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The Shy Little Kitten
My mother did not finish school and her primary language was Spanish, so she did not read children's books to me. My sister, Nora, who is seven years older, read books to me. I remember her reading my favorite story, The Shy Little Kitten, every night for almost two months. She would also read other books, but she knew I would ask for The Shy Little Kitten. -
Kindergarten
Kindergarten was a challenge simply because I had Hispanic parents, I was put in a bilingual classroom. Yes, I did speak Spanish as I was taught Spanish first but, I was fluent in English because of my older brothers and sisters. I had to patiently wait for the translating process the teacher went though before we could dig in to reading English books. Writing was also the same way. -
Mrs. Johnson
I will never forget Mrs. Johnson. She was my 5th grade teacher and she had no patience for misbehaved students! She was tall and daunting so we certainly did not challenge her. She was very committed to teaching us, and she had very high expectations of us. She was one of a few that held us accountable for our studies. She took the time to ensure we all knew how to properly breakdown sentences by diagramming. -
Middle School
Middle school was, at times, challenging. Many of the teachers felt overwhelmed with our learning environment. The school I attended was rough, like the school I am currently teaching at. I felt that many of the essential learning concepts were missed during this time. No offense to the teachers, but I was not fully prepared to tackle the challenges when I moved to high school. -
High School
Because I felt behind due to my middle school experience, I immediately asked for help in high school. I quickly learned that I needed to be my own advocate if I was to survive high school. Mr. Cortez, the English teacher, was so helpful and always there for us. He was truly committed to our education. He challenged us to read and write one level up from our current level. -
High School - Standardized Assessments
In high school, the The Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS), had to be passed in order to graduate. TAKS has been replaced with State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR). After many of us did not pass the pretest, we realized that we were not receiving what we needed to meet the standards. I am not proud to admit that I did not pass the math and science the first time I took it. Breaking down the word problems were the hardest thing for me. -
Vocational Office Education (VOE)
In high school, I joined VOE. Mrs. White was our teacher and she was a perfectionist. We learned typing, shorthand, office etiquette, 10 key, proofreading marks, and filing. Preparing to work in an office certainly took reading and writing to another level. Learning to use and understand proofreading marks was interesting. I did not realize the importance of proofreading documents. I still struggle with this. -
First Job - Southwest Research Institute (SwRI)
I was fortunate to work for SwRI as a filing clerk in the Personnel department, during my senior year of high school. I was thankful to find a permanent position as a receptionist for the Space Science Department when I graduated. I insecure about going to college that I chose to work full time instead. As I moved up, typing scientific reports and proposals expanded my reading and writing abilities. Scientist enjoyed working with me as I was not afraid of the many technical terms. -
Motherhood
Because my parents could not help me with reading and writing, I was determined to be help my children. I read to them at a very early age and we worked on various activity books to prepare them for school and of course during the school years. As they got older, they did not want my help but I was there if they needed me. It was my two children that encouraged me to continue my education. Their faith in me gave me the confidence I needed. -
University of Phoenix
I decided to take online classes at the University of Phoenix. The first year was tough! I was up all hours of the night as I had a full time job and children to raise. The expectations for quality writing took me to yet another level of what I thought I could not achieve. Having the many years of typing reports and proposals did help prepare me, but this was vastly different. I was now creating these papers, not just typing them. Still, I worked hard to meet expectations. -
Graduate School
I am so excited to be in graduate school! Sounds nerdy, but I am learning so much about curriculum and instruction, which helps me in the classroom. I was not fully prepared to read so many articles for research, but I am learning so much. My writing is still a work in progress but with all the tools available to me, I know I will get better.
