Latest / The Recess-An Inside Look at the Auburn School District / Episode #44, Priscilla Torres Rosas, Elementary Teacher

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Episode #44, Priscilla Torres Rosas, Elementary Teacher · The Recess-An Inside Look at the Auburn School District

• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome to the Recess Podcast.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Dr.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: Alan Speciati, the proud superintendent of the Auburn School District.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: I love the Recess Podcast.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: It gives me a chance to share some of the people and programs that make our district uh such a great place to raise your family, work, or most of all, be a student.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: And uh I think we have a great podcast lined up for you today.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: My guest this episode is Priscilla Torres Rosas, and she is a third-grade teacher at Alpac Elementary.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: She's got a great story of her uh time in the Auburn School District, starting as a student and uh now into her position as a teacher.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna hear about that journey.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you're gonna hear just uh a great voice of a young teacher in our district, and I'm really excited to share her with you.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: So uh at this time I'd like to invite in Priscilla Torres Rosas to the podcast.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, thank you.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Ms.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: Dr.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: Spochotti, for having me here today and choosing to interview me.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, it's we're really excited about this.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: Uh one of the things that we like to do is highlight uh the various routes that are into teaching.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: And uh we've had like current technical teachers, um, for example, um, we've had uh folks who were a stay-at-home mom, raised their family, and then got into teaching later in in their uh 30s or 40s.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um and there that we want to kind of like demystify that, oh, you have to go to four years of college right out of high school and then go right into the classroom.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: That was my route.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's a great route too.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: But it wasn't mine, right?
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna hear your whole backstory, and uh that's a good little teaser for the audience.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm gonna start with my first question that I ask every guest to kick it off.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, who was your favorite teacher and why?
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think my favorite teacher was Mrs.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_01: Carnahan, and she taught eighth grade social studies.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: And I just remember her just being very you know, she was a great teacher, she was very fun.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_01: But sh I have one distinct memory of her of like one of she pulled me aside at the end of the year and she just said, make sure you go to college.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_01: She said, Whatever you do, like make sure that you get an education.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that was one of the first times that it stuck for me that I was like, Okay, yeah, I can go to college.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so that was very inspiring, and I think I just remember that fondly.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: That's great.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: I I love um you know, we've done a lot of these podcasts now, and many of my guests have talked about a teacher who maybe they see something in a student before the student sees it in themselves, or oftentimes the that role model teacher will be somebody who ends up kind of almost guiding their career because they go into the same discipline or subject or grade level or just have some connection that stays with them.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: So so that's wonderful.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: Uh tell our audience where you had Miss Carnahan.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Mom Baker Middle School.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: M.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: Al Baker.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: You did you go K-12 through Auburn School?
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: I did second grade through twelfth grade.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: And where do you go to elementary school?
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_01: Alako.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: Alako, all right, so Alako, Mount Baker, and to Riverside, Auburn Riverside.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: Auburn Riverside.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_01: Go Ravens.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: Go Ravens, all right, excellent.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um so you were starting to get into it, and now uh you're the floor is yours.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: So tell us about your journey to becoming a teacher and all the steps along the way.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so I graduated from Auburn Riverside, and at the time I thought I wanted to do something with nursing or medicine, and I was going to Green River, I wa I stayed local and did community college, but I needed a job, and a friend of the family actually suggested being a paraeducator.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't really know that was a position that I could do without having like a degree or anything, and I'd been only out of high school for a year, so I applied.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_01: I came in and I did my interview and um they hired me and uh you know I didn't know what it was gonna look like, I just knew I needed a job and I loved it, you know.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: I loved the job.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_01: They offered me a full-time position right away after a couple months of working part-time, and then I was like, Yes.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_01: And by the end of that school year, I was like, I don't think I wanna be a nurse anymore.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: I think I wanna go into teaching.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: Fantastic.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_01: So I star I switched over and did my bachelor's in education, but I was still working as a paraeducator at the time.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: So I've been working for Auburn since then, yeah.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: What was your assignment as a paraeducator?
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_01: I was an ELL um paraeducator, so I was ML support staff.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: I I was at Pioneer Elementary.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: Excellent, good.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: Did you have to pass a test to become a para?
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: Do you remember back then?
