Patricia Núñez

Patricia has been in education for twenty plus years. Her career in education started early when at the age of 16 she began working in Mexico because of her command of English. She holds a Master’s Degree from the University of Texas at Austin in Curriculum & Instruction with a concentration on Bilingual/Bicultural education. She has worked as a bilingual teacher and instructional coach at the campus and district level. Patricia is driven by the stories of her students, with whom she continues to keep in touch. She advocates for bilingual education in a variety of roles including being the president of the Austin Area Association of Bilingual Education. Her greatest joys are collaborating in researching and planning engaging units that are grounded in culturally relevant and responsive pedagogy as well as co-teaching those units.  She stays energized designing summer programs with themes such as El maiz y el chocolate, where studying language and culture go hand in hand.

Ni de allí, ni de allá. Creciendo entre dos países toda la vida, Patricia tiene un aire de libertad y se compara a un árbol de poca raíces que antes le preocupaba pero ya no. Tal vez a esta edad, y siendo mamá, esa falta de raíces ya no le molesta. Siempre recuerda el consejo de su padre cuando le recalcaba que uno siempre trae el hogar dentro y bajo los pies, en ese preciso instante y en ese momento. Qué el hogar se hace con personas y no de lugares. Siempre quiso creer esto pues al no ser ni de aquí ni de allá nunca ha sido fácil.