Avani Morales (@AvaniMorales) | #BowTieTuesday
Introduction: This week’s #BowTieTuesday Educator Spotlight goes to an educator that always knows how to keep things lighthearted and is a queen at building relationships. Having shared way too many laughs together in our doctoral classes together, the Edu-Rock Star that I’ll be recognizing this week is none other than Mrs. Avani Morales (@AvaniMorales), a 4th-grade teacher at Bridgewater-Raritan Public Schools.
Educational Pursuit: Avani has surpassed the one decade mark in the world of education after she had obtained her BS in Childhood Education & Special education from New York University. She then turned towards the banks and earned an Ed.M. in Literacy Education from Rutgers and nowadays you can find her working on her Ed.D. in Education, Culture, and Society from Rutgers as well.
Avani has had one passion in her life – teaching. From a very young age, she enjoyed the idea of helping others. The moment she realized education was truly her calling was when she started student teaching at NYU. She completed four semesters in four very different settings.
She started in a 2nd-grade classroom in the projects of the lower East side and then moved to a 4th-grade classroom in an independent school in Central Park. For her 3rd placement, she was in a 5th/6th-grade inclusion classroom in East Harlem and finally, she found herself in a 3rd-grade classroom in Greenwich Village. These experiences were transformational for her. She witnessed teachers called by their first name, students sitting at tables in groups as opposed to individual desks, collaboration instead of whole class lectures, and true communities that felt like families. These structures went against everything she knew about education growing up – in fact, her prior experiences were completely counter to that. This was what made her fall completely in love with teaching and she could not wait to have her own classroom.
Most Memorable Moment: In 2009, Avani was the recipient of the Paul B. Winkler Endowment, given to one teacher in the state of NJ specifically for emphasizing bias and prejudice reduction in schools. Having made it a priority year after year to open her students’ eyes, minds, and hearts to the world out there made it that much better when she was formally recognized for it.
Personal Learning Interests: Currently, Avani is engrossed in her doctoral research in Education, Culture, and Society. She possesses a burning desire to become an agent of change in education. She finds great satisfaction in what she is able to accomplish in 10 months with her 20 students a year but she’d like to have a much more “profound” impact in the field.
Avani, you continuously have a profound impact each and every day you come to school for your organization. 🙂
The Fun Stuff
Avani’s go-to Karaoke Song: Fresh Prince of Bel-Air by Will Smith
Avani’s Inside Scoop: Avani is the starting center in a co-ed flag football league! She did not grow up playing sports – her idea of athleticism was getting her knees up high enough during marching band (big facts, I did marching band for 10 years and it is NO JOKE!). She’s always had aspirations of being a part of an athletic team her entire life and she made that a reality at the age of 28. Now, she can’t get enough!
Thank you, Avani, for your heartfelt efforts to improve education each and every day you step foot inside a classroom. Your candid manner, ability to put a smile on everyone’s face, and insight you bring to our conversations has had an invaluable and long-lasting impact on my PLN! I truly appreciate all that you do to keep moving education forward.
Thanks for reading and sharing!
Bow-Tie Joe
