UNIVERSITY OF PUERTO RICO AT HUMACAO ENGLISH DEPARTMENT Humacao, P.R. ______________________________________________________________________ EDPE-4006
Nucleus Study Vocational High School Manual Mediavilla Negron
Melanie Quintana Torres EDPE-4006 Dr. Maritza Reyes January 22, 2015
Introduction: As a requirement for my practice teaching course, it is require to do a Nucleus Study based on my practice teaching center. Once you start being a part of a school system it is important to know the surroundings in which your work will be done and develop. My purpose for recollecting information about the Escuela Superior Tecnologica Manuel Mediavilla Negron in Humacao is mainly to get to know the resources that I have and how they will help me in my practice teaching. Knowing my surroundings can be very beneficial and can help me achieve positive school development and can also help me guide my students in their academic path. Knowing were I’m situated will help me making the correct decision if an accident happens. A nucleus study compiles information about curriculum programs, sport programs special workshops classes, personnel, facilities, supervision and student information. By doing this Nucleus Study I, as a practice teacher, can feel more prepared if anything happens.
Background Information: The Escuela Superior Tecnologica Manuel Mediavilla Negron in Humacao is an academic institution that serves the urban population of the east area of Puerto Rico. It prepares Hich school students in the academic area but also in technical and high skills employments. The Educational Region in the Escuela Superior Tecnologica Manuel Mediavilla Negron is Humacao. The Manuel Mediavilla has Ivette Trujillo as a Regional Supervisor. The school district is Las Piedras. The superintendent of the school is Julio Diaz also the school director is Juan Caballero. The full name of the school is the Escuela Superior Tecnologica Manuel
Mediavilla Negron, the school level is High School (10th grade, 11th grade and 12th grade). My cooperating teacher name is Carmen Ortiz. And my group is 10-4. Content: . This nucleus study is a guide of information about curriculum programs, sport programs, special workshops classes, personnel, facilities, supervision and student information. All the information about the Vocational High School Manuel Mediavilla will be found in this paper. The purpose of this nucleus study is to know profoundly the school where I’m doing my practice teaching. In this study were going to see an inside view of the school, like the programs, teachers, facilities, and others. They were many sources of information for this nucleus study. All practice students helped each other out because the school is really big and the director was a little hard to find. Almost all the info was given by the school secretary, my cooperating teacher Carmen Ortiz, my peers cooperating teacher, Priscila Ruiz and another fellow English teacher, Carmen Zayas.
Areas of Observations: School Organization Secretary of Education: Rafael Roman Melendez Regional Superintende Chairperson: nt: Julio Diaz Ivette Trujillo
Teachers
School Director:Juan Caballero Academic School Counselors: Counselors: Justino Migdalia Morales Aponte
Social Worker: Noemi Ramon
Librarian: Sandra Barbosa
Curriculum Programs: Academic Area: In the Academic Area the Vocational High School Manual Mediavilla Negron offers students the opportunity to develop aptitudes, knowledge and abilities that will help in their acquisition of knowledge in the school through their lives. Students will leave the school prepare to continue postsecondary studies, also the students will be able to relate their academic achievements and the labor world. Vocational Area: In the vocational Area the students will acquire the necessary skills for them to be able to enter the labor world without any type of difficulty. The students will be shown to complete their future careers goals and they also will understand the relationship between personal qualities, education, capacitation and the work world.
Workshops:
Total
Architectural Design
1
Auto Body Shop
1
Barber Shop
1
Cabinet Making
1
Car Mechanics
1
Carpentry
1
Child Care
2
Cosmetology
1
Culinary Arts
1
Electronics
1
Medical Office Clerk
1
Nursing
1
Refrigeration
1
Technological Equipment Repair
1
Tool-shop Mechanic
1
Welding
1
Total of Workshops
17
Business Courses:
Total
Accounting Clerk
1
Medical Billing
1
Total of Business Courses Academic Courses:
2 Total:
English 10, 11 and 12 grade
5
History 10, 11 and 12 grade
3
Math 10, 11 and 12 grade
5
Science 10, 11 and 12 grade
4
Spanish 10, 11 and 12 grade
5
Special Education
9
Physical Education
1
Total of Academic Courses
32
Schedules: Since the Manuel Mediavilla is a Vocational School the schedules are different from a regular school. Everything varies in a student’s schedule according to his/her workshop. Example of Schedules:
Period 7:30-7:40 1
7:40-8:30
2
8:30-9:20
3
9:20-10:10
4
10:10-11:00 11:00-12:00
5
12:00-12:50
6
12:50-1:40
7
1:40-2:30
Class Homeroom
Lunch
Example of a Student’s Schedule
Sports Programs: There are only a few sports programs in the school. The school has a basketball court which is use for practice and sports activities related. The sports of the school are composed of a basketball and a volleyball team that represent the school in various tournaments. Unrelated to school affairs, the PE teacher has a selected amount of students that belong to an American Football team that plays in Caguas.
