Meet our Global Ambassador: Holly Pazos from Texas

This week, meet Holly Pazos, one of our Global Ambassadors from Texas, USA! Holly teaches 6th grade World Cultures, and she and her students have a lot of fun participating in a variety of PenPal projects!

How long have you been using PenPal Schools and what do you love most about it? How has learning with PenPals impacted your students? 
This is my third year to use PenPal Schools. I use PenPal Schools to give students a glimpse into the cultures that we study in class. Students love that they get to talk to other kids their age about topics that they find interesting. I love using PenPal Schools in the classroom to allow students to see that learning about other cultures has a purpose and it is useful in the real world. Students are more invested in the topics we are talking about in my classroom because they know that they will get to talk to their PenPal about it.

What is your favorite PenPal Schools project? 
Our favorite project so far has been the World Explorers project. They really liked sharing the information about their own communities with others. 

What advice do you have for teachers that are new to PenPal Schools? 
My advice would be to let students have freedom. I was nervous students were going to share too much or not talk to their PenPal about the topics. Students have done amazing and stayed focused with their PenPals.

​If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go and why? 
If I could travel anywhere in the world I would go to Africa. I have been to the other continents (not Antarctica of course) but want to check that off my list! ​

Learn more about how PenPal Schools has impacted Holly’s students: 
Austin students write pen pals about election, key issues
A Conversation About Creating A Global Classroom
Students take a virtual field trip to places textbooks can’t

Join our Facebook group to connect with Holly, or get in touch with her directly on Twitter at @MrsPazos or via email at holly_pazos@roundrockisd.org

​Are you an innovative global educator? Learn more about our Global Ambassador program here and apply today!