Jose Luis Castillo is a 2020 Teach For America corps member teaching seventh-grade math at Audie Murphy Middle School in Pharr-San Juan-Alamo Independent School District.
What motivated you to apply to join Teach For America and choose to teach in the Rio Grande Valley?
I studied chemical engineering in college, and even though I enjoyed the majority of my courses, it felt as though something was missing. When my senior year of college came around, I knew I wanted to help others, but it wasn’t until I spoke to my Teach For America recruiter that I finally decided how I would do so. TFA’s mission of seeking equity for all deeply resonated with me and reminded me of my former teachers, some of whom were from TFA who, thanks to their constant encouragement, helped me get to and through college. Having grown up in the low-income and primarily Hispanic community of Inglewood California, I understood the importance of having strong and passionate teachers in the classroom. I wanted to be able to push my students to reach their full potential in STEM the same way that my former TFA teachers did for me.
What has been one of the most surprising things you’ve come to learn about education during your time as a classroom leader?
One of the most surprising things that I have learned in my time teaching is how large the disparities truly are in our education system. For example: I started teaching at a time when the world was turned upside-down, and the simplest solution seemed to be to put everyone in front of their computers. The problem with that was that I saw first-hand students unable to complete assignments or log into classes because of lack of access to the internet or hardware. Our students also have additional responsibilities that not all kids their age have: they’re caretakers for their siblings, their parents rely on them for help financially or around the house. They can fall behind because of the lack of necessities that are otherwise assumed to be a given for all students around the country.
If you could change one thing for your students, what would it be?
If there was one thing that I could change for my students, it would be for them to have the ability to be just students. I grew up hearing that our only job as kids was to go to school and get good grades. However, that’s not the reality for so many of the children I see in my classroom every day. They have so much pressure on them to take on and deal with so many other things at home that we can’t expect them to come to school at their best every single day. All of that pressure in turn puts a lot of strain on their mental health that they struggle to deal with, so I wish that they also truly understood that there are resources available to help them. Obviously, as educators we always try to push students to speak to their counselors or with hotlines in order to help, but I feel at times students look down on these resources or feel as though they wouldn’t really help.
What lessons are you learning now that will help you continue to work toward educational equity in the future?
My students have continually shown me that there is always room to learn, and that education is an ongoing battle. A lot of my students dream of being welders and working in their community, and while there is nothing wrong with that dream, they need great and passionate educators to push them to dream bigger. I am learning that as educators we cannot just be passive sources of information, we need to be responsive to the various needs of all students in the classroom. The education system may never truly become what we need it to be for our students — I think most TFA teachers can tell you about the inequities they see in play daily — but the difference continues to be caring teachers pushing their students to work hard. I will continue working to improve as an educator in order to help push these students to seek and reach for the opportunities that an inequitable education system robs them of.
Can you share an anecdote or personal experience from your classroom or school?
It is difficult to choose one personal experience from my classroom because my experience has been an accumulation of many joyful and funny moments with my students. However, there have been instances that have truly made me feel like I am making a difference with these kids, despite any doubts that may come up — just two weeks ago I had one of my students ask me if I could please teach eighth grade next year instead of seventh grade so that I could continue moving forward with her class. It can be difficult, especially in this first in-person year of teaching, to feel like I am having a positive impact on these students when teaching them a subject that they typically hate like math. To hear my student ask me such a simple question and follow up with multiple points to try and convince me to make a grade-level switch really highlighted for me how these students truly feel about me and that I am accomplishing what I set out to do, which was to help these kids enjoy math again. From moments like that to students last year staying on the computer after class was over to show me their newest Funko Pops in their collection.
Teach for America (TFA) is the national nonprofit organization committed to the idea that one day, all children will attain an excellent education. To this end, the organization partners with communities to inspire the next generation of leaders to address unequal educational opportunities that fall along the lines of race and class. They begin this lifelong work with an initial two-year commitment to teach in some of the nation’s most underserved schools. Here in the Rio Grande Valley, 61 corps members work in seven districts across the region.
