Luis Durán

(assisted by mother) Mr. Durán teaches the 6th-8th grade cluster classroom in room 307. He has been my teacher since last year. I am in 7th grade. In all classes, he always finds a way to make class a fun experience! Mr. Durán always makes class a fun time for us. For math, we learn and practice by pretending we are at a store. For our reading time, he sometimes has us do role playing and acting when we go over a story. For our science lessons, Mr. Durán is will orbit and rotate around a student to show us how the Earth moves around the Sun. Mr. Durán finds different ways so we can understand what he is teaching. His guidance and creativity help us build confidence and willingness to continue to learn. He also makes it so much fun! He has not only helped us grow academically, but also in social and emotional maturity. He checks in with us every day in the morning to see how we are doing and always makes sure we know we are in a safe space at school. He has helped us feel like we belong and always makes sure we have a great day, even on our worst day. He teaches us how to resolve conflicts with peers. He helps us check in with our own emotions. This month, Mr. Durán has done all he can to spread Awareness throughout the school. He has decorated the school with blue and yellow ribbons and balloons for Down Syndrome Awareness; he started a shirt drive in the whole school to spread awareness; we as a class created posters for Down Syndrome Awareness month and hung them up by main office and entrance of the school. On the first week of October, our class did the morning announcements, and Mr. Durán included daily facts about Down Syndrome and continues posting them around the school as the month progresses. I myself have Down syndrome. Mr. Durán spoke to us in class about a brother that was born before him with Down syndrome that he never got to know because he passed away at 11 months. Mr. Durán is all about inclusivity. He also helped decorate the school for Breast Cancer Awareness (pink) and Bullying Prevention Month(orange). He has made and placed little pink ribbons, orange ribbons, and blue/yellow ribbons on each class's bulletin board outside of their classroom. He wants to help spread knowledge and awareness to everyone, even those that aren't in his classroom. Mr. Durán has been working hard to try to get us into the Special Olympics this year! He is getting our class and another cluster class ready to go. We are all really excited to go! He is making it so that it is easier for us and our parents to get started by registering us for our Medical Exams all at once! Mr. Duran has had us play sports games together as a class, and they really help bring a sense of community and friendship. The Special Olympics will definitely be an unforgettable experience for all of us. Besides teaching, Mr. Durán really has a passion for music. He has told us in class that music is something that can help us express our feelings. I love dancing, and I can really connect with what Mr. Durán means. He sometimes brings his guitar to class and will show us some music and we will discuss how we feel after we hear the music. He has also performed in school concerts to reach out to other students outside of his class. Mr. Durán loves art in general. He has drawings and posters all over the classroom. Posters that he has made for us and classes before us. Posters for equity and social justice. Hearing from SECAs and other teachers, Mr. Durán really listens to students. One coworker stated that they never saw a teacher speak to students one at a time to check up on them and see how they are feeling and have a conversation with them like Mr. Durán. He really cares for the students and makes sure that his students’ needs are accommodated. Hearing from other parents, they say that they are so happy that Mr. Durán is there because their son is so happy to go to school because he knows he is going to have a good day.

Kenneth Ovnik