilient peoples stories. When race becomes an entity of a
linear past, I contribute to a selective memory of a fragmented past. When English dominates classroom and
shames Spanish speakers into the back corners of classrooms, I enact a new type of violence. When the agency of
the groups before Anglo land-owners are obscured by the promises of the American dream, I perpetuate the myth
of poverty that keeps my students and their communities in shackles.

Knowing that history has been a tool of assimilation in South Texas, as an
educator, I pledge to combat what Gloria Anzalda refers to as spirit murder--
the systematic division of wealth that has created a cultural genocide. In order
to do this, we need true relationships between students and families--one that
extends out of the classroom, where families are revered as experts, not
shamed as culturally disabled (a historical fact), where community
organizations are honored as power-shifters, not excluded as outsiders. This
requires teachers to recognize themselves as power brokers, as those with the
ability not to erase history, but to change the future in true partnerships.

My own experiences and my righteous rage fuel my fire and form my values.
Malcolm X famously wrote, The examined life is painful, while James Baldwin
said that To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in
a rage almost all the time. To be aware of privilege and to have a developed
critical consciousness means to be painfully aware of every interaction and to
be analyzing everything at all times. It often means that my full selfmy identity, my values, and my lenshas
been rejected, excluded, and questioned. I introduce it to people, layer by layer, but often unable to conceal it. I
apologize for myself, I ask permission to be myself, and I hesitate to bring my true self into every interaction.


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Who We Are: Teacher, Students, Families, and Communities
My region has an established a strong sense of purpose and built deep relationships with the community.
Although we have much to learn, and have a need to ally with community partners in more authentic and powerful
ways, I have had the privilege to work with a variety of stakeholders in the RGV, from students and families to
principals and community leaders.

Roma and Rio Grande City
Roma and Rio Grande City is the Northwest of Mid-Valley. The most rural part of the Valley that TFA serves, Roma
and Rio Grande City is an area of fierce pride and close-knit relationships. At the same time, as an outsider, given
the nature and importance of building relationships, its
my responsibility to be humble and approach every
interaction knowing that I am an outsider with extreme
privilege and much to learn. For example, their former
superintendent has used TAL as a foundational tool for
professional development. This is something that Ive
learned directly from my corps members who work
there, one of whom is from Roma. Moreover, these
districts are changing with the threat of IDEA creating a
new campus there, and developing new and innovative approaches to curriculum. This means a higher focus on
test-taking skills, but also the development of new character education initiatives at Ringgold Middle School. In
Roma, at Ramiro Barrera Middle School, teachers must teach to the test and plan together, which has created a
consistent culture of high stakes testing as an omnipresent force. In order for CMs to actualize their leadership
potential, in small, tight-knit communities in Roma and Rio Grande City, it will be very important for CMs to build
relationships with colleagues to influence team planning.

Roma / Rio
Grande City
First semester Building deep and meaningful relationships (particularly
with colleagues), planning through rigor, creating a
strong classroom culture
Second semester second year CRT, curriculum of social justice, influencing others and
expanding locus of control


IDEA Public Schools
I also within IDEA Public Schools with IDEA Mission, IDEA San Juan, and IDEA Pharr. IDEA Mission, my placement
school, is undergoing a phase of reconstruction as one administrator says. They went through a complete
change in leadership, which has raised expectations for both teachers and
students. IDEA San Juan is a campus that performed well on state tests
historically, but has struggled with culture after the 2011 2012 school year.
IDEA Pharr, the IDEA school with the highest ELL population, is uniquely poised
to work with its communities and families. While the experiences of these
schools are deeply shaped by the communities they serve, IDEA is pushing a
100% to and through college. With models for teacher support like instructional
coaching as well as leadership opportunities, many of my second-year corps
members in IDEA schools serve as teachers and grade team leaders / content
leads. This provides me with the unique opportunity to not only support them in their classrooms, but also in
formal leadership positions by helping develop many soft skills. These leadership roles also make us uniquely
poised to create visions that are shared within teams. However, many of my teachers in leadership roles feel
pressured by test scores and administration, and are thus unable to actually execute upon or create a shared vision
of social change within schools.

