Sonya Castro is an elementary art teacher in San Antonio, Texas, teaching K–5 visual art and now in her 11th year in the art room. Before that, she spent 11 years teaching general education — years that still shape how she thinks about instructional design and what actually works in a real classroom.

Sonya believes we all carry a well of creativity inside us, vast enough that no two people ever draw from it the same way. Her work is helping students learn to access it — through imagination, through practice, through vertically aligned skills that challenge them at exactly the level they're developmentally ready for as that creativity grows and deepens over time. When a student learns to reach that well, what they pull out and share with the world is something only they could have made.

Mija (pronounced MEE-ha) is what Sonya's mother and grandmother have always called her. In Mexican-American families, mija — short for mi hija, "my daughter" — carries something deeper than its literal translation: an unconditional love that asks nothing in return, offered simply because you belong. It's the name that returns Sonya to the little girl who first fell in love with images and color, who built her own worlds of beauty and fantasy with nothing but a page and her imagination. That love still lives in the name — and Sonya brings that same girl into every classroom, to share, encourage, and guide students toward believing, without a doubt, that their creative potential has no limit. Mija Teaches Art is her online space to share that learning and experience — the lessons, resources, and reflections gathered along her journey in art education.

She holds a BA in Education and an MA in Instructional Technology, and loves finding thoughtful ways technology can deepen — never replace — the creative process. Outside the classroom, Sonya loves living close to downtown, immersed in a city whose arts and culture run as deep as its history — an influence she carries straight into her teaching. You'll find her walking the Riverwalk, cheering on the Spurs, or tracking down a good chorizo and papa taco with Ani DiFranco playing in the background. She's rarely without a book in hand, and always chasing a little more color, nature, and laughter in everyday life.