Nucleus study by shirls

University of Puerto Rico in Humacao Department of English Rufino Vigo Elementary School

Nucleus Study Shirlenne Peralta 842-07-6270 Dr. Nilsa Lugo Practice Teaching Aug. 27, 14

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NUCLEUS STUDY I.

Background Information Drive up to 113 Calle Dufresne in Humacao, and you will arrive to my practice center. My

school is named Rufino Vigo Elementary School and it is located in Humacao, the eastern coast of the island also known as the grey town. I thought this could be due to the humidity and fogginess, but I looked it up and it resulted that it actually comes from a translation of an Indian name origin. Rufino Vigo was founded in 1973. It is one of the biggest elementary schools in Humacao. The educational region of the school is Humacao. The school’s regional supervisor is named Ivette Trujillo Muñiz. The school, which is in the district of Humacao, counts with a Superintendent named Julio Diaz. Enter the gates of the bright light yellow school, and you will be able to see something written in the middle of the two-level school. It has to do with the five pillars, which are Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Justice, Citizenship, and Caring. Enter the first door to your right, and you are in the school’s office. When you enter the office, right in front there is a desk where they keep the faculty attendance sheet and the parent sign in sheet. If you pass by the office after 8:05 a.m. you will get to see a couple of parents or guardians have to sign in the office time sheet for tardiness. The office is small. To the right, there is an open section where the secretary is, her name is? To the left of the office, there is a bathroom for the faculty and the door next to it is the social workers office. Her name is Nilda E. Rivera Garcia. In front of the office, there is a see through glass and a door. That is the principal’s or director’s office. Her name is Rosemary Lopez Plaza. She has been this school’s director for the last five years, but she holds a total of 22 yrs. experience as an educator. Mrs. Lopez was born in New York and studied

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her elementary and her intermediate school years in the U.S. She graduated high school from Ana Roque in 1981, and her age is I quote “18yrs+ experience”. She has a BA in with a Management a minor in ESL Education, an MA inTeaching ESL, Masters in Administration and Supervision. Rosemary Lopez taught class in all levels including universities such as John Dewey, Mizpa and Bayamon. What is interesting is that before teaching, the now school’s director was an accountant. I asked her why she made such a drastic change from numbers to people, and her answer was, “All you deal with is numbers, I needed to socialize; I needed to make a difference”. The director said that she realized she had a gift for teaching English and that she felt that by teaching it, she could be useful. One of her goals is making Puerto Rico better, having students get good results and she considers teachers to be important. She also mentioned in the interview with me that teaching is for people who want to commit themselves to make a better society. Another interesting fact about Rufino Vigo’s School Director is that she loves journalism. I asked her if she ever thought about publishing and she said she hasn’t but that she should. She mentioned a possibility of books that would tell the experiences she has had and hardships as an educator, which is 100% relatable. Rosemary says she loves her actual job as a school director, and even though it’s a challenge, it keeps her busy. Now that you’ve indirectly met Mrs. Rosemary Lopez, I would like to introduce the person that will be monitoring and mentoring my growth as an English teacher, my Cooperating teacher, Ms. Gina Hernandez. This is Mrs. Hernandez first year as a cooperating teacher. She is 29 years old and she is part of the UPR-H pride. She graduated from the University of Puerto Rico in Humacao in 2007 from the English program, Elementary level and has a minor in secondary level. She continued education in the Spanish area, but has always given English classes. Her total years of experience as an educator in the system mount to a total of 7 yrs. She worked for a

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year (2007-08) in Anton Ruiz School, from 2008-2009 she worked in Elementary Urban School in Maunabo and from 2009 till now, she has worked in Rufino Vigo Elementary school. We asked Gina how she learned English and she said she was raised in the U.S. from Kindergarten until third grade in Dover New Jersey. She is currently pursuing a Masters in ESL in the University of Turabo. I observe Gina everyday interacting with her class and establishing classroom management. She may not have 30 years of experience as other teachers in that school, but she is an excellent teacher and knows how to give a happy medium between a lovable and firm teacher, which is hard. Starting teachers may be a little tender and soft, but Gina always encourages us to stand strong from day one. My group is third grade (3-1). There have been many changes in both third grades since I got to the school. First they took a couple of students from 3-2 and put them in my group because there were too many students from the special education program. That left my group with a total of 25 students. Afterwards, they removed four students and placed them in 3-2. So up till now, my group has a total of 21 students, 14 are females and seven are girls.

II.

A. Content The Information contained in this document is the narrative of all the information of the Rufino Vigo Elementary School, its staff, personnel, students, organization, facilities and programs that it has to offer. The information was gathered mainly through observations and interviews. Some were more formal interviews where I would make numerous questions and write them down and have them sign an official document and others were informal, where I would just greet them, introduce myself and casually ask one or two questions. The content serves to describe the school in depth and to be able to discover all it strengths and weaknesses.

