It’s the start of a new week of school, and students and teachers make preparations for the day before classes begin. Spanish teacher Augusto Bueno gets ready to welcome his first official class. After years of subbing and being an aide, Bueno now has six class periods a day to teach his own students.
“Before that, [I was] subbing every possible class but mostly Spanish and that’s what started the whole idea of becoming a teacher,” Bueno said. “I would say the impact you have on the kids and students academically and in their personal lives were the two main things that interest me when it comes to teaching.”
Bueno first moved to Lucas five years ago, and shortly after enrolling his daughter, began working in the district. Bueno first worked at the intermediate school, and has found benefits and disadvantages to working at the high school.
“Towards the end of the year [at the intermediate school], you have a bigger sense of reward because you see the product at the end of the year and see that kid really grew up,” Bueno said. “In high school, it’s different because students are a little bit older, so they are already shaped. It is also fun because [with] the communication aspect you can debate more and talk about different topics, so it’s easier to understand each other and defend your point of view which is important.”
Bueno grew up in Brazil, speaking Portuguese, and he learned English and Spanish when he moved to the U.S. He encourages anyone who wants to learn a new language to “go for it.”
“I tell every student and whoever I talk with that’s interested in learning a new language that it’s communication,” Bueno said. “It’s a human need we all need to learn to express ourselves, so we can be ourselves.”
As Bueno has made the transition from being an aide to a full-time teacher, his favorite part of the day has become the morning.
“I do like the beginning of the day because I played soccer growing up and in college, so I enjoy the feeling of when I am nervous because I want to do something well,” Bueno said. “All the expectation for you to do a good job worries me, but I use that in a good way to help me be successful and deliver a good final project when teaching.”
While this is Bueno’s first time having his own class, he was a long term sub for former teacher Amanda Vera’s classes in the past two years.
“He did an excellent job teaching part of my Spanish class freshman year,” junior Hannah Wyrick said. “My learning continued to grow with him as my teacher. Mr. Bueno was very energetic and engaging to students. He always made class entertaining.”
In his class, Bueno wants students to “know how to express themselves in Spanish and even in English as well.”
“The best thing about Mr. Bueno’s class is that he makes sure that everyone feels safe to try and answer a question,” freshman Aeva Haas said. “He also makes sure to go over everything with you to make sure you understand the material.”