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we it was the praxis I think I had to do.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and I just mentioned that because we have found that actually young people just a few years out of high school have uh been a really important part of our paraeducator workforce.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: And we of course we have all ages, we have a lot of seasoned paras, and and that's wonderful as well, but we're always looking for more.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: And for the right young person uh who's maybe working their way up or might even be, you know, education curious, but they're not committed to being a teacher yet, it's a great way to try out the profession.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, make a good wage if you're full-time, you get the same benefits that I get, actually.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's a it's a it's a great package.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um and it gives you that chance to get into school and see if if it's the right fit for you.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: Not everybody is meant to be a teacher, but uh it's a good way to find out if you are, and I'm I'm really glad that you made that decision for yourself.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: We need great nurses too, but we're glad you're in education.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so you did a year as a as a para, and then where did you go from there?
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_01: I did uh six years as a para, actually.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, okay.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and so one year you decided to ditch nursing, but then you stayed for for five more.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I stayed for five more, so I did online school.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_01: I did my bachelor's online, and in the meantime I was able to work full-time as a paraeducator and being able to go to school for teaching, but also being a paraeducator, like you said, it's it meant so much.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_01: I think so much for my learning to be a teacher came from just observing and watching others and being able to apply what I was learning in class, and then I was able to see it, you know, the next day with my own students and try kind of trying it out in a safe space a little bit.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: So I do not take that for granted.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_01: I think everybody that maybe wants to be a teacher should be, you know, become a paraeducator for a year or two.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's a great route.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: So when when you were finishing up your you did a bachelor's degree, you said online, did you also then have to do for student teaching or was your pair experience a substitute?
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: It wasn't a substitute.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_01: I I still had to do my teaching, my student teaching.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_01: I did it um and I but I was really lucky that I was able to do it at my host school.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: So it was the school that I was already working at.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: I knew most of the staff there, I knew most of the students there.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_01: So when I started my student teaching, it was I didn't have to worry about getting to know anyone, getting to know systems because I was already so familiar with the school.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_01: So it was it was great to just be able to jump in and be like, okay, now how do I lead this classroom?
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, how what makes what makes teaching great?
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: Excellent.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: And then did you get hired right away to teach it out back?
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: No, unfortunately, when I was when I was doing my student teaching that March was when the COVID shutdown happened.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_01: So I had to finish my degree and then I decided not to get a job right away because I didn't know no one knew what that was gonna look like.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_01: So I waited another year, then I applied, then I was hired at at Alpac.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: Well, good for you.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: I think that pair experience probably came in very handy.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it it's obviously the pandemic had a a huge impact on our students and you know, everybody in our community and all walks of life, but for people who are in their teacher training program, even principal training program, it was just really hard to be prepared for the you know, the real world of school when uh you you either did your student teaching that wasn't quite back to normal.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: We've had administrators who did their internship online and you know, they just had never really seen a student face to face as a disciplinary and things like that.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: So uh I think that makes a lot of sense.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: And how many years have you been teaching at Alpac now?
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: This is my fifth year teaching at Alpac.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_01: So I started in yeah, 2021.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: And have you always taught third grade?
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: No, I started teaching first grade, so that was hired for a first grade position, and I taught th three years, but just talking to my admin, they knew that I wanted to teach an older grade.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_01: I was very, you know, I wanted to teach I thought I wanted to teach fifth grade.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I've changed my mind now.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_01: But uh, and then I was offered third grade a couple years later, yeah.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: Fantastic.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: Good.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: So you you said that a light bulb went on maybe around the end of the first year that you're a para and you decided to switch tracks.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: What made you want to become a teacher?
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_01: I started to get excited when th when students would say, Oh, I understand, or I can read, and their their enjoyment was very contagious, which is what I loved.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I think that made me really want to get into teaching.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_01: I wanted to be a little bit more part of that of how can I make students be feel successful, how can I help others um reach the goals that they want, and just working with all students, it was just a lot of joy at the time to be able to see that come into fruition.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: Good.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: And that I think is uh what lights the fire for a lot of teachers and when you can really see yourself making a difference um and you see that growth in students, it's it's very rewarding and it's such a great career.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: And obviously I'm biased, but I think teaching is one of the most important careers and just a fantastic way to make a big difference.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we made so much progress on teacher pay.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's a it's a really it's a good living, but it's a great way to contribute to your community and especially this is your community.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_01: This is my community, yeah.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_01: I was able to go work and some of the people that I was working with were like far former teachers of mine or people that I had seen before.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and especially once I started doing a little bit more with the district, you know, I would go to trainings and stuff and be like, oh, there's a teacher that I had before.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_01: So it was a little awkward at first because I was so young, I think.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_01: But as I got older, it was it was also really nice to see like the other side of my teachers, the more human side.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_01: Uh instead of them just being my teachers, they were now my colleagues and they were now co-workers and it's just interesting to see.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that is fantastic.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um so let's stay on this theme of of being a teacher.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: What is your favorite part of being a teacher?