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The purpose lies in the fact that by knowing what the school has to offer, as a practice teacher, I will know what resources I can count with. Other benefits of knowing everything about the school is that I can get to know my surroundings and see the needs of the school.

II.

B. Areas of Observation

3-1 Schedule Time

Period

8am-9:30am

Spanish

9:30-10:20am

Social Studies

10:20am-11:00am

English

11:00am-12:00pm

Lunch

12:00pm-1:00pm

Physical Education

1:00-2:00pm

Science

2:00pm-3:00pm

Math

Curricular programs in the school contain the following classes: Math, Science, Spanish, English, Social Studies, Physical Education, adapted physical education, music, and corporal movements. My group has two periods of Spanish and so do the grades from first up to third grade. Afterwards, my group goes to their social studies class for 50 minutes. Then my third graders are in their English class with me. After my class, they go to lunch for an hour. After lunch, they have physical education for an hour. Then they have science also for a period of an hour. Their last class is math.

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Extracurricular programs within the school cover a cadet team that meets on Saturdays from 8am- 2pm. and is for children from the age of 11-18 years old, a recycling team program for Kindergarteners that is currently on hold, and a supplementary service “Escuela Abierta” after 3pm. There is one intramural program that is exclusively for special education students.

Facilities Facilities

Description

Quantity

Classrooms

First Floor

Classrooms

Second Floor

Special Education

Classrooms

ALECKS PROJECT

Mrs. Placeres/Math classroom, and Ms. Hernandez/English classroom

Both Levels; 6 on the 1st floor; 6 on the 2nd floor.

(Technology classrooms) Restrooms Lunchroom

Library

Water Fountain

Handicap Facilities

School Ramp

Handicap Parking School Parking

1 3

In front of the School

1 section

Facilities include a total of 17 classrooms on the first floor and 9 classrooms on the second floor. Three classrooms are autism classrooms and they are divided by similar age groups. One is a pre-scholar autism classroom for students from the ages of 5-7.The school has one main office divided into three offices. One is the director’s office, the other one is the social workers office and the last one is the secretary’s office. There is a special education classroom

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that is called RRM which stands for mental retardation. Recreational areas are made up by two playgrounds; one of them is the main one and is in the middle of the school. It has twenty one colorful stools, five trees and a stage with a roof in the middle. The school also has a basketball court at the back and a gazebo. The lunchroom has 15 long tables and 74 chairs. The school has 6 student bathrooms and one for the faculty, as mentioned before, which is located in the office. The administration is made up by the following persons: The director Rosemary Lopez, the receptionist Carmern Fontanez, the social worker is Nilda Rivera. The staff includes five lunchroom employees and the person in charge of them is named Maria del Carmen Rivera. She is new and started working in August, 2014. There are three custodians that keep the school neat and clean, and also look after the students at playtime. The one in in charge is named Domingo. At the moment there is no security guard, just volunteer parents. There is also a vacant place in the library. In the area of educational professionals, the school counts with Dr. Iris Ortiz. She is a clinical psychologist that comes to the school every Thursday in the morning to attend to a couple of students. There is also an occupational therapist, physical therapist and psychological therapist that come to give their services to the students in need. The reason they come to the school is because many times, parents do not have the means to take their children to receive these services. Therefore the school provides this service for them to make sure students receive the proper care they need.

Teachers by Grades Grade

Teacher(s)

Special Education

Gloria Viera Jose Diaz

Peralta 8 Victor Rodriguez Carmen Cordero (Resource Room) Eiveliz Colon(Resource Room) Salma Pou (full time classroom) Kindergarten

Evelyn Benitez

First grade

Diana Dros Rosa Oquendo

Second Grade

Lisette Molina Mayra Pacheco

Third Grade

Soraida Serrano Deanisse Morales

Fourth Grade

Maria Rodriguez Walesca Placer

Fifth Grade

Maria Matos

Sixth Grade

Gina Hernandez

Physical Education

Rodolfo Pagan Olga Cruz

Adapted Physical Education

Victor Rodriguez

Corporal Movement

Maritza Beltran

Music

Cesar de Jesus

As seen in the table above, in the school there are 28 teachers and 10 assistants. Kindergarten is managed by Evelyn Benitez. She has her daughter assisting her in the classroom, who is also a graduate from the UPRH, only this time, she is from the K-3 program. The students start class at 8am and leave school at 3pm, except for Kindergartners, because they have two sets of schedules. The first group enters at 8am and the second group comes in at 12 pm. There are

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two first grades and the teachers are Diana Droz and Rosa Oquendo. There are also two second grades; the teachers are Lissette Molina and Mayra Pacheco. There are two third grades, one homeroom teacher is Zoraida Serrano and the other one is Mayra Pacheco. Fourth grade is the last with two groups and the teachers are Maria Rodriguez and Walesca Placer. Maria Matos is the fifth grade homeroom teacher and for sixth grade is my cooperator teacher, Gina Hernandez. STC autism classroom is attended by Jose Diaz, STC pre-scholar autism is by Gloria Viera, and Physical education teachers are Rodolfo Pagan and Olga Cruz. Salma Pou is the full time special education teacher. Adapted physical education is given by Victor Rodriguez and Corporal movement is given by Maritza Beltran. The music teacher is Cesar de Jesus.