Facilities: The Vocational High School Manual Mediavilla Negron is a big school which is now facing the problem of low enrollments. Due to the low students’ enrollment the majority of the school is not being used. There are a lot of classrooms, rooms and offices that are not open. Also, the lack of a janitor doesn’t help at all to this campus deterioration. In summary the school has 98 facilities. The school counts with its own personal parking area, basketball court, and a spacious outside for extracurricular activities. It also has its own library and lunchroom and for students activities it has a student center which is closed and a theater. For the teachers capacity hours or lunch the school offers them a Faculty lounge privately for their use. The school has 13 bathrooms in total 6 in the lower level and 7 in the upper level. In total the schools has 70 classrooms which are used for the classes and workshops and 1 administrative office.
Facilities:
Total
Facilities:
Total
Administrative Office
1
Lunchroom
1
Available Exist
6
Student Center (closed)
1
Basketball Court
1
Theater
1
Rooms for Courses and Workshops
70
Upper Level Bathrooms
7
Faculty Lounge
1
Warehouse
1
Library
1
Spacious Parking Area
1
Lower Level Bathrooms
6
Total of Facilities
98
4 working water fountains.
School Diagram
The only diagram available of the school is the one illustrated above. The school doesn’t have a blueprint of any kind available on the office. When we met with the secretary and later with the school director, both told us that the architectural design teacher had one, but whenever we tried to meet with him, he was not available.
Personnel Every one of this people does an extraordinary work in the school. In the whole school there’s only one Secretary which attends more the director’s needs than those of the whole school. But, because the school is vocational those student studying administrative office wishing to complete their require hours can do so. The security guards only is there to take care and watch the outside facilities if something occurs inside the school like a fight for example the security guard is supposed to call the police. Non-Educational Personnel Administrative Secretary
Yadexie Ortíz
Security Guard
Miguel Angel Negrón
Professional Food Service Supervisor
Rosa Rivera
Professional Food Service Workers
Noemí Castro Ana E. García Carmen Medina Damaris Mercado Luz S. Ramos
Academic Teachers: Room Number
Teacher Name
Subject
Grade
37
Algarin Hector
History of Puerto
10
Rico 43
Astacio Castillo Iris
Special Education
10,11,12
25
Caraballo Serrano Nely
Cooperativism
10
25
Caraballo Serrano Nely
History
10
25
Caraballo Serrano Nely
Worker Employer
10
Relations 63
Crescioni Cintorn Ivonne
Advance Math
11
64
Colon Morales Geidy
English
10
69
Donato Beltran Luis
English
10
31
Estrella Alejandro Janet
Math
12
59
Gonzalez Nilsa
Environmental
12
Science 59
Hernandez Alba
Math in action
10,12
38
Hernandez Falcon
Spanish
10,11
Lizmassiel 79
Laya Carmen
English
11,12
34
Malave Toro Nancy
Spanish
10,11,12
70
Molina Ortiz Maria de L
Biology
10
66
Ortiz Carmen
English
10
62
Ortiz Rosa
Math
10
39
Ortiz Principe Iannelis
Special Education
10
68
Rivera Johana
Special Education
10,12
40
Rivera Nely
History of Puerto
10,11
Rico 32
Resto Caceres Wanda
Special Education
10,11,12
28
Rodriguez Alexis
Spanish
11
3
Rodriguez Marrero Jose
Physical Education
34
Ruiz Davila Luz
English
11
73
Silva Marti Sorgalin
Chemistry
11
30
Telmont Zoe
Spanish
11,12
42
Torres Yalet
Special Education
10,11,12
33
Torres Negron Norivel
Special Education
10,11,12
61
Vazquez Evelyn
Special Education
10,12
36
Vazquez Matos Dolkys
Spanish
11
Vocational Teachers Classroom
Teacher
Course
Grade
4*
Acevedo, Leslie
Child Care
10,11,12
50
Acosta Ruiz, Gladys
Medical Billing
10,11,12
23
Berrios, Ivelisse
Business: Diverse Courses
10,11,12
20
Bilbraut Ramos, Maria
Technological Information
10,11,12
56
Castro Gonzalez, Nilsa
Business: Diverse Courses
10,11,12
9
Claudio, Federico
Auto Mechanics
10,11,12
24
De Jesus, Angel
Business: Diverse Courses
10,11,12
47
De Leon, Emmanuel
Barber
10,11,12
2
Flecha, Maika
Nursing
10,11,12
13
Garc铆a, Hector
Carpentry
10,11,12
4*
Gonzalez, Mariely
Child Care
10,11,12
29
Lebr贸n Rivera, Noem铆
Business: Diverse Courses
10,11,12
45
L贸pez, Erick
Architectural Design
10,11,12
12
Malonado Castrello, Ezequiel
Welding
10,11,12
8
Martinez, Eliud
Tool-Shop Mechanics
10,11,12
17
Mercado Castro, Vilma
Cosmetology
10,11,12
51
Morales Oquendo, Ana
Medical Office Clerk
10,11,12
55
Ojeda Torres, Mariely
Business: Keyboard
10,11,12
42
Perez, Javier
Electronics
10,11,12
6
Rodriguez, Eddie
Electronics
10,11,12
7
Santiago, Luis
Refrigeration
10,11,12
18
Santiago Estrada, Myriam
Culinary Arts
10,11,12
*teachers share a classroom
Supervision: *see charts above
