Diana Martinez
High School Teacher
Mrs. Martinez is a high school teacher at Arizona Connections Academy. She has been teaching since 2005 and joined Arizona Connections Academy in 2015. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Management and Master of Arts in Marketing from California State University in San Bernardino. After working in the field of business and coaching young children on a swim team for several years, she decided she wanted to work with kids and went back to school and earned her teaching credential. Mrs. Martinez explains what she likes about teaching at Arizona Connections Academy below.
“I love teaching online because it enables me to really get to know my students by interacting with them through live lessons, phone calls, field trips and webmails. Working with each family and personalizing their learning is the best part of my job. When they succeed, I feel that I have succeeded also.
My favorite part of my job is seeing what superpower each of my students has. Each student excels at something. Sometimes their power is obvious and sometimes their power is hidden. Whatever the power is; math calculations, fluency, written expression, art, debate, technology, multitasking, physical education, music and so forth I love to see all the superpowers (skills) they have but mostly I love to see the superpowers that emerge throughout the year that they didn’t even know they had. The waiting, seeing and encouraging them to believe in their own abilities and superpowers is the best part of my job.
There is so much that can be achieved through our online instruction that a brick-and-mortar setting is not able to achieve. We have challenging curricula, clickable links, graphic organizer, varied assessments, portfolio projects that showcase a student’s knowledge and growth, discussion boards that allow student to student interaction, art, PE, and technology classes that allow creativity, elective classes and clubs that students can join. All of this allows them to be creative and allows their abilities to shine through. Not to mention all the technology that the kiddos are learning and using. The PowerPoints, videos, documents, spreadsheets that the students create are so amazing.
"With our strong curriculum, caring teachers and individualized student plans we pride ourselves in bringing out the abilities and superpower of each child. We set goals with students and we work hard so that each student can achieve their goal."
— Ms. Martinez
Arizona Connections Academy is ready to prepare students for the future. Enrolling at Arizona Connections Academy is an important decision for parents and students. What I would tell prospective families is learning happens at Arizona Connections Academy. ”
Outside of teaching, you will find Mrs. Martinez on various soccer fields throughout the valley as both of her younger kids play competitive soccer (and a lot of it). You may also find her building a puzzle (she loves puzzles, the more pieces the better), playing board games, reading historical novels, or watching some shows on Netflix. Her two older kids both have jobs and are enjoying life after high school and college.