By Yanira Rosas
Ms.Velez was a hairstylist for fifteen years before she decided to become an instructor. While being a hairstylist, she taught at a cosmetology school which is where she discovered her passion for teaching. Of course, it was a different atmosphere for her. Yet, it was definitely a learning experience. Furthermore, she loved the challenge of trying to figure out different learning techniques which allow people understand specific concepts. Although becoming a teacher hasn’t been an easy profession, Ms. Velez focuses on time management in support of being well prepared for her class teachings. She sets time aside preparing for her lessons, attending meetings.
This is Ms.Velez’s first time teaching and having her own classroom. So far, it has been a roller coaster. There are many ups and downs. Sometimes days go as planned and other days things don’t go as planned. Ms.Velez was also inspired and influenced to become a teacher because of friends and family. They told her their first, second, and third year experiences, which scared her but it’s not as much as she expected it to be. It’s a learning process because it’s all new, there is always a learning curve.
Ms.Velez attended Cal Sate San Bernardino where she obtained a Bachelors degree in Environmental Science. She went to Cal Baptist University to get a teaching credential. She was dedicated and determined to accomplish her educational goals.
Ms.Velez chose to go work at a High School because she feels that she can influence, and that it’s the most important time for teenagers. She says It is a critical time. Adolescents are between being a child and an adult. She can, and does, relate to teenagers because she remembers what it was like to be that age. When she was in high school, she was shy, had a handful of friends, but kept to herself and she didn't get help with certain assignments that she had wished she could have. She wouldn't ask and neither would her teachers. Ms. Velez was accepted into many colleges when she graduated high school, but she was under the impression that her family couldn’t afford it. Instead she went to community college, which she sees nothing wrong with it. It’s important to go to college, the sooner the better, coming from her experience, because there is a lot of responsibilities . There may be obstacles in your path and sometimes circumstances are rough, but it’s possible to do it right away.
Experience at Eisenhower for Ms.Velez has been great she appreciates all the support that has been given to her as a new teacher by students, teachers, staff and that was one of her worries coming into a school. She worried about being on her own no help and no support but, that hasn’t been the case for her. She has had a lot of support from her students, a lot of patience and from her department, as well as from administration, which has been an amazing experience. Ms.Velez never thought she would become a teacher because she was a shy kid, so if someone was ever to tell her in high school that she was gonna become a teacher, she would have said no. She had family struggles which motivated her to go to college but, she had to be more independent to get to that point of realization to see that she was capable of going to college. Just because some obstacles were thrown at her, it didn’t define who she was. Instead of making herself a product of where she came from she got to the point that she kept going to college, was working to pay for it, and now is an amazing teacher at Eisenhower High School.
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