Students: The Vocational High School Manuel Mediavilla Negr贸n has a total of six hundred and seventeen (617) students enrolled as of today. In the tenth grade, there are two hundred eleven (211) students enrolled. Of those two hundred eleven (211) students, one hundred and fourteen (114) students are males and the remaining ninety-seven students are females. In the eleventh grade, there are one hundred and seventy (170) students enrolled. Of those one hundred and seventy students, ninety-six students (96) are males and seventy-four are females. On the twelfth grade, there are one hundred and ninety-six (196) students enrolled. Of those one hundred and ninety-six students (196) enrolled, eightyeight (88) are males and one hundred and eight (108) are females. Lastly, the school has forty (40) Special Ed. students enrolled in content classroom, which are divided into twenty-seven (27) males and thirteen (13) females. Illustrated in the chart bellow* Grade
Male Students
Female Students
Total
10
114
97
211
11
96
74
170
12
88
108
196
Special Ed.
27
13
40 Total: 617
Reaction: Based on my observations this past week I have noticed that in the Vocational High School Manuel Mediavilla all teachers and personnel are very welcoming. Teachers are very compromised with their student’s academic development. Also, I have notice that the teachers (at least the English teachers) are committed in helping each other. In a school that’s very important, in this school is its forte. Teachers act as a family in the school and they try to integrate their lessons to help the students in their classes. As for areas of improvement I believe that the most urgent ones are sanitation and security. There’s no janitor in the school so all the bathrooms are chaos and the classrooms the teachers are the ones that cleans them. If the teachers and personnel don’t take care of their own bathrooms and classrooms the school would be in total deterioration. In terms of security there’s only one security guard and is a senior citizen which cannot take care of a school so big. The second day of my practice teaching a fight took place and the poor security guard couldn’t handle it alone. I believe that with better sanitation and security the school ambience could be perfect and the students and community would feel safer and at home. Also, the office is a total chaos because there’s need of personnel, there’s only one secretary for the whole school and she’s drained with the director’s work.
Conclusion: The Experience of my practice teaching will, in a sense, help me develop all the skills I still need to learn (and in the university one does not practice) in the process of becoming an excellent teacher. Observing closely how the teachers from the Vocational High School Manual Mediavilla Negron work and interact will guide me through the process of adapting and acquiring good characteristics of a good pro student teacher. Being a pro student teacher has always been important to me. I mention this because I love my cooperating teacher I wouldn’t have pick someone better. She is the perfect example of the kind of teacher I want to be in the near future. Mrs. Ortiz is the kind of teacher student’s love and joke but when she means business she really means it. Being in the Vocational High School Manual Mediavilla Negron has taught me a lot of thing in only a week. I’m finally seeing in a front row sit the reality of the Department of Education of Puerto Rico. It is not easy the work of a teacher. One has to really love it to make it through. When you work in a school you are not only working with the students. You are working with the other teachers and personnel, parents, children, and a vast majority of people that will challenge you in a positive or negative way. It is important to maintain calm and think of why is it that you wanted to become a teacher. There are so many situations in a school and in the government that your vocation may tremble. But, it is important to remember why you join the system; the love for your vocation. Being in this school and working directly with its personnel and having the opportunity to interact with students has helped me see and reaffirm why I wanted to be a teacher in the first place. I feel very happy with the profession I chose. Even though in my first week of observation
there have been 3 fights and a sex tape involved with students from my group. And working with teenage boys and girls is not an easy task and even more with this generation that wants everything easy. I hope that at the end of this semester my perspective won’t change. I now know the reality of this profession and I know that this profession drains you mentally but I won’t let that change my feelings about my profession. I really hope that at the end of this semester my experience will be more positive than negative. I’m planning to achieve the necessary tools I need to be the best English teacher I can be and give my future students the best learning experience they can get.