The first time one of Maria Pulido’s students spoke to her without prompting, everything else in the room faded.
The student, who is mostly nonverbal and typically only responds with support, spoke independently for the first time.
“Ms. Pulido, my table is number 5.”
It was a simple sentence. Easy to miss, if you did not know what it meant. But Maria did.
“That was huge,” she said. “Those are the things we celebrate. Those are the big wins.
At the start of the year, Maria remembers feeling confident until she looked back. “If you could see my videos from the first performance task… I thought I had everything under control,” she said. “But at the beginning, I didn’t know what I was doing.” That uncertainty did not last. Through the residency, Maria was not just studying teaching. She was living it. “The biggest thing is that you actually get to experience what a teacher is,” she said. “It gives you the theory and the practice.”
Day by day, lesson by lesson, she began to find her footing. “Now I know how to do a lesson plan. Now I know what are the most common accommodations, especially for diverse learners. Now I know how to teach them.”
Long before she stepped into her own classroom, Maria’s path to teaching was already taking shape. Growing up, she watched her brother, who has autism, navigate a system that did not always meet his needs. Those experiences stayed with her, and now, as a special education teacher, they guide her every day. “I don’t think of my students as being below grade level,” she said. “I see them as students who learn in a different way.”That belief shapes everything about how she teaches. “I have to adapt to how they learn,” she said. “That’s on me, not on them.”
In Maria’s classroom, progress does not always look the way people expect. It is not always loud. It is not always immediate. Sometimes, it is one sentence. “We celebrate the little things,” Maria said. “Because those are actually the big things.” Moments like a student speaking independently for the first time. Moments that remind her why she is here.
There was a point this year when Maria realized something had shifted. Math had been an area where she once felt unsure, but after working through that challenge, she experienced a breakthrough. “There was a day where my students… all of them got the concept and the lesson,” she said. “And I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I did this.’” It was not just about the lesson. It was about confidence. Growth. Ownership of her role in the classroom. “The fact that students refer to me as ‘teacher’, I’m like, yeah, I’m a teacher.”
As Maria prepares to step into her own classroom next year, she is already taking that next step. At AUSL’s recent Chicago Teacher Residency Job Fair, she connected with school leaders from across the city, exploring where she will begin her career as a full-time teacher this fall. Moments like this bring everything full circle. From learning how to teach to stepping confidently into her own classroom, Maria is not just preparing for the future. She is actively building it.
Maria’s journey is a reminder that great teaching is not just learned. It is lived. Through the AUSL Teacher Residency, aspiring educators gain hands-on classroom experience, dedicated mentorship, and the skills needed to lead with confidence from day one. Educators like Maria are stepping into classrooms ready to make a difference for students who need it most.
Learn more about the AUSL Teacher Residency and start your journey today.
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