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IDEA Public
Schools
First year at IDEA Content delivery, pedagogy, academic achievement, and
building deep and meaningful relationships
Second year at IDEA CRT, curriculum of social justice, influencing others and
expanding locus of control


Pharr San Juan Alamo
I also work within PSJA at Kennedy Middle School, which feeds into Southwest High School, an early college high
school about to lose its accreditation. At both of these schools, I see incredibly tenured teachers working with
younger teachers to try new curriculum, administrators creating rubrics for family involvement in school, and
innovative stakeholders shaping the direction of the school. PSJA shows incredible promise, yet teachers are
stressed by the introduction of various new initiatives, students roam the hallways, and low expectations abound
for both teachers and students. In addition, there is a high need here to investigate and understand the school-to-
prison pipeline, as my teachers have told me about many systems and practices that push students into alternative
centers as young as middle school.

PSJA First semester Planning through vision, building deep and meaningful
relationships, creating a strong classroom culture
Second semester second year CRT, curriculum of social justice, rigor, and focusing on
building off student strengths


McAllen
I also work in McAllen ISD, at the ING Center and with Rowe High School. Within team planning spaces, I see a ton
of innovation and teamwork, yet politics and power relationships undergird
many of these dynamics. At Rowe High School, many new ideas are met with
eagerness for some of the lowest students who are struggling to pass the
STAAR. The ING center is focused on providing a small learning environment
that encompasses personal, social, and academic development. There is a
ton of potential here for CMs to influence team planning, curriculum, rigor,
etc. if they build strong relationships with colleagues. In addition, there are
many opportunities for teachers to build relationships with McAllen Public
Library, who is eager to reach out to students in this district through many of
their children and teen services.

McAllen First semester Planning through vision, building deep and meaningful
relationships, creating a strong classroom culture
Second semester second year CRT, curriculum of social justice, influencing others and
expanding locus of control,


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Our Potential: Fostering Student and Teacher Leadership
In 20 years, the students that we serve will be in charge of classrooms, schools, districts, community
organizations, political offices, doctors offices, law firms, non-profits, teams, health organizations, and
businesses. They will be a formidable voting bloc deciding on our countrys direction. They will be the voices
shaping the narrative of South Texas and the border. They will change
many of our nations notions of what it means to be American, a
citizen, a person of color, poor, from the borderlands, from Texas.
Their strengths and experiences are an invaluable part of the
movement.

In 20 years, I will still be learning from my incredible corps members,
who will be leveraging their experiences in the classroom to affect true
change at a variety of levels. I am excited to hear from teachers who
stayed in the classroom after their two-year experience, TFA staff
members who are working to further our movement all over our nation,
legal experts who advocate for our countrys most vulnerable assets, movers and shakers in the business world
who invest stakeholders in the economic potential of our students, healthcare professionals who are working at
the intersection of inequity and healthcare reform, principals who guide schools to extraordinary academic results,
and politicians who are personally invested in reforming institutions that disenfranchised students.

In order to foster this type of leadership, corps members must have these unshakable beliefs:
1. Students from low-income communities and diverse backgrounds are best poised to be the leaders of the
20
th
century in a variety of fields
2. The education system is fundamentally flawed, but we need leadership at every level to eventually reach
our goal of one day
3. Community influencers and mobilizers are key stakeholders in this fight, and therefore we need to be
their allies with respect and humility
4. What they have seen is outrageously unjust, but there is an absolute necessity for them to remain
connected to this movement
5. Their relationships with their students and families have grounded them in knowing not just whats at
stake, but the amazing potential their community holds

Within my cohort, I have many proof points of what educational excellence in the Valley looks like along the lines
of academic achievement, community advocacy, and culturally responsive practices. Ive seen a mayor and school
board members at problem-solution fairs, families and local librarians sharing information on how to build
independent readers, and students preparing for an AP exam on Sundays in the TFA office. My corps members
have shared with me success stories about home visits, student dinners, and student extracurricular activities. In
classrooms, Ive heard students debating immigration reform, questioning race and science, debunking and
reforming hypotheses during labs, connecting content to their identity, and engaging in mathematical proofs. Ive
watched as students eagerly read a class novel, presented their research to peers, incorporated grade-level
vocabulary flawlessly, challenged each other respectfully, and communicated across lines of difference effectively.



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Our Charge: What Are We Trying to Accomplish?
100% of students in the Rio Grande Valley deserve and will have a transformative education, and through that
education, deepen their agency to recognize, tear down, and rebuild systems of power in service of equity,
inclusivity, self-determination and hope.

This year, my corps members will absolutely disrupt the status quo by acting in bold and revolutionary ways in
order to deliver on our promises to help students achieve path-changing academic growth, develop a critical
consciousness in our students, fuel their own aspirations for what can and must be true of their leadership, and
partner with communities and stakeholders to engender their own radical change.

