This month's Teacher of the Month is Elisea Ochoa who opened her own child care center in Santa Ana, California. Elisea works with children ages 0-5 who speak both English and Spanish. Thanks for sharing your story, Elisea!
Tell me a little about yourself. How did you get into teaching?
My husband and I had been hoping for years that we would be able to start a family of our own, but we were told that it wasn't an option for us. We decided to have our own child care center so we could still "have children." We were very focused on setting up the center when I started to feel ill...because we were expecting!
When I found out that I was pregnant, I was overjoyed that my child could grow up with the children in my center. Nine years later, it's been such a blessing!
Your coach, Leonor Conant (who nominated you), said you are very sensitive with young children, that you’re aware of their needs. What do you like about working with young children?
When working with children ages birth through 5, the overall environment in which they thrive is the same. It's very difficult to have infants, toddlers, and preschoolers with the school aged children—which is how we had our center set up at first. The older kids were getting bored quickly with the younger ones. By swtiching our focus to 0-5 year-olds, I found that the children were exploring and experiences that stage of learning together.
How did you hear about the CLASS tool?
I first heard about the CLASS tool when we had children of all ages in our center, and I knew it would be very difficult to make the necessary changes. The changes I needed to make were huge, but I found a lot of support in the community to help. Other centers and our local university taught me about CLASS. I took a month off one summer, and when I came back, I was ready!
And speaking of support, it's so gratifying to work with our families. They are so involved! They come to meetings and to read to the students. We are a big family. The other night we had a two hour get-together, and after three hours people were still there. No one wanted to leave!
What do you like about CLASS?
It's about the kids learning, not about what the teacher wants. I always tell my assistant, "Be patient. Don't take their hand. Let them give it to you" (of course with complete safety in mind). You need to be patient and let the children learn to do as much as they can before you reach in. That's how they learn.
What do you wish more people knew about working with young children?
Get to know each one of your students—each one! Flexibility is number one. And you have to have patience with each step.
Can you share a moment where you can see you've grown?
Years ago I had two sets of twins, and I think to myself, "If only I had CLASS then!" If one cried, all four cried. If one got frustrated, all four got frustrated.
I have matured in my teaching and have more patience. It's all about the patience! Now I never get frustrated like I used to with the students, which is a beautiful thing that CLASS has helped with over time. Now there is calm and relaxation, and I'm trying to share that with my assistant too.
