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I'm Tim Herrera with the Sacramento County Office of Education with another
Teacher of the Year profile.
We're here with Teresa Rodriguez who was one of two Teachers of the Year from the Elk Grove
Unified School District.
Thanks for being with us. Thank you. Tell us a little about yourself, tell us
where you teach and tell us what you teach.
I'm a middle school teacher at Harriet Eddy Middle School,
I teach
seventh and eighth grade humanities which is a core class of language arts
and history.
I've been teaching for twenty years,
and
I've had the opportunity to teach at three other of our middle schools
within that twenty year span.
My current school, Elizabeth Pinkerton Middle School just recently opened up.
We will be starting in approximately five days our third year.
So,
what is it about the middle school
students that you find most intriguing
as a teacher?
Wow.
One of my stories is that when I
got my first job
in the district, I was not interested whatsoever about being a middle school teacher.
But that's all there was. And so I said to myself I'm going to do my year, and you
know, move on to other things.
And I spent a year in middle school and
absolutely fell in love with those kids
They're full of energy and enthusiasm.
They're finding out who they are in the world, they're, you know, expanding themselves.
And to me, you know, I feel like that's a real chance for you to make a difference with those kids.
You have
a lot of room to shape, you know, which direction they want to go to and
tap into their energy and their excitement and I just love it!
What are some of the challenges dealing with that age group, though?
Well, the challenges are, you know, there's so many different you know,
abilities and ranges, and
they are beginning to feel who they are and, you know, they go through the testing stages
and
just have to kinda keep them under control.
Um-hmm
But they're still young and they still have that need to please.
Still a lot of fun going on.
So you've taught for twenty years and over the span of time what kind of changes have you
seen in education?
Oh jeez.
Well, when I first began teaching, they didn't even have standards. They had a
framework.
And so
we've seen this real shift in education for testing, assessment and
using that assessment to drive instruction.
That's just one.
Another one that's interesting is technology: using technology in the classroom,
and the way that you teach, how students use
technology. That's just, you know, that's just busting at the seams right now, so
that's that's exciting!
It's also expensive, so,
you know, we're trying to keep up. It's very hard to keep up with technology because
they're always coming up with something better and faster and different,
but teaching with technology, using technology, is one of the changes.
Have you found it difficult to keep up with those changes?
Not just the money part, but learning all these new things all the time?
Well, our district's wonderful with providing lots of support and lots of training
and also I just have a desire. I like that sort of thing and and the kids are very
technology savvy, so I try to keep up with, you know, what's going on with that.
A little bit. A little bit challenging, though.
The kids end up teaching you how to use things?
Yes, they do! And
something doesn't go right, you know, with my ulno or the projector, or this won't start,
they're right on it, or something won't download.
Or they're trying to retrieve their information from their server spaces and do presentations and
things aren't going well, they're right on top of it.
There're a lot of fourteen-year-old tech. support specialists in the classroom now. Exactly!
So you deal with a wide range of types of students and some more motivated
than others, obviously. What are some of the special things you do to motivate those students
that might be harder to reach?
Well, that's,
I think, the number one quality in teaching is making sure that your content is
relevant.
And so when I walk into the classroom
and I teach a lesson, with every lesson I'm always thinking to myself, you know what
is that hook, you know, what is that
that element of my lesson that's going to, you know, sink into them and how's it going to be relevant?
So,
whether it's a story that we read or a
history chapter
or something like that, I'm always figuring out how am I going to make this relevant
to the thirteen-year-old sitting in front of me?
Something that happened 200 years ago. What is it
that I'm going to do? So
it's making curriculum relevant. It's so important.
And it's all about relationships, too. Absolutely!
Not going to get very far with your curriculum if you haven't built that relationship. And
it's hard to build relevance if you don't know your students, if you don't
understand the population of kids and
their culture, and where they come from, and what's meaningful, and
you know, what makes them happy, and what tugs on their heart. You really have to know the kids in front of you.
Building relationships is, you know, the day they walk into the door,
Hi, how are you, let's go right now
and get to know each other.
And you have them for less than an hour a day,
once a day, it's not like you have them all day like an elementary teacher who can
have more time to foster relationships, so you really have to speed things up.
The crux. That is correct, I have them for about ninety minutes a day
and I'm also fortunate to teach at a school where we loop
which means that I get them at seventh grade, so in one week I'll get my fresh batch of
seventh graders coming in
and I will stay with them all the way through
eighth grade.
The same group of students.
And that's a pretty powerful thing having them for two years and developing that relationship
and
and beauty of it, which I had never done it before, which I saw was walking in to
my eighth grade class day one and there were the same faces staring at me and saying, okay let's
go! Let's rock. You know, we are moving.
You know me, you know the rules, you know the gig, you know the procedures,
you know, let's dive into this and let's get going.
Looping seems to be more common now. I think there's a lot of challenges as far as scheduling that
goes along with it, that maybe prohibits some schools, but I agree. I think looping is a trend
and I think there are so many benefits to it, at least at
the middle school level. I haven't heard of much looping
at the high school level, but I think there are so many benefits for middle school.
Definitely four, five, six grades
there's a lot of looping there, so it really gives you the opportunity to connect.
And you talked about connection with the students, what about the families? How crucial is it to have that
the good relationship with the a parent or extended family? Very, very important.
Another strategy that we have at our school is small learning communities which are teams
in a self where a
team of students, let's say a hundred- fifty students share the same six teachers
throughout the day,
and so you get to know those families and you get to know those
parents really well and
through the activities that you do and having them in the classroom and
a lot of parents try to back away at the middle school level. They're trying to shift, and we
say no, you know, don't pull away
yet, we need you!
It's it's very important. That communication and how to improve,
how to make changes, you know, just those pat on the backs, it's very important to have parents on your side.
So how did you find out
that you were selected as a Teacher of the Year?
How was I notified, you mean? Um, well, it was a wonderful day because
the class that I was actually observed, that same
first period class
on the Day the Teacher,
%uh that nice parade came into my room with the same first period class
So had it been any other day
the kids would have said why are they bringing
you balloons and flowers
and you know walking in and and the whole entire cabinet, the superintendent, my principal
and as soon as two or three people marched in my students were thinking, oh just another visitation
and the fifth person, and the sixth person, and on down the line and
after about the eighth person walked in
my kids were shouting and cheering cause they knew exactly what was happening.
So it was apropos to have it on the Day of the Teacher and come in and announce it.
Well, congratulations on that. Now what would you say to someone who is considering teaching?
Um,
As advice that I would give them? I would say,
to a new teacher, never teach in isolation. Find a mentor. Hopefully there's
some sort of team set up, whether it's a
a
excuse me, a department or a grade level team, you know, never teach in isolation.
Have a great support group.
And I would say build routines right away, from the minute you walk in the door.
Kids gravitate to
you know
having built-in routines within their day. It makes them feel comfortable, it uses them, and teachers
like routines, too, actually. We don't like it when you take us out of our routines.
And another, my last bit of advice, which I think is the easiest, is come in
with enthusiasm and zeal. And I think most teachers do. They come in with, you know,
I'm going to change world, and I'm going to do some great things!
So they have that going for them, so
that just permeates throughout the classroom. Energy, and the love for what you do.
Well, congratulations on the honor you've earned. We've been speaking with Theresa Rodriguez, one
of two Teachers of the Year for the Elk Grove Unified School District.
Thanks for joining us. Thank you.