Los Niños en la Escuela – The Kids in School

I work as an educator at the University of Texas at El Paso where I teach classes (enseño clases) to people who desire to be teachers (quieren ser maestros) and those who are practicing teachers who are getting advanced degrees (títulos avanzados) in education. My areas of specialization are in science education, the use of technology in the classroom as well as the development of materials, curriculum if you will, teachers and students can use that. I have been a teacher of teachers for a number of years (por muchos anos), but I am also involved in projects directly with students that keep me in schools.

I can also remember what it is like to be a student (un estudiante), whether it is at the university of in K-12 classrooms. I do take classes at the university (la universidad) and find that by being in class with students, I also get a better idea of the issues they face not only in the classroom (el aula), but in their lives as well. I try and spend time talking with students, getting to know them and learning from them as well. I also have been in school (en la escuela) a long time, some might accuse me of being a professional student, and I do admit that learning is something I enjoy and make a purposeful part of both my professional and personal life (mi vida profesional y personal).

I regularly teach classes in schools and interact with students and teachers on different campuses, be they elementary (escuelas elementarías), middle (escuelas secundarias) or high schools (colegios). In the past, I have been a high school teacher and a middle school teacher, and enjoyed these experiences at ever turn. The settings may change, but often it is the same; girls on one side of the room, boys on the other. Yet, today’s students are surrounded by technology (la tecnología), and are always in communication, hooked into iPods, checking cell phones for messages or sending text messages as well.

But, in many ways, they are the same we were in our youth (nuestro juventud), some want to succeed, some want to socialize, but all are capable of learning (capaz de aprendizaje). What is important is that students may look different today than when I was young(er), and I believe I am not so far removed from remembering my own thoughts, my own dreams, my own goals (mis propios metas), but also my own my faults, my own insecurities, my own uncertainties.

The kids (los niños) in the high schools in Santiago could easily be the kids in the high schools in Juarez or in El Paso, or other places that I have worked (he trabajado). They look pretty much the same, all in uniforms, with smiles, with hopes, with goals, with dreams. I have a belief that all students will learn and come to school (vienen a la escuela) with a desire to learn, yet, it is up to us as adults and educators to help facilitate this desire in the right direction, to guide the students toward conceptual understandings that require critical thinking (pensamiento critico).