This is our charge. We must reject the falseness of myth of the American dream in the face of daunting
institutional and social barriers like racism, classism, sexism, ableism, and homophobia, etc. in order to fully
embrace the potential of our students not in spite of what they have overcome, but rather, because of it.

Vision-Driven Leadership

My teachers will provide Material Hope to our students by implementing a curriculum of social justice that is both
radical and rigorous. Quality teaching is a buildable skill, so my corps members must engage meaningfully with
professional learning opportunities, and take time to reflect on their work in order to push student growth and
student mastery. Students must deeply connect what they are learning and creating to their own personal goals
for themselves, their families, and their communities.

Bottom line: CMs must frame their content as a way for students to understand and think critically about their
daily realities, and students must be developing enduring understandings through constant access to rigorous
content and a curriculum of social justice to self-determine their own goals.


Culturally Responsive Practices

My teachers will truly understand the assets, the beauty, the opportunities, the challenges, and the toxins present
in their communities in order to create a curriculum that is empowering, affirming, relevant, and rigorous. My
corps members must model vulnerability and welcome all students into their classrooms. In addition, my corps
members must understand their own selves, their values, their identity, their privileges, their strengths, and their
weaknesses, build their own critical consciousness, and help students develop it for themselves. Teachers will
foster self-love in themselves and help students develop it for themselves.

Bottom line: CMs must know themselves, their communities, and their students in order to foster an environment
where its okay to feel righteous indignation and necessary to develop a critical consciousness.


Community Advocacy

Teachers with audacious hope stand in solidarity with their communities and channel the righteous rage of their
students into bold actions. My corps members will build meaningful relationships with students, their influencers,
and community mobilizers. Duncan-Andrade explains, this type of teacher-student relationship forms as the
result of pedagogy that prioritizes the humanization of student above all else. Moreover, my teachers must take
bold actions and challenge their students to do the same in the face of institutional and social obstacles, walking
together down the painful path of de-colonizing the internalized smog of oppression.

Bottom line: Teachers must build deep and lasting relationships that will embody painful love, and there is too
much at stake for us not to act in revolutionary and radical ways.

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I will be measuring my corps members efficacy in the following ways:

Category Tool Description
Academic
Achievem
ent
- Student
achievement data
We will measure objective mastery of TEKS, reading and writing growth, and
progress towards state and national exams, as well as gatekeepers and other
rigorous exams
- Student work
samples
We will periodically use low, medium, and high work samples to push ourselves in
our approach and to deep dive into our practices as teachers
- School leadership
anecdotes
Since I work closely with school leadership, they will provide me with information
on how I can supplement their coaching / support towards the academic goals
they have for their school
Vision - MTLD observation I will look for evidence of progress towards vision, including students owning
beliefs and habits, students articulating their goals and why they matter, as well as
their personal articulation of class vision and their identities.
- Student artifacts We will periodically use student artifacts such as work samples, writing, notes, and
reflections to help us reflect on and analyze our roles as teacher-leaders.
Measurin
g impact
on
families
- Classroom Family
Engagement
Rubric and Rubric
Explanation
We can use this tool as a way of independent reflection and / or in conjunction
with student and family interviews.
- Assessing
Relationships
Survey Students,
Families (pgs 3 4)
We can give families these surveys (we can work on translating it) in order to get
an overview of their view on my teachers, their classrooms, their relationships,
and the work they do with students.
Student
Relations
hips
- Assessing
Relationships
Survey Students,
Families (pgs 1 2)
- Student 6 12
Survey
We can give students these surveys to help measure the depth of relationship
from students points of views, as well as see you through their eyes.
- MTLD
Observations
I can interview students regarding their relationships with their teachers in order
to get in-depth answers and responses.
Classroom
Culture
- Student_Assessme
nt_of_Classroom
_Culture
- CoA_Pathway_Wit
h_Families_Race
_and_Transformati
ve_Resistance
We can give student a survey to help assess your classroom culture through their
eyes. We could also use the CoA Pathway with myself to help gauge where youre
at using the rubric, along with student interviews and video observations.
Culturally
Responsiv
e
Practices
- Student_questions
_grounded_in_crt
These are questions we could pose to students periodically throughout the year to
measure the impact of culturally responsive practices in your classroom on your
students. You can compare them throughout the year as they start to construct
their own meaning, see themselves in more identity-affirming ways, etc.


