Lifetime Learner: Sylvia Rendon

By COREY RYAN
Special to the Star

Standing in front of a crowd of wide-eyed children, Sylvia Rendon feels right at home. So when the 25-year educator gets the opportunity to step back into the teacher’s role at Bowie Elementary School, she thrives.
As the campus instructional facilitator, Rendon meets once a week with each grade level’s teachers, she said. She also will create labs to supplement class instruction if a specific class needs a boost. For example, she recently started working once a week with fifth grade students in a science lab.
“This week, we had stations set up around the room for students to do experiments about the different states of matter — solids, liquids and gases,” Rendon said. “They rotated around during the 45-minute time black, stopping to answer some sample questions.
“The labs are just one example of how this campus goes above and beyond,” she said.
When Harlingen Consolidated Independent School District commenced hiring instructional facilitators at elementary school campuses two years ago, as a result of a federal stimulus grant, Rendon jumped at the opportunity. It was her chance to get back into a teaching role after serving as the campus’s Help One Student to Succeed program coordinator.
“This campus is all about teamwork,” said Rendon of the campus, which was recently placed on the Texas Business & Education Coalition’s honor roll for the fourth consecutive year. “The collaboration and the focus of all our staff is what makes working at Bowie so enjoyable.”
Prior to serving as the HOSTS coordinator, Rendon worked as physical education class, sixth grade and fourth grade teacher, all at Bowie Elementary.
“I’m always looking for a new challenge,” Rendon said. “I think of myself as a lifetime learner.”
Prior to 2009, instructional facilitator had been a position reserved for the secondary campuses in Harlingen. But HCISD created the position to help vertically align curriculum and improve the quality of teaching at its elementary campuses.
“I really enjoy the position because it was a new challenge for me,” Rendon said. “I get to work with all students in all grade levels in all subjects.”
In her personal life, Rendon is going above and beyond as she works towards her master’s degree at the University of Texas at Brownsville while working full time. She said it’s tough to balance family, work and school, but she cannot imagine a scenario when she is not busy.
“When we were on break, UTB was off as well,” Rendon said. “So I didn’t have any campus to go to. I didn’t know what to do with myself.”