Teacher Feature Friday: Savianna Gonzales-Wagner knows that belonging is the foundation of learning

There's a question that sits at the heart of Savianna Gonzales-Wagner's work at DSST: Elevate High School: Do my students know they're wanted here? It sounds simple. It isn't. And for Gonzales-Wagner, an Apprentice Teacher in her first year at Elevate, answering that question - every single day, for every single student - is the whole job.

Gonzales-Wagner joined DSST this school year through the Apprentice Teacher (AT) program, one of DSST's Pathways to Teaching designed to develop educators from within. ATs are embedded in classrooms full-time, working alongside experienced mentor teachers while taking on real instructional responsibility from day one. It's a role that asks you to grow in public, to learn how to teach while actually teaching, to figure out what works in real time, and to build the kind of relationships with students that make learning possible in the first place.

She came to it with clear eyes and a clear purpose. "This work matters to me because I am able to support students in their educational journeys and on their path to college," she said. "It really matters because it is purposeful and allows me to make an impact on students in small ways every day."

Those small ways add up. As an AT, Gonzales-Wagner has more flexibility than a classroom teacher to move through the room, pulling alongside a student who's stuck, working with a small group that needs a different entry point, or simply being the adult who notices when something is off. It's a structural advantage she uses with intention. "As an AT specifically, I have more space in the classroom to support students one-on-one or in smaller groups to make sure they are learning content and are able to engage in lessons," she said.

But the part of the work that seems to animate her most isn't the content, it's the connection. Gonzales-Wagner loves science, and watching students engage with it is one of the genuine joys of her days at Elevate. Yet when she talks about impact, she goes somewhere deeper. "To me, a lot of impact comes from just having students know they are wanted at school and in the community," she said. "Just being a point of support for students when they are having bad days, or finding ways to encourage them to engage in their work more are two ways that I am able to support students every day."

That belief, that a student who feels seen is a student who can learn, is woven into how she shows up. It's the check-in before class, the encouragement during a hard assignment, the steady, daily act of being present for students who need to know someone is paying attention. It's also, not coincidentally, exactly what DSST's mission calls for: eliminating educational inequity by ensuring every student has access to the support they need to succeed.

Gonzales-Wagner is also doing something that takes a particular kind of honesty: she's learning in real time, and she's not pretending otherwise. "I'm looking for ways to keep students engaged and learning what works best for me and my students as a growing educator," she said. That self-awareness, the willingness to stay curious about her own practice, to treat every lesson as data, is one of the hallmarks of the AT program and one of the things that makes DSST's Pathways to Teaching so powerful. It's not about arriving fully formed. It's about growing with purpose.

She recently gave the DSST community a window into what that growth looks like, sharing a day-in-the-life look at the AT experience on Instagram. It's worth watching — not because it's polished, but because it's real. You see someone who chose this work deliberately, who understands why it matters, and who is building something meaningful one class period at a time.

She's only in her first year. And she's already making students feel like they belong.

Want to experience a day in the life as an AT with Savianna? Check out this reel!