Pedagogical Approach
Fig. 1
Scholars are the primary users of our education systems. I believe that programming should be done in support of student life and experience. Curriculum and schools should be designed and integrated in meaningful ways that students/users understand how these systems support them and integrate into their lives.
Part of this framework includes capitalizing on social capital and utilizing the strength of families and community organizations already within existence in the community. This helps to integrate not only the scholar into the school but the school into the community creating a more holistic community centered approach to education.
Figure 2 illustrates my personal belief about how curriculum should be developed to prioritize the student at a systemic level in the school.
Figure 1 illustrates my model for student centered design with creative inquiry being the river that flows from our collective communities to support and nourish the student to become a successful contributing member of our society.
Fig. 2
Social Capital and Creative Inquiry
Creative Inquiry increases student engagement and critical thinking while also supporting cross-curricular content. Putting student engagement at the center of all things, it matters to build community partnerships with organizations that students can return to and access after they graduate, creating sustainable pathways to their future careers and early community integration.
I was able to bring dual credit and internship opportunities to schools through local arts and industry organization partnerships expanding student success into career and college transitions while pushing them to feel a sense of belonging not just at school but in their communities.
Read my op-ed publication here about the value of arts integration in increasing students critical thinking and classroom engagement outside of the arts.
Increased Student Buy-in
I was able to procure grant funding to help increase school enrollment through the development of a targeted advertisement campaign designed entirely by students. Students were interviewed and met outside of regular school programming to complete their design projects. Students were paid for their creative labor thus elevating the arts from a simple course to a potential career. Students realized they were able to help make an impact in their schools and thought deeply about what it means to be a student in their space.
Student work by Robin Russo
Policy Work
I believe in building a sustainable and equitable educational system for all of our students and I have worked hard towards that. I also believe it is important to equip students with the knowledge and power to use their own voice and understand how local government works to empower them to advocate for change in their own classrooms. Advocacy is a continual area of growth and interest for me.
During the 2024-2026 cycles I was a TeachPlusNM policy fellow and part of this work included meeting with legislators and diving deep into policy. I provided written and verbal testimony on legislation as well as worked with my team to help identify issues related to chronic absenteeism in New Mexico.
My team and I successfully surveyed over 500 teachers across New Mexico and published a report with recommendations to help reduce chronic absenteeism from a teacher centered perspective to bring educator voice to the legislative session. We met with the LESC to share our findings and even had a memorial sponsored on the house floor in the 2026 February session to ask the LESC to conduct an interim study related to transportation barriers to attendance. You can read our report here.
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Teacher Leadership
I have helped to support and advocate for teachers through my fellowship opportunities but I have been a member of New Mexico's Teacher Liaison Network since 2024. This is a leadership network that allows me to bridge the information gap between the school community I serve and PED.
I also have presented Professional Learning initiatives around arts integration and cross-curricular collaboration after working to design and implement programming that spanned multiple classrooms with multiple teachers to support student engagement and ultimately led to several students winning awards in AFRL's S.O.S arts challenge. I promoted systemic change for cross-curricular collaboration time to build integrated curriculum. I also presented these ideas at the New Mexico Charter Schools Conference in 2025.
Student photography by Lana Nguyen
In 2022-23 I served on a selected committee of educators to re-develop the programming for the Middle School I was working for under the supervision and support of a hired consultant. I went through robust adult learning modules to grow in my understanding of integrated learning models, metacognitive processes, user centered educational instructional design, innovative school approaches, and ultimately settled with my team on redeveloping the school to be focused in competency based learning. I worked with my team to develop an integrated competency focused model of programming and I presented on a panel at the Aurora Institute in 2023.
This process sparked my interest in integrated alternative modes of curricular development and school program development. I have since incorporated many parts of this education and curricular experience into my approach to education.