José Valenzuela
José Valenzuela is a Cohort 6 graduate and second-year teacher of History at TechBoston Academy. He completed his residency at New Mission High School.
A Boston Public Schools graduate, José brings his passion for education to BTR following intensive work on behalf of the Latino community during his years in the BPS and at Williams College. There, he was awarded a research fellowship to explore Latino identity in the United States. He has worked both as a tutor to Latino students in the BPS and with a bilingual summer school program in the district. During his residency, José traveled with his mentor to represent BTR at Annenberg’s Emerging Knowledge Forum in New Orleans.
Inspiration to teach:
My mother said I always liked to “explain things.” My real inspirations were my 8th grade Civics teacher (Mr Fulton) and my college English professor and mentor (Christian Thorne).
About my students:
My 9th graders at New Mission were the bravest, smartest, and funniest people I’ve ever met. It was an honor to spend my residency year with them.
About BTR:
It got me ready.
Favorite Thing in the World To Do:
Discuss about anything to do with sports, but especially regarding the Celtics, the Sox, the NBA, the history of sports, race and gender in sports…you get the idea.
Random thought:
From Malcolm X: “A school is not four walls and a roof. It is whenever you get one person willing to teach and one who’s willing to learn…sometimes we are teachers, sometimes we are students.”
Recently by José
RSS Feed9.06.11 - Summer in Ghana
This summer, I spent almost a month studying and researching in Ghana as part of a Fund for Teachers grant that I was awarded back in May. The goal of the trip was to research and explore the monumental slave… [more]
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6.29.11 - Letter to TechBoston Lower Academy
With TechBoston Lower Academy merging with the Upper Academy (at the Dorchester Education Complex) next year, this seems like the perfect time to reflect on what it has meant to teach at TBA and in the Boston Public Schools.
Dear TBA Lower,
Two years… [more]
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4.02.11 - Hay hombres que luchan…
Dear students,
Recently, I haven’t been able to get this quote out of my head. It’s from this dude Bertolt Brecht. He was an old German playwright, and he was this real radical. Well anyway, in one of his plays he had one of… [more]
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3.08.11 - Thoughts on the Presidential Visit
I’m sitting at home with 40 notebooks to grade tonight, but I’m beaming. The President of the United States came to OUR school. I attended with my students and my colleagues, people for whom I have sacrificed much in these last two years. And… [more]
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1.31.11 - Intellectual swagger
Who will teach me about intellectual swagger?
I ask King Jay Z, but all he says is I can’t teach you my swag / You can pay for school but you can’t buy class / School of hard knocks / I’m a grad /… [more]
1 comments so far
