Dedicated, faithful, and loving— Ms. Lopez is one of the hardest working teachers here at Miami High. Apart from being a dance and football mom to her kids and a loving wife, Ms. Lopez is a caring intensive reading teacher who defeats all odds against her students passing their FSA exam and leading them to become better people over all.

Ms. Lopez has been teaching for 12 years, 5 of which she has spent teaching here at Miami High, and 7 years at Maya Angelou Elementary and Comstock Elementary Schools. She is constantly helping her students comprehend and interpret reading and improve their writing. Ms. Lopez truly is a shining star!

Inspiring Students to Do Their Best

A day in Ms. Lopez’s class involves her teaching students who struggle with reading comprehension, and helping them pass their FSA reading exam, which is a graduation requirement in which you need a score of 3 or higher to pass.

“I think the test is difficult,” said Ms. Lopez, “but it addresses the students’ capabilities.” Throughout the year, Ms. Lopez’s students read a plethora of articles, answer many questions that tie in to what they are reading, synthesize what they have read from various sources, and write countless essays.

It is not easy to cover all of the English and Language standards. “Students are taking so many other exams that they end up missing class and missing the lessons on important standards covered on the FSA exam,” she said.

Even with all of the other exams that are graduation requirements that worry students who plan on graduating and attending college, Ms. Lopez keeps her students focused with their eyes on the prize. The determined and unstoppable teacher said, “I plan on teaching the standards that are covered in the FSA so that the students feel familiar and confident when they see them on the test.”

Ms. Lopez, the FSA Wonder Woman

Many students from the class of 2018 who struggle with reading and understanding the text did not pass their FSA exam on their first try. Thanks to Ms. Lopez, however, many of those students passed their exam on their second try and were finally cleared for graduation.

11^th grader Sarah Borroto, who had Ms. Lopez for Intensive Reading in her 9^th and 10^th grade years, said, “[Ms. Lopez] helped us a lot. I mostly remember similes and metaphors since we spent many classes reading and learning about figurative language. I saw a lot of metaphors in the articles on the test. She helped us a lot by grading our Reading Plus work and giving us feedback. MOPPS also helped us a lot and eventually helped me pass my test.”

Along with Sarah, many other juniors that passed their exam were very grateful towards Ms. Lopez. Those students took her lessons to heart.

“You would never be distracted; everyone’s attention was on her. We did a project last year where we had to pick 5 people we’d meet in heaven,  and I will never forget that project because I found out that we’re all connected,” said junior Destiny Dominguez.

A Philosophy Worth Sharing

   Everyone can learn. All they need is to put forth maximum effort and a little help, which is Ms. Lopez’s specialty. For many of the students who took her class, she was always by their side, leading them towards success and impacting their lives one by one. Ms. Lopez is a one of a kind teacher.