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Luis particularly enjoys the sense of belonging fostered by the community-based approach of ACTT. Support from cohort members and staff has been empowering, and Luis received lots of positive feedback from school leaders after presenting his poetry lesson on DemoDay, saying, “I felt very proud!” Time management has been his biggest challenge, as he has to push himself to study for MTELS in the evenings after a full day of work and “after the kids are asleep!” Luis says the most important thing he’s learned this year is the value of self-reflection, “having the heart to care, and being true to yourself.” As he looks forward to becoming a teacher with his own elementary classroom, he feels that participating in this program has given him the confidence to truly believe, “I can do this!”
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When he was a young child, Luis’s family immigrated from the Dominican Republic. He attended bilingual classes and faced many challenges as he moved through the Boston Public Schools, including a hearing impairment that wasn’t diagnosed until after he’d graduated with very poor reading skills. Because he was quiet, spending much of each school day “in lala land,” Luis never got the attention he needed and is now determined to give to his students. 
