Hello, I am Alejandra Cheever and I have been part of the SMUHSD community since 2013. However, I have been an educator for 19 years. I currently teach AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) and Spanish for Native Speakers at Aragon High School.  I also serve as co-department head for World Languages at AHS. 

In my 19 years as an educator I have seen it as my mission to empower students by helping them achieve their academic potential and work towards a successful future.  I walk everyday into my classroom hoping that I can be a teacher for my students that I would want for my own children.  I have the same hopes and dreams for my students as I do for my own children.  Some of the ways I demonstrate this is by continuing my education through professional development that promotes equitable practices.  My work as an AVID teacher has been eye opening and has helped me become a better teacher.  The AVID curriculum taught me how to make my classroom environment more equitable and nurturing. Through my experience as an AVID teacher I learned about Zaretta Hammond’s work, Culturally Relevant Teaching & the Brain, which has been instrumental in transforming my instructional practices. 

I previously served as co-content lead for World Languages here at SMUHSD.  My experience as a co-content lead inspired my work with Standards Based Grading in my Spanish classes.  It is exciting to see that many of the grading practices in our Spanish classes are Aragon HS are aligned with the work presented in Grading for Equity by Joe Feldman.  In my experience as WL co-content lead I also learned about Universal Design for Learning guidelines and how powerful they can be to help all students access learning.  I hope to continue to grow in these areas so that I can better serve my students and community. 

I am grateful to be a new member of the Instructional Lead Team this year. I am excited to continue learning and shifting my teaching practice towards being an anti-racist educator.  I look forward to growing and learning about this critical work with our team members and our community.