Teacher by day, student by night
Cristina Hernandez presents one of her last lessons for her IB Math A&A class. Students worked on a Pear Deck for the first half of class where they were able to practice mathematical skills they learned the day prior.
After grading a stack of assignments, International Baccalaureate (IB) and Integrated Math II teacher and San Diego State University (SDSU) student Christina Hernandez’s work is far from over. Along with her teacher workload, she also dedicates time to working on her own assignments as a student herself.
Hernandez became a teacher five years ago after deterring from going into the medical field. Even still, she had her eyes set on helping people out. Although Hernandez is new to the teaching scene, she still pursues further education in order to better teach her students Math.
“I have a bachelor’s degree in Math so that alone has helped a lot with my background,” Hernandez said. “I am now getting my masters degree in Math Education. It has been helping a lot because I’m not only learning to be a better teacher, but I’m learning to be a better Math teacher.”
BVH is the alma mater of Hernandez so she has had the BVH experience before. Hernandez graduated from BVH five years ago, and some of the teachers at BVH are already acquainted with her.
“I came back to Bonita because there are a lot of teachers here [from] when I was a student. I know this community really well so that was a nice transition into my next few years of teaching,” Hernandez said.
Originally, Hernandez wasn’t planning on becoming a teacher. At first, Hernandez wanted to try her hand in the medical field, but life had different plans for her.
“I actually entered college as a Biology major and wanted to go into the medical field. I always knew I wanted to be in a field where I was helping people and after a while I felt like I wasn’t having the best time in my classes. I just wasn’t liking my classes as much so I happened to switch to Math,” Hernandez said.
Eventually, Hernadez found her calling as a teacher for her favorite subject–Math. Hernandez has always wanted to help others and with the amount of tutoring she had done, it finally came to her, a true love for teaching and math.
“While I was taking Math classes, I was also tutoring at a local high school. That’s really where I fell in love with the whole idea of becoming a teacher. I ended up really loving Math and the tutoring I was doing at elementary, middle and high schools,” Hernadez said.
For a student who has a lot of work, piling it together with the work of a teacher can be hard to balance. Her workload as a student combined with personal responsibilities as a teacher is helping her obtain skills such as balancing two things in her life and her teaching.
“It’s harder than I thought. I was really excited to go back to school because I really do enjoy being in school and I knew it was going to be hard. I knew it was going to be tough to balance school and teaching at the same time,” Hernandez said.
With the endeavor of attending school herself, Hernandez has a deeper connection with students. Similar to her students, Hernandez has to deal with academic stress and homework that can take a lot of her time up.
“I’m stressed out about homework, they are stressed out about homework. They are stressed out because they have to do this and that and I’m also stressed out cause I have to do this and that. I feel a deeper connection with my students which is really nice because I feel like we’re all in the same boat trying to get work done,“ Hernandez said.
According to Hernandez, she is not quite satisfied with being a teacher just yet. Rather, she wants to further expand her teaching next year. She graduates May 15, and after, she intends on getting more involved with BVH, adding coaching to her plate and considering the skills she’ll bring over from being a student at SDSU.
“After graduation I know in the future I’m going to want to coach. I’ve coached cross country and track. I have students that are asking me to be advisors for their club so I know in the future I’m going to be a lot more involved on campus,” Hernandez said.“One thing I’ll definitely take forward with me is time management and being able to balance multiple things at the same time.”
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