SAN ANTONIO – Modesta Contreras admits her job is tough.
As if teaching these days isn't hard enough, she's a redirection teacher at Salado Intermediate School.
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Her students are the ones who tend to act out. Contreras said breaking through to kids who come from difficult backgrounds is hard to do. The students usually just do enough to get by in the classroom. Often times, the kids don't get the attention they need to succeed academically.
And that's where the fourth-grade reading and writing teacher comes in to make sure that doesn't happen.
After all, Contreras can empathize with her students.
The educator had a tough upbringing and missed a lot of school, so she feels she can better connect with her students.
Contreras said her success starts by gaining her students' trust.
"I work with the students that I work with because I understand what they're going through," she said. "Many of them are from low socio-economic status, so they struggle. They struggle at home. They don't always go home to the needs or the needs we try to provide to our kids."
Contreras said on the first day of school, she gets a new class of students who most likely are uneager and unwilling to learn. But little by little, they become family.
She said what her students put in the classroom is what they get out of it. And before the students know it, they're looking forward to coming to school and learning something new.
"At the end of the year, the parents (say), 'Yes that is how my son was or my daughter was, but I have seen the improvement by the end of the year,'" Contreras said.