Savannah Martinez was born on May 26, 1997. She attended Catholic school from kindergarten through 6th grade, which helped shape her values of compassion and forgiveness and discover her identity as a leader. She later attended the Boys and Girls Club, which further strengthened her leadership skills. Martinez believes values like respect, responsibility, resilience and discipline have helped ground her. She wants to become a teacher to show children compassion for others and that they can achieve anything if they believe in themselves. Her experiences will inform her patient approach in teaching and ensuring all students are treated equally. Her vision is to inspire students to make a positive difference and her mission is to challenge thinking while serving as a positive role model.

1. My Journey
SAVANNAH MARTINEZ

2. My Background
My name is Savannah Martinez and I was born on May 26, 1997. My parents are both from New
Mexico and as I was growing up they decided that sending me to a Catholic school was really
important. I attended this school from kindergarten-6th grade and appreciate all the values that I
was given while enrolled. I feel attending a Catholic school shaped me as a person because at a
young age I was able to learn about compassion and forgiveness. I was also able to discover my
identity as a leader and feel it has helped me take on the role of becoming a teacher. Later on in my
life I attended the Boys and Girls Club. This was another place that I changed and grew as a person.
The Boys and Girls Club helped strengthen my leadership skills and in result aided me in becoming
Youth of the Year and President of a community service club. This was also a place that taught me
strength to telling my story and dealing with hard times such as my parent’s divorce. Some values
that I believe still ground me as a person are respect, responsibility, resilience and discipline.
Through school and life’s challenges I have come to rely on these values frequently because they
are what helped me become who I am today.

3. Teacher Identity
My beliefs have influenced me to become a teacher through wanting to show kids what it means
to care about others. I feel having respect for one another helps children grow as individuals and
realize that everyone is different. Through my experiences, I have also wanted to serve as a role
model for the younger generation and felt that becoming a teacher would be the perfect way. I
want to show kids that anything is possible if they believe in themselves.
My experiences will ground my approach in teaching through being patient and realizing that
every child has potential no matter what ethnicity, religion, language, gender. etc. they affiliate
with. My beliefs will also aid me in making sure every child is treating equally and given the same
rights to an education.

4. Teaching Framework
My vision as a teacher is to inspire the next generation
to go out and make a difference in a positive manner.
I want nothing but happiness to come their way and
through happiness I would hope that they see the
fruits of their labor in the long run.
My mission would be to challenge students in their
thinking and to serve as a positive adult in their life
who continuously pushes them to succeed in and out
of the classroom. I will strive to show respect and
expect them to do the same for me and their
classmates.