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My Charge as an MTLD
In order to provide Critical Hope to the students and communities I serve, I have the following responsibilities:

To uphold an unwavering belief in the infinite potential of my teachers and their students
To yield the full potential of every teacher, both in the classroom and in their present and future
leadership
To focus on helping my teachers develop a toolkit of strategies that they can use appropriately and
effectively
To develop the critical consciousness of my teachers and their students
To build strong and caring relationships with my corps members to fully know who they are and what
fuels their fire
To encourage constant reflection, both values-based and competency-based

All Students connect class with their own struggles and use their content as a lens through which
they view social issues, including educational inequity
o Teachers must plan and executing a curriculum of social justice
Students are able to name concrete steps they can take starting today in order to reach their
own goals
o Teachers must build relationships with students and their influencers, know their
strengths and areas of growth, and help students build upon their assets and
opportunities
o Teachers must expose students to their school and their communitys unique access
landscape, and work to actively expand their access points
Students have developed a critical consciousness
o Teachers must plan and executing a curriculum of social justice
o Teachers must reflect on his or her own identity, including his or her own privilege
o Teacher must allow space and time for reflection and cultivation of righteous rage
Students must feel part of a deep and connected classroom community
o Teachers must plan and establish a strong classroom culture through individualized
visions
o Teachers must build relationships with family members and student influencers
Students must be highly literate in their content areas, and be able to articulate complex
concepts in a variety of ways (writing, speaking), as well as why that class is an access point
o Teachers must be incorporating a classroom focused on literacyincorporating
informal and formal reading and writing on daily, weekly, and unit level
o Teachers must be developing content and pedagogical fluency throughout the year and
applying it in practice
ELA Students enjoy reading and / or see the importance of reading and / or believe that reading
opens doors
o Teachers actively work to investment students in the habits and beliefs of good readers
Students use the writing process every time they write formal essays (and even in informal
settings) and see the value in it
o Teachers must create unit cycles that walk students through the writing process
Students are able to connect literacy with access, opportunities, and knowledge
o Teachers must implement texts of social justice and cultural relevance
Math Students understand math conceptually, applying a problem-solving process as a framework or
critical thinking strategy
o Teachers must encourage math dialogue and implement reading and writing into
their daily lessons
Students understand the application of math to students everyday lives
o Teachers must use mathematical frameworks to present social issues, and ensure that
students are making these connections
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Students connect mathematical literacy with access, opportunities, and knowledge
o Teachers must implement concepts and issues of social justice and cultural relevance
Science Students apply the framework of scientific problem solving as a way to hypothesize and create
real world solutions
o Teachers must explicitly use the scientific process as a critical thinking approach in labs
and in other situations
Students articulate theories about the world at various levels and draw conclusions based on a
variety of data points
o Teachers must provide students with authentic interactions to scientific labs and
processes
Students connect scientific literacy with access, opportunities, and knowledge
o Teachers must implement concepts and issues of social justice and cultural relevance
Social
Studies
Students situate their experience in the Valley in a global context
o Teachers must actively seek to understand and then transmit information about the
RGVs history
Students possess a conceptual understanding of history as a dynamic, cause and effect process
rather than a timeline
o Teachers must focus on teaching skills and critical thinking, rather than only demanding
rote memorization
o Teachers must help students discover trends in history that can be used to explain the
present
Students connect historical literacy with access, opportunities, and knowledge
o Teachers must implement concepts and texts of social justice and cultural relevance

If these are my intended outcomes, then I must coach in a way that builds critical consciousness in corps members
as well as metacognitive skills that they can apply in their classroom and in future endeavors. Moreover, I coach
from my own identity and experience as a woman of color, an Asian-American / Pacific Islander, and as someone
from Hawaii. Rather than using directive coaching methods or frameworks that rely on structure and outcomes, I
will rely on coaching that centers on the conversation, reflection, and the journey. At the most basic level, it
means that corps members are doing most of the thinking during the conversation. I serve as a sounding board, a
mirror, and a true and equal thought partner. I question to build critical thinking and metacognition in corps
members, which I believe is an essential part of having a critical consciousness.

I will measure my efficacy by using:
Survey data and responses
CM interactions (both formal and informal)
Student achievement data (objective mastery, state and national exams)
Observation data
School leadership anecdotes
Student interviews
Evidence of progress towards vision
Culture of achievement spectrum