Darlene Riley Triggs, M. Ed.
Darlene Riley Triggs, M.Ed., is an experienced English 3 and ESL educator currently serving with Fort Bend Independent School District, where she also functions as Team Lead for the English 3 instructional team. In addition to her classroom responsibilities, she serves as a point teacher for 11th-grade ESL students, aligning her work with her graduate specialization in literacy and English language acquisition. Her instructional focus centers on writing development, where she helps students strengthen critical thinking, grammar, organization, and analytical expression through structured scaffolding and graphic organizers that support diverse learning needs, including ESL and SPED populations.
Prior to her current role, Triggs spent time in Houston ISD, where she ultimately stepped away following a period of significant organizational and leadership transitions that contributed to increased professional stress and prompted her to reassess her path in education. During that time, she considered leaving the profession altogether. Her transition to Fort Bend ISD proved to be a turning point, offering a supportive, professional environment that values teacher autonomy and instructional expertise. In this setting, she reconnected with her core purpose as an educator—empowering students and helping “enlighten young minds”—and has continued to focus on improving student outcomes, particularly in preparation for the STAAR English assessments, where writing proficiency plays a critical role in graduation readiness.
Triggs’ professional background extends beyond education into journalism and technical writing. She previously worked with Channel 33 in Baton Rouge in broadcast journalism, later transitioning into editorial work with Bastion Technologies in Texas for five years, where she balanced her professional responsibilities with raising her family. Earlier in her career, she also taught chemistry as a long-term substitute in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, reflecting her adaptability across disciplines and circumstances. She holds a Master of Education in Literacy with an ESL emphasis from Concordia University and has pursued doctoral studies in Educational Leadership and Policy at Walden University. With retirement approaching, she is preparing to conclude her career in education and transition toward entrepreneurship, building on decades of experience in writing, instruction, and communication.
• Certified in Middle School and High School English (8-12)
• ESL Studies Certification
• Principal Certification
• Louisiana State University - BA, Broadcast Journalism
• Concordia University - MEd
• Walden University - EdD
• Democratic Party Phone Banking
What do you attribute your success to?
My mother's example, I think. Most of the people, my sister, my brother, my twin, my twin girls, all of them are nurses. My mother was an educator, my mother's sister, my aunt was an educator. They're examples because my mother would rifle through our closets to get things that she thought was too small for us, and toys that we weren't playing with, you know, to bring to her students. And it was always to make their lives better. You know, my mother and father, I remember them during Christmas, my mother would have a layaway of bikes and skates and all kinds of things, and layaway for her students to drop off for Christmas, because she knew that they wouldn't have anything for Christmas. And, you know, so she always did that, and I was like, that's really making a difference. You know, during the summertime, we would have children that would come to stay with us. That was from her classes. You know, she's going through 1st through 3rd grade. And I got to know, and a lot of them have are friends with me right now on Facebook, and saying how Ms. Brisco... They're alive, you know, so, that's the type of person she was, and that's who was my example. And she begged me not to go into education. She was like, stay in journalism, stay in journalism, you know, do something else. You'll grow it, do something else. I was like, no, I think I really want to do this. So when I changed, you know, she never got to hear me teach, she never got to see me teach, but when I started, I took a long-term subbing position in New Orleans right after I quit. I was working for Channel 33 in Baton Rouge. I quit. I couldn't take another story, this fluff story about this cat. I couldn't do it anymore. So I went home to New Orleans, and I took a position as a chemistry teacher. This teacher had gone on maternity leave. And it was at John McDonough High School, right down the street from my apartment, on Esplanade in New Orleans, and Mr. Green was a principal at the time. I had no idea that he and my mom had dated down the line, you know, many years back. I didn't find that out until later. And I had gone into this class, and, you know, he said, he told me, he said, you know, there's been many subs to take this class, and he said a lot of suspensions, and skips and everything, he said, so just do your best. Now, I'm coming from journalism. I only have two, I think I had 3 classes in education that I just took because I needed to be a full-time student when I graduated. I just started reading a textbook, and I, you know, got them to do experiments and stuff, and I was challenging them, you know, who's gonna who can follow these directions? Who can actually do this? And I had nobody to skip. I had he was always peeking through the door, and he was asking me, he was like, how are you keeping them in class? I was like, we're just doing experiments that they were supposed to be doing. You know, he said, well, how did you let them read the book. You know, because I didn't know, I mean, that's what my teachers used to do. We would do the experiments. We would learn something, and we did the experiments, and they didn't skip. You know, and they say, well, I probably did. I was, like, 21. So, I was I enjoyed it. And he popped out at my we get we get evaluated on engagements, student engagement. You know, they watch us, but then they go and talk to the students, like, you know, what are you trying to learn here? What, you know, what's happening here? How do you know that this and they're talking to the students. So it doesn't matter what we have on the board, what we have on our present, you know, our clever board, nothing. It's when they talk to they validate what we're supposed to be doing, what we say we're doing in our lesson plan. So, I have no problem with anybody walking into my room at any time. Because what you see is what I said I was going to be doing. I'm not changing because you're walking That's right. I'm not just walking into my room. I'm not. That was it for me when I, that was a book when I, when I started teaching, I was like, oh, that's what I want to do. Yeah, this is what I want to do. And my mother told me, she said, so you're subbing? Like, you know, I wasn't I wasn't living at home anymore. And I said, yeah, so I'm like, kind of, how did you know? she said, he told me that you're a great teacher, that you're born to do please don't tell her that. I don't want her to teach. I was like, well, that's what I like.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would tell them the truth like my mother told me the truth. If you're entering into the field of education, enter into it because your heart is into it, and that you really want to make a difference in educating young minds. But if you're into it for the money, you will definitely be disappointed. There are intrinsic rewards, not extrinsic. Not at all. So, if you really want to invest in young lives and really want to mold their minds, definitely get into it. But don't get into it for the wrong reasons.