From Unlikely Childhood Friends to Dynamic Teacher Duo

Disponible en: Español

Mayra García walking her students to their specials

If you walk into Hinojosa Primary School at 9:45 a.m. you will see two classes of students walking to their specials. The pre-kindergarten students are well behaved, walking in a single file line. Their classrooms are next door to each other, and students of both classes are close and friendly with one another. This might be new for other classes, but it is a common occurrence for the rooms of 203 and 205. Leading them all are two teachers who have held that same bond for decades.

Mayra García and Maricela Moreno are bilingual PreK teachers at Hinojosa who, like the students they teach, grew up in Aldine ISD. They have been teaching at Hinojosa for 15 and 14 years respectively. Some of their colleagues lovingly refer to them as Thing 1 and Thing 2. Their classrooms are directly next to each other, but both teachers still joke that they would love to have a door in the connecting wall to be kept open.

García is a native Houstonian, born and raised. From early on, she knew that she wanted to help others. Her mom thought nursing would be a great option, but not being able to handle the sight of blood would have seriously hindered her career. She always felt that teaching was her calling. She had experienced great teachers growing up in the Aldine district, and was adamant she wanted to be that pillar for others.

Similarly, Moreno knew teaching was her calling very early in life. She had such great experiences with teachers while growing up, that it led to her wanting to return that same experience to others.

Along with these sentiments, both coming from Hispanic backgrounds, they wanted to give back to other families of similar upbringing and chose to go into bilingual education. “We always had that drive to help others, to give back to our community,” said García. “That’s what we’re here for, we’re here to help these kids and these families [of non-English speakers] because we see them as we see our parents.”

Moreno recounts how moving from Monterrey, Mexico to Texas at the age of three was difficult for her parents, it was difficult to communicate with the schools and she struggled with the language.

Coming from a household where they only spoke Spanish, learning English was difficult. “When I would have homework assignments,” said Moreno, “I didn’t have anybody to do the translating for me from English to Spanish, so my parents took me to the public library right by MacArthur High School, and they would help me with books and projects.” Along with these trips to High Meadows Library, she recalls how Ms. Gonzales, a paraeducator she had as a child, was a key contributor to helping her understand the language and work through the assignments.

It was during their time in Aldine that they finally met in the sixth grade. With the two being night and day from each other, literally, Moreno is a morning person and García loves to stay up all night, they would never have guessed that their friendship would last all through grade school. Then after graduation from MacArthur, their bond continued into García’s years at the University of Houston Downtown and Moreno’s at Sam Houston State University. Years later, they began their careers working at Hinojosa within a year of each other.

An unlikely friendship is what it started as, but it has grown into something that they both cherish. They recount how many times they had to lean on each other for help, “we wouldn’t have survived if we didn’t have each other,” they both say in tandem.

Moreno talks about how these last couple of years of teaching through a pandemic had been rough. From getting COVID-19 and finding out she had a heart condition and weak immune system, to finding activities and creating lesson plans for the students to do during their virtual classes. Being thrown into a position where they had to find a way to teach and keep four-year-olds engaged virtually, created a large workload for the two.

They would prerecord multiple videos and live sessions for classes every day, and eventually it became too much, so they turned to their friendship and partnered up to reduce some of the workload. The duo would each prerecord and create an itinerary for half of the lesson plans, and then share it with each other to round out the full experience. They mentioned how teaching can be taxing, but when you have help from others, and people who can relate to what you’re going through at work, it can make a world of a difference, and that is what they have with each other.

It is through this type of collaboration that their students became so comfortable with the teachers and students of both classes. They were able to create a feeling of family with a larger group where they were all able to benefit, and their past students still greet both teachers as they walk the halls.

García talks about the new students they have who have lived their lives during the pandemic. For many of them this is the first time where they are having to develop social skills. “That’s all they’ve known,” García explained. “COVID, and wear your mask, don’t touch this, stay inside, so it’s been rough because they don’t know how to interact with each other.”

This is something that is also coupled with the fact that many of these kids are coming from households where they do not speak English. That in itself brings another layer of difficulties in trying to relay information and ensuring the parents understand what is going on with their child’s school life.

While they talk about the struggles they have faced in teaching, they still look at each other and make jokes to lighten the mood and bring each other up. It is in these interactions that you can see how in tune they are with each other. It is this shared empathy they both feel for others, that led them both to teaching in the first place. They wanted to help their communities as much as they could.

While teaching at Hinojosa, they have also created two separate initiatives, one of which was grant funded and the other through community donations. The grant was created by García and three other colleagues, through the Aldine Federation of Teachers in the district, and awarded $10k for supplies in bringing pretend play into the classrooms. García points out the scene in the back of the classroom, decorated with pictures, toys, and playsets designed to resemble a spaceship in outer space. “These kids need play, that’s where they get their oral language skills and social skills,” said García, “through pretend play, like pretending to be an astronaut, or doctor, or chef.” Through the grant, these classroom scenes are able to be created and rotated out, to provide multiple opportunities for the children to play and imagine various scenarios.

Not only are they interested in assisting the students in their classrooms, but they also looked for ways to assist older students. Through community contributions, they were able to create the Mac Grad Scholarship. The idea of the scholarship was to give back to students who had been a part of the community throughout their schooling. In order to qualify for the scholarship, the graduating student needed to have attended Hinojosa, and then go on to graduate from MacArthur High School. The scholarship was made possible by various businesses that made donations, along with donations they would receive in the classrooms from parents, and was awarded to as many as six students each year.

Working two jobs, they both found other ways to help the community. Moreno looked for additional ways to give back to the older students of the community and works a second job at Lone Star College, assisting students who are applying for college. García looked to help parents with special needs children, and assisted special education teachers with translations for in-home training meetings. Both Moreno and García worked both jobs for over 10 years, spending their days helping their students, and their evenings helping their communities.

The commitment to their communities is evident in all aspects of their lives. Their passion for their students, the families and Aldine ISD are all reasons to highlight these wonderful teachers. Celebrating Teacher Appreciation Week by showcasing the wonderful teachers we have in our district, and showing appreciation to all teachers in the field, are the types of opportunities Aldine ISD looks forward to.