Margaret Rutaquio

Affiliation

Garland Independent School District

Biography

MARGARET GISALA RUTAQUIO migrated to the US in 2007 and taught ESL in Garland ISD. Through a scholarship grant, she completed her M.Ed focusing on Curriculum and Instruction in Bilingual/ESL from Texas A&M Commerce. After 17 years in the classroom, she moved on to a district level and became the Newcomer Facilitator. Her recent work concentrated on programming and support for recently arrived English Learners (Emergent Bilinguals in Texas), creating and implementing a district-wide intake system to support newcomers, SIFE, asylees, and refugees. Her work led her to be invited to different National and Statewide conferences, such as the National SLIFE Conference, Texas Migrant Interstate Program, TexTESOL, Title III, the Seidlitz Conference, and a guest speaker at Dr. Salva’s Boosting Achievement Podcast. She was featured in the book Motivating ELLs by Dr. Escalante, and she was invited as a panelist with other experts of newcomers and English Learners. She continues to pursue her passion for teaching and improving the education system for students, especially newcomers.