TE 823: Introduction

Hello, All!

My name is Maria Guadalupe Ochoa, although I generally forget about that and go by Lupita. This Summer '13 session is my first semester in the MATC. 

I started my undergraduate work at Michigan State University in 1990 and finished twelve, yes, twelve years later, at The University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College with a Bachelor of Arts-English. I soon after enrolled at Alternative-South Texas Educator Program for course work to sit through my teacher certification exams. I have an EC-4 Bilingual Generalist certification in the state of Texas. I spent nine years in a 4th grade classroom, mostly. There was one semester in a 2nd grade classroom as a result of moving from one school district to another, and nine weeks in a 3rd grade classroom before being asked to move to a 4th grade classroom, to which I quickly answered, "Yes."  This past school year marked my tenth year as an educator, and my first year as an Elementary Instructional Specialist.

I have a delusion that in my many years as a 4th grade teacher, I have developed an academic expertise in the teaching of writing. This started as a result of high-stakes testing in grammar and written composition. The end results were upwards of 90% student passing rate in my classroom, which is what is looked at at the end of the year in terms of teacher success. However, through the practice and the development of student confidence in writing, students experienced ownership of their education, sometimes for the very first time. In addition, because they were well-versed in the development of their own writing, they began to apply higher-order thinking skills to their reading. They learned to make predictions and shared their thoughts about how they would have ended the stories they read. Through the years, I was fortunate enough to see how some novels impacted students in different ways. Some students developed a preference for a particular author, others became endeared with particular characters, and still others preferred their own writing.


For the immediate future, my personal interests will have to focus around running because I'm signed up for The Color Run in November. It shouldn't be too painful as I truly believe that there is a runner buried deep inside of me yearning to get out, although, she has been hiding for a long time. I am going to use this as a springboard to a more active lifestyle and to have something in common with my son. That's who I spend most of my time with, my son and my husband, but if I can throw together a backyard cook-out and invite all the aunts, uncles, cousins, and a friend or two, that's a good time, too. Besides that, I really do enjoy learning, so I end up reading educational material as much as I end up reading your traditional reading-for-pleasure books. I am looking forward to reading grown-up novels after nine years of keeping up with the kids' stuff.