Sept. 9, 2022 - Now that (海角社区CI) Teaching Credential candidate Marina Luque is student teaching at her elementary school alma mater鈥擭orma Harrington Elementary School鈥擫uque鈥檚 former first grade teacher, Patricia Oropeza, has asked Luque to call her 鈥淧at.鈥澛�
鈥淏ut I still call her Miss Oropeza,鈥� Luque said. 鈥淚鈥檓 33, I鈥檓 a mom, but I call her Miss Oropeza. And sometimes I walk through the halls and think 鈥楴o running in the halls!鈥欌��
Ayde Almaraz, 44, is spending her residency in a bilingual classroom at Rio Real Elementary in the Rio School District. Her childhood was difficult, and, having immigrated from Mexico, she knows what it鈥檚 like not to speak English, and to struggle with basic needs. She wants to help other children who may be having the same experience.
鈥淚f a student doesn鈥檛 want to do anything, they probably haven鈥檛 had enough sleep, or they haven鈥檛 eaten,鈥� Almaraz said. 鈥淚 want to be there for them to assist them with their needs.鈥�
Luque and Almaraz are the kind of homegrown teachers the 海角社区CI Teacher Residency Program and area school districts like to cultivate: teachers who have grown up in the area, understand the community and are likely to stay.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 see myself teaching anywhere else but the community where I grew up,鈥� Luque said. 鈥淣ot just because I鈥檓 from this area, but I have a connection with these families and with multi-generational homes. My parents were farmworkers and that鈥檚 still what you see in this area.鈥�
The residency program that is helping to support student teachers like Luque and Almaraz just received a $1.4 million Residency Expansion Grant administered through the Oxnard School District that will provide $360,000 a year for four years, enough to support 15 additional students each year with a $24,000 stipend to help with tuition, fees, books and living costs.
Thirty or more 海角社区CI student teachers are already funded each year by the ongoing Teacher Residency program. The 15 students funded by this grant will be embedded in classrooms in the Oxnard School District, Rio School District or Santa Paula School District, which were all involved in helping procure the grant, along with the Ventura County Office of Education.
鈥淭he teaching credential students are in the classroom from the very beginning to the very end of a school year,鈥� explained Program Chair and Associate Professor of Education Kara Naidoo, Ph.D. 鈥淭hey are treated as a teacher in the district. Part of the residency is they agree to teach in the county afterward. It鈥檚 a win-win for teacher candidates and the districts because with this financial support they are able to concentrate this year on becoming the best teacher possible.鈥�
This grant also enabled the 海角社区CI School of Education to add: a Transitional Kindergarten (TK) credential, a foundation-level Math or Science credential; and a Dual Credential in Special Education plus Multiple Subjects. All 15 students are pursuing one or two of those credentials.
鈥淲e have increased the content method courses which shows them how to tailor the curriculum to all learners, especially individual education plans,鈥� Naidoo said 鈥淭here is almost no classroom in the country that doesn鈥檛 include a child who wouldn鈥檛 benefit from adapting lessons to meet the needs of all learners.鈥�
The concept of Special Education students being separate from other students is outdated, yet still common practice, according to Professor of Education Michelle Dean, Ph.D. and Associate Professor of Education Talya Drescher, Ph.D., who designed the Special Education/Multiple Subject dual credential program.
鈥淭here are a lot of stereotypes about what Special Ed is and is not and there鈥檚 a lot of fear around that,鈥� Drescher said. 鈥淢any don鈥檛 realize that Special Education standards are divided between mild to moderate support needs and moderate to severe support needs. This credential supports kids who benefit from mild to moderate support.鈥�
General education (multiple subject) teachers generally don鈥檛 learn how to educate children with special needs, although 14 % of all students educated in public schools receive special education services and of those, 80% spend more of the school day in general education classes, Dean and Drescher explained.
鈥淎 common misconception is students with disabilities do not have average or above average IQ and cannot succeed,鈥� Dean said. 鈥淭he reality is the majority of students with disabilities have average or above average IQs. This is just a matter of everyone rolling up their sleeves, getting all hands on deck, and learning to adapt instructional activities so all students get access.鈥�
The third credential program, Transitional Kindergarten (TK), was pioneered in California, and is for kids whose birthdates make them too old for preschool, but not quite old enough for kindergarten. The chair of the 海角社区CI Early Childhood Development program, Mari Riojas-Cortez, Ph.D., was very involved with conceptualizing the Transitional Kindergarten program.
Luque is seeking a dual credential in Special Education and Multiple Subject plus a Bilingual authorization. Almaraz is seeking a Multiple Subject credential with Bilingual authorization.
After the residency, the newly minted teachers agree to teach somewhere in Ventura County, which is exactly what both plan to do. Also both mothers, they want to be role models for their children.
Right after Almaraz walked across the stage to accept her degree in Spanish and Liberal Studies from 海角社区CI on May 15, 2010, she went to the hospital and gave birth to her daughter, born on May 16, 2010.
Although the circumstances weren鈥檛 quite as dramatic, Luque said she had an epiphany after giving birth to her own daughter.
鈥淚鈥檓 doing this for her,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 hope she gets to grow up in the same neighborhood I did, right by Harrington School. I feel like I am so close to closing this full circle.鈥�
*Images:
Marina Luque at age 33 as a student teacher at Harrington Elementary
Ayde Almaraz, student teacher at Rio Real Elementary
Marina Luque at age six with parents Raymundo and Maria Madrigal, who is holding Maritza Madrigal.in front of Harrington Elementary