The Power of One

Bringing Learning to Life in the NISD

By Ken Rodriguez

The students in Maricela Alarcon’s 5th grade bilingual education class are not sitting still. They are not keeping quiet. They are not behaving according to convention.

They’re doing a game show. Maricela, 30, holds a microphone, calls her students "contestants" and leads them through a competition to see who knows the difference between prime and composite numbers.

Contestants with numbers they believe are prime stand on one side of the room. Those with numbers they believe are composite stand on the other side. One boy stands in the middle, alone, like a 10-year-old on a playground who doesn't know which team to join. 

"Contestant No. 1," Maricela says to the boy, "you look confused. Why?"

"I’m not prime or composite," the boy says, "because I’m holding the number 1."

"Audience," Maricela asks, "do you agree?"

A rousing "yes" erupts. Maricela pumps a fist and shouts, "Rock on!"

Maricela’s students at Burke Elementary do not learn by rote or by the book. They learn through one creative lesson after another. Maricela once bought a coin from 1865 to teach her students about the Civil War. She wore clothes from the era. She played a tape-recorded interview of a 102-year-old man who grew up as a slave.

"My students," Maricela says, "were engaged and in awe."

Student engagement is critical to learning. According to a study of high school dropouts by Civic Enterprises, nearly half said they quit because they were disengaged and bored.

No one gets bored in Maricela’s class. Almost no one fails the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) test, either. One student came to her last year with low self esteem and an unwillingness to read after failing the TAKS. Maricela asked the boy what he enjoyed.

"Skateboarding," the boy said.

A skateboarding magazine soon appeared on the boy’s desk. Articles about star skateboarders followed. Before long, the boy began reading during lunch and recess. He passed the TAKS and became an avid reader.

Maricela’s influence did not go unnoticed. She collected awards, cash gifts and was named a finalist in the fall for Texas Teacher of the Year.

Connecting with her students comes easily. The daughter of Mexican immigrants, Maricela spoke only Spanish when she started school. She didn’t become fluent in English until 5th grade.

But then she accelerated past everyone and became valedictorian at Brackenridge High School. Counselors suggested she apply to Harvard. Maricela declined. "I can’t afford a plane ticket to Boston," she thought, "but I can probably afford a bus ticket to Houston."

Maricela studied psychology and sociology at Rice. Counselors suggested she apply to graduate school at Harvard. Instead she pursued a master’s in bilingual education at Our Lady of the Lake University. Why? "If I don’t have faith in my community," she reasoned, "who will?"

Now in her fifth year at Burke, Maricela shows great faith in her students. She wants them to think beyond the TAKS. Beyond the next grade. Beyond high school. Last year, she bought each of her students a t-shirt bearing the name "Rice." Then she made them wear the shirts in class.

That's one way Maricela points her students toward college. There are others. She can, for example, point to her own life. Her education did not end with a master's degree. Maricela is pursuing a PhD in educational leadership at UTSA.

Teacher by day, student by night, Maricela yearns to impart an insatiable appetite for learning. One boy, Matthew Torrez, appreciates the effort. As he says in a video clip produced by the Northside Independent School District, "She always does stuff that's ... spectacular."

A boy named Ruben entered Maricela’s class last year, a defiant student who didn’t do homework and had failed the reading portion of the TAKS.

"What is your passion," Maricela asked.

"Wrestling," Ruben replied.

Maricela began building Ruben’s self esteem. She praised his good work, complimented his behavior, encouraged him to improve.

Ruben became attentive in class. He did his homework. He passed the TAKS. His confidence soared.

Then came a surprise meeting Maricela arranged for Ruben with the school principal. "In life, hard work and determination are often recognized," she told her new star pupil. "We recognize your success and present you with this."

She handed Ruben an autographed photo of professional wrestling star John Cena. Ruben beamed, his smile lighting up the room, another life touched by the hand of a transformative teacher.