School Enrollment Grade Special Education: Pre-scholar Autism, normal autism and Mental retardation

Females 6

Males 21

Total 27

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Kindergarten (a.m. & p.m.)

First grade

Second Grade

Third Grade

Fourth Grade

Fifth Grade

Sixth Grade

Total

141

156

297

The school has an approximated enrollment of 297, because the lists in the table are not the official amount. The attendance has lowered because the total of students enrolled was 320. The school has lowered the quantity of enrollment throughout the years. There was a time when the school had over 1,000 students enrolled.

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III.

Reaction The school has a couple of strengths; within the main playground is one of them. Even

though it is not the stereotype playground with swings and monkey bars, which is a bad idea because students would be fighting all day to take turns, the main playground is colorful and I think it is an excellent idea that they have a built it on a cement stage. That means that for every activity they decide to make in the school, they don’t have to worry about renting a stage and the cost. Other strengths I saw within the schools were the service of the therapists that come to the school. So many parents as I said before don’t have the mean to afford these services or don’t have transportation to take their students. Other parents as we all know there is always one or two of them, don’t seek or have the knowledge of all the help they could get for their child or the help they need. Bringing these services to the schools, and offering it in this environment, eliminates all the excuses, setbacks, and lack of resources that one may have and it benefits the student 100% which is what a school is for. One of the weaknesses I got to experience by observing is the library. The space is perfect to have an incredible space for the students learning experiences, but the library is not prepared for the students. It is sort of being used as a storage place for misplaced cabinets, and the books are not organized. It does not look like a library, it needs a lot of work, plus there is no librarian assigned or hired for it anyway. Another weakness I got to see is the basketball court. It looked like it was abandoned from afar because it is not fully equipped and the paint is faded. It is also missing bleachers for the students to sit and enjoy.

IV.

Conclusion

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Arriving to Rufino Vigo Elementary School is a life changing experience. Before August 12, 2014, I had not the slightest idea of where was Rufino Vigo. I had never even heard of it. I had never been to that area because I’m from Fajardo and basically all I know about the Town of Humacao is where the mall is, the University and everything real close to it. I couldn’t report the first day to my practice center because I had a back spasm, but by the next day even though I was still real sore, I went to meet my students. They didn’t come that day because their homeroom teacher was sick. But as soon as I met them, I’m not going to lie, I was a little scared. These are the students that are going to mark my life forever and hopefully I will also mark theirs with a positive impact. Not only are the students going to mark my life but also the staff, the faculty, the parents, the teachers, the administration, everyone. I’m going to have great experiences and others not so great, but they are all going to be a part of my growth as a teacher. It all comes with the package as they say, and this is what makes practice teaching the real deal. There is no foretelling of what will happen. I may plan my lessons and expect to follow them thoroughly but that’s not the case. I will have inconveniences and I will have to learn how to get through them, improvise and let it go (no allusions to the movie Frozen). I hope I don’t have any problems with my students’ parents, but in my lifetime as a teacher the day will come. Teachers have to deal with a lot of things and being here at the Rufino Vigo makes this experience vivid. One thing I have noticed in this school is that it has materials for the teachers and for the students as well. That is why it is imperative that I know everything that the school offers so I can know what I can offer my students. For example, there is a storage that I visited the other day to get some tracing paper. I looked around with my practice teaching partner and there were so many things in there. In that room there was tape, papers, pencils, pens, and ink. It was like a

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mini Office Max. There were around 10 or more rolls of tracing paper, in so many colors, all at the disposition of the teacher, all you have to do is ask. We wouldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve never known that existed if we didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t go out, looked and asked. A cordial relationship is also very important to have with everyone at the school, because to earn respect you have to give it. Every morning I arrive at the school I smile and say good morning, whether it is towards the Director or a parent with flip-flops sitting on the sidewalk. Every person in this school is part of my success as a practice student. I will need the help of the teachers because they are wise in years and experience. By building a relationship with them, I can achieve trust and ask for advice, because at the end Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m a practice teacher but also a student. I am learning this time not from a classroom, I am learning from the staff, the administration, the counselor, the parents and the students. I see this experience as a great opportunity to put into practice what I know, and to develop my weaknesses into strengths as a teacher.

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APPENDIX

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Emergency Plan

In honor of Rufino Vigo

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Entrance

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Lunch Room

Playground