Ivette Sanchez

Mrs. Sanchez / 5th Grade Teacher

Inspiring Teacher.

Ivette Montes Sanchez, known as Mrs. Sanchez to her students, was born in Zacapa, Santa Barbara, Honduras. Her mother was Angela Anarda Rodriguez. Mrs. Sanchez has two sisters and two brothers. She and her siblings were raised by her mother, her aunt, and her grandmother. Because of her family’s economic situation she always knew how important it was to get a good education and she always wanted to study. She saw education as the only way out of poverty. Mrs. Sanchez still remembers her grandmother working awfully hard to put food on the table for her and her siblings. From a young age she was determined to better her life and to help the people she loved.

When she was a teenager her favorite sport was basketball. She loved dancing and reading. Her favorite subject was math. She graduated in Honduras as a teacher when she was 18 years old. After she graduated she moved to the United States. She did not know any English and that was a challenge for her. It was hard for her not to be able to communicate or understand others; this made her more determined to learn the language. She decided to go to a community college to learn English.

She went to the U of A and graduated as a bilingual teacher. She got married after finishing college. She has been teaching for 5 years at Los Amigos Elementary. She has taught third, fourth, and fifth grades. Her students and colleagues inspire her to do what she does. She also gets a lot of help from her husband. Ivette Sanchez loves what she does. She knows that every single day she is making a difference in her students’ lives.

I chose Mrs. Sanchez as my hero because she teaches me what I need to learn in order to grow in my education. She makes all subjects interesting and helps me achieve excellent grades. Form the moment she started being my teacher, at the beginning of fourth grade, I knew she was going to be wonderful! She has made a difference in my life as well as in my classmates’ lives. She has encourages me to never give up and to keep on trying. Mrs. Sanchez is an outstanding and sweet teacher and she is also my hero.

Interview -

My first question to my hero is “Does she have a hero? Who is s/he? Why is s/he your hero?

My hero’s response is “my hero is my grandma because she worked awfully hard to put food on the table for her and her siblings.

Then I asked her “What characteristics do you think heroes share?

She answered me “The characteristics that they share are that they are loyal, honest, they sacrifice themselves and fight for what’s right.

The next question is “Do you consider yourself a hero? Why or why not?

She answered “No, because I think I am not ready to give more than my share. I think I am not giving 100% of me.

Then I asked “Do you think children can make a difference in the world? How?

She answered Yes, by keeping traditions, morals, by being educated, by learning empathy, by being honest, by having big dreams, also by having leaders, models that support them, and by feeling worthy and accepted in our society.

My next question is “Who inspires you to do what you do?”

My hero said “Colleagues inspire her to do what she does and religious belief.”

Then I asked “Do you enjoy what you do? Why?”

She answered “I do because I want to do a difference in people’s lives and by being a teacher I can do that”.

Then I asked her “If you had unlimited funds how would you use them to help change the world?”

she said “I would provide education and health care to poor kids”.

My next question was “Is there a problem in your community that you would like to solve?”

She answered me “Yes, I would like to provide legal status to immigrants”.

Then I asked “What does it mean to “make a difference?”

She answered me “To make a difference means to give people what they need, for example education, shelter and jobs”.

The last question was “Can one person change the world?”

She answered me “No, I believe not”.