Hola, my name is Alan Edmonson and I am a teacher. I began my career as a bilingual junior high school social studies teacher and have continued to self-identify myself as a classroom teacher ever since. My twenty years teaching at the New Mexico Military Institute gave me a wonderful opportunity to develop and refine my teaching skills in an environment that promoted successful teaching and learning. I made a life-changing decision when I left that position several years ago. Along the way I worked at a Catholic school where I made the conscious decision to model my teaching on the ideas of Saint Francis. One of the positions I held before beginning my college career was that of instructor/lead teacher at an at-risk high school in Socorro, New Mexico. It was there that I discovered how much of a difference I could make in peoples’ lives. In two years at the College of Santa Fe I discovered Paulo Freire and found a name for the type of teaching I had performed for many years, the critical pedagogy, which is to say that I help students achieve the critical consciousness necessary to challenge oppressive ideologies and practices. My belief is that it is profoundly necessary in the twenty-first century for teachers to enter the profession to “make a difference” and to empower their students in the same way I hope I empower mine.
I can be reached at aedmonson@cnm.edu
