I had the pleasure of interviewing Mrs. Licano-Sanchez, an English Language Learner teacher at the Renton High School located in the Renton School District in Renton, Washington. Mrs. Licano has been an ELL teacher here at RHS for 4 years. She enjoys the life and diversity here at RHS and is glad she gets to be a part of it every day.

Mrs. Licano attended Grandview High School in Yakima Valley. After graduating High School, Mrs. Licano moved to Seattle where she attended Seattle University and obtained her bachelor’s degree. After that, she went back to Seattle University to get her Master’s in teaching. During her second year of her master’s program, she was student teaching at Seattle Public Schools at a school named Seattle World School, a school designed for emergent bilingual students. Mrs. Licano became really involved with ELL students as she was working with students from around the world learning English every day.

After her son Mateo was born, Mrs. Licano decided to substitute teach for a year. Her first and only time subbing for Renton High she felt like the kinds of students at this school and the demographics were in line with who she wanted to serve as a teacher. Mrs. Licano said, ¨Subbing here actually lead me to Renton High School. Mrs. Licano goes on to say that she loved the feel of the school and of the students. Subbing here made her realize that this was the place for her.

Mrs. Licano’s biggest challenge is having a work-life balance. Having her son Mateo forced her into saying no to extracurricular activities as she knew it wouldn’t work into her schedule. She explained that having her son taught her to say no to things and being okay with it. She says that even now it’s still hard saying no to things and or taking on things she knows will unbalance her at home life with her school life. Balancing her role as a mom, a teacher, a wife, and an athlete is her challenge.

In her future Mrs. Licano says that she wants to help the system in a broader sense and of course always teach students. She hopes to obtain a doctorate in the future.

Building relationships with her students and colleagues is one of Mrs. Licano’s strengths as a school employee. Mrs. Licano feels that her relationships with her students are important as it allows for her to get to know them as a person which then helps her as a teacher motivate them, find their motivation, their passion, and push them to be better.

When in the midst of a problem, Mrs. Licano says that she checks in with the people close to her to explain it to them first, break it down and understand the issue which allows for her to check and see if she is in the wrong and or is she’s overreacting to the situation. She feels that getting different perspectives on the issue is important because it gives us a better intake to a situation, we may have taken the wrong way.

Mrs. Licano says that trying to get students to see a connection between what they do in school and how it will serve them after High School is one of the toughest parts of being a teacher specifically at Renton. She says that she hears this being an issue with a lot of the other teachers as well.

Mrs. Licano says that one of her biggest accomplishments at Renton has been establishing trust between her and administration and between her and her students. Lastly, she hopes to accomplish instilling confidence in her students so that when they leave her class, they have tools they know how to use in other classes as well as in their lives.