Silvia Miranda relies heavily on data to drive her instruction for the fourth-graders at Mesa Elementary School in Clovis, New Mexico. When the fourth-grade team realized that students were struggling more with writing than with reading or math, Miranda, as grade-level leader, jumped in to develop a plan. She pulled writing prompts from PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) assessments, developed a rubric for students to use as a guide, and set up a collaborative process where multiple teachers scored each essay to spot patterns and trends. It turned out that the students excelled in technical writing but often failed to address the prompts, so Miranda designed lessons to show students that great writing won’t earn a high score if it doesn’t answer the questions being asked. Writing has improved across the fourth grade at Mesa, and Miranda’s students consistently outperform school, district and state averages on assessments in reading, writing and math.
Miranda spends countless hours learning about her craft, including webinars, cohort meetings, state conferences and extensive reading and research, always sharing relevant findings with her colleagues in Clovis Municipal Schools (CMS). Welcoming educational leadership positions, Miranda will serve as a CMS Teacher Leader for 2018-19, providing professional development, leading data review and analysis, observing and mentoring peers. Miranda has been a state ambassador to the New Mexico Teacher Leader Network for two years and now serves on the Secretary’s Teacher Advisory (STA). Known as a quiet yet powerful educator with an infectious energy, Miranda excels at inspiring colleagues to increase their level of involvement and influence at the state level.
Parents often request Miranda for their children, knowing that she holds herself and her students to the highest standards and insists that every student succeed. She incorporates Whole Brain strategies and a growth mindset philosophy in her classroom and encourages students to pursue their interests. An experienced bilingual educator, Miranda prepares students for the district’s Spanish spelling bee. She launched a Bananagrams tournament during lunch and organized the Mesa Science Fair for fourth- and fifth-graders, bringing in more than 20 judges from nearby Cannon Air Force Base and Clovis Community College. Miranda helped write Mesa’s National Blue Ribbon Award application and traveled to Washington with her principal to receive the school’s award.
Miranda received a bachelor’s in education from Eastern New Mexico University in 2004 and a master’s from Wayland Baptist University in 2013.
2013 M.S., Wayland Baptist University
2004 B.S., Eastern New Mexico Uninversity
