Adriana Alba

Teacher Credential Program
School of Education

January 1, 2014

“I was searching for a career where I would have a position of power where I could challenge and overthrow injustices.”

Diane Acosta, my high school art teacher, was a prophet. She stood over my shoulder once as I explained the color wheel to my peers and said, “You are going to be a teacher.” I shook my head automatically and asserted, “Never, Mrs. Acosta.  I want to be a lawyer.”

It was 1994, the time I call circa Prop. 187, when California voters were debating whether teachers would be reporting undocumented students to immigration. I felt suspicious towards teachers; they stood by too quietly when students talked about it during class.

As a young student, looking at the horizon of my future, I was searching for a career where I would have a position of power where I could challenge and overthrow injustices. I wanted a job where I could channel my general frustrations with the world around me to create social change. Teaching, from the perspective of my sixteen year old self, did not seem like that type of job. Although some of the people I most looked up to throughout my life were teachers, their day-to-day lives seemed to me a series of monotonous routines that seemed to be a part of a larger systemic conspiracy to keep us busy. Thus, when it came time to choose a major I did not hesitate to avoid the thought of teaching completely and simply check the box for Political Science.

It took a few years, but soon enough it became clear to me that it was not enough to stand in the sidelines to point and rail against educational inequalities. It was time to join the trenches. After a Master’s Degree in English from Chapman University, I turned to UC Irvine’s Department of Education to prepare myself for a new and dynamic teaching field. Thanks to the UCI Teacher Intern Program, I was prepared with cutting edge tools and skills that are now demanded by an educational environment that has become focused on developing equitable school communities. Because of the research and professors of UCI’s Department of Education, it was easy to transition into a school district that is strategically working on increasing student achievement for all populations.

So, here I am almost twenty years later teaching next to my prophetic art teacher, Mrs. Acosta, working on the same career goals I dreamed as a sixteen-year old: challenging injustices and creating social change by preparing those who will be running things tomorrow.

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