Elizabeth Diaz-Duncans

Elizabeth has been teaching English for 14 years now from grades 9-12 and three years in grade 6. She began teaching in FL where she is from and then another five years in Durham, NC (go Hillside Hornets!). Back in FL again, Elizabeth absolutely adores her students and look forward to laughing each and every day! Students keep her coming back despite the struggles stakeholders all face daily in this field. Having her second child 11 years after her first (ages 14 and 3 and 1/2) has redefined who she is as a parent, but also as a teacher. Elizabeth has found herself more patient and maybe nurturing to her students due to having another baby now, but also less tolerant to foolishness due to being a parent to a toddler (and being DRAINED😂). Elizabeth advocates for her students and has loved the transition from traditional teaching to the MCP teaching due to being able to speak to her students more every single day and really getting to work one-on-one or small groups all class long. Elizabeth gets to encourage her students to be more independent, ask their classmates for guidance (makes them more responsible), and force them to take the driver seat in their own learning. It has been an incredible shift in her teaching and makes her really feel like all of her hard work is actually leading to true learning/mastery. The relationships she can see forming in all of her classes is so incredible and Elizabeth is proud to be a teacher again!