Marie Elena Cortes graduated from Houston Baptist University with a B.A. in Bilingual/ESL Education & Interdisciplinary Studies. She has been teaching since spring, 1996. She had an incredible ten years in Alief I.S.D as a Bilingual/ESL teacher, Math Recovery Specialist and Language Arts-Title 1 teacher. She currently works for H.I.S.D. as a Pre-Kinder teacher. She joined H.I.S.D. March of 2007, as a Math & Computer Lab Specialist and then went to teach fifth and six grades. Marie Elena is a person who is constantly learning from books, people, and especially from my students. Children inspire her to learn, think, and be creative. She is dynamic, self motivated and very creative. Her goal is to get students to radiate and shine to be the best they can be. Helping students become successful is her passion! Her hobby is writing children's books and poems. In 2003, she published her first book titled: My Annoying Little Brother.

She enjoys collaborating with non-profit organizations and community leaders where she can share her stories and inspire students to become proud and productive citizens. After school and on weekends, she enjoys sharing writing workshops and presentations with teachers, parents, and children. She gets invited to go to schools, libraries, churches and conferences (in state and out of state). In the summers, she dedicates her time to Kids Write to Know. She founded this club to help students improve their reading and writing skills. She wants kids to learn about their world and create solutions to some of the problems we face every day. Her main focus is to inspire students to become responsible citizens and educated writers! Her dream is to one day become a “World Youth Leader”…and inspire children with her stories.