Here at the Falcon Cry, we choose 2 excellent teachers each month to highlight. This month, we chose Dr. Aminta Perez. This is her first year teaching here at Lively, but she’s a very experienced teacher, as she has been teaching for 30 years.
Her inspirations in becoming a teacher were her father, who was a teacher himself, and her 6th grade teacher, who would teach by telling stories in a way that allowed him to teach in an engaging way. Dr. Perez earned her bachelor’s degree at Texas State, then got her master’s and PhD from the University of Iowa. Her teaching career started when she was a graduate student at the University of Iowa where she taught Western Civilization. She then taught several other classes including Latin American Revolution, Native Americans in the 20th Century, and Labor in the United States, among others. She is trained as an American historian, which led her to teach US History here at Lively.
Dr. Perez said that her favorite things about Lively are student engagement and the Social Studies team. She says, “I feel blessed to be a part of a team that cares for students and in return to have students that are interested in their own growth and learning.” She says the best thing about teaching is that she gets to teach a generation of students who will hopefully make an impact on the world. Although, being a teacher comes with high expectations of going through material very fast, which she says is the worst thing about teaching. While she enjoys teaching, she has some interesting hobbies outside of school as well.
She believes students would be surprised to learn that she enjoys writing music and poetry, mountain biking, and hiking. When asked what tips she would give to students, she said, “Do not waste time doing things that do not help you grow or bring happiness in some way, do not waste time on people who do not help you grow or bring happiness in some way.”
Dr. Perez is a wonderful teacher who cares about her students a lot, which is clear in everything she does. This may be her first year at Lively, but hopefully there will be many more.