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_01: My favorite part is I think it's still that moment when students say, I got it, or I get it.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: Like being able to share in their success, I think is really important for me.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_01: Like um being able to know that the steps that I've taken or the things that I've done have contributed to their success.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_01: I I still think that's my favorite part every day.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: So now you've been a teacher for five years, you were a para for five or six before that.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: Help us understand, you talk about how rewarding teaching is.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you illustrate that with one or two of your best student success stories.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_01: One of the success stories that I have in my classroom is comes from being able to support students that are new to country.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_01: When I started with Auburn, I didn't speak English.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_01: I um wasn't new to the country.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: And it was a time that was a little scary for me at the time.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_01: So being able to be the adult in the room for those students and to be able to guide them a little bit more than the support that I had, I think was is very rewarding and being able to follow through their their learning as as they acquire more English and working with our team to make sure that these students feel successful and then feel accepted and welcome and they'll feel comfortable, especially ever after having such a big change and moving to a whole different country.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that's been one of the b the most rewarding things and most successful things that I've done is being able to ha be a support for these students as they've come through my classroom.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: Do you see yourself in your students sometimes?
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_01: Definitely, yes.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_01: Especially when they come in and they're new and maybe the students don't look like them and they are used to different things.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_01: I remember, you know, when I walked into Ilaco and it was all very exciting, but it was also very, very new.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: One of my core beliefs is that students benefit from seeing faces like themselves in the classroom and and we try to expand that to, you know, show other role models and success stories, um uh and a, you know, a diversity of of uh individuals.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but to have a teacher with that experience is is really powerful.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I really to my core, I'm like I'm proud of all of our teachers and our staff in Auburn.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like every teacher can be successful with every student, and it's really powerful to have somebody who either shares an experience and background or looks like you.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um so I think you've added a lot and we have an increasing number of of teachers who really have that that kind of like connection with students.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: That's really powerful.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um does that also play out with families?
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, because I know how hard it was for my parents 20 years ago to be able to communicate.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe not that there wasn't a way to communicate, but maybe the the hesitation, right?
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: Because they didn't speak the language at the time, or maybe they weren't aware of the system.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_01: So I think just being able to talk to a family at the door when they drop off their students and s you know, say hello to them in their language, I think is so powerful.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: And you can just see parents opening up a lot more and hopefully that continues as their you know, as their student goes through the Auburn School District, that they're able to s to know that hey, my kid is cared for.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: There's teachers that are, you know, looking out for them.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: You're still very early in your teaching career at five years, but uh have you been able to keep in contact with any of your former students, or do you see them and just kind of see them flourish as they go through elementary and middle school?
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_01: Like um, I haven't been able to keep keep in contact.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_01: Like you said, I'm still pretty new, but just seeing them, how they move they move from when they were first graders, my oldest students right now are fourth graders.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_01: And then I also had the opportunity because I moved up to third grade, I was able to teach former students.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's why I like third grade so much, because in first grade they're still very young.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: They're very young kids.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_01: And seeing them now in third grade now, I can see more of their personality and I can see more of like who they will be in a future.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm excited.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_01: I'm excited to see where they're going and you know who they become later in life.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: I mean that's that's just one of the joys of teaching.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and I'm like getting goosebumps just hearing your story and and hearing your connection with kids is awesome.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: We could keep going on that theme, but I think we've we've done a nice job of it.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I think our audience might want to know just a little bit more about you.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like, do you have any hobbies, uh family, uh anything that you want to share?
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: I love to read.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_01: I was talking to Vicky earlier before the podcast about, you know, we were talking about our love for books and you know, all the different stories.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I love to get outside, you know, hiking, enjoying our state.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_01: There are so many things that we get to see.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: Hiking books.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: Uh uh I'm looking at a stack of books right now that uh have been gifted to my guest, Priscilla.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um all right.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: So shifting away from the professional, we're gonna end with a a fun one.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: What was your favorite thing to do at recess?
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_01: At recess.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_01: I loved Tetherball at Recess.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_01: That was one of the big things that were new when I came to Elako.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_01: I'd never seen Tetherball, like as the game.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_01: The game itself was new to me.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_01: I love Tetherball, and even to this day I I try sometimes to play with my students outside.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_01: But excellent.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_01: Good.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_01: But I think they're better at me then.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: They get all that practice, yeah.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_01: Trying sometimes.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: Which is really fun.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: One thing that I remember, and this just came up um was box hockey.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_01: Oh we had box hockey at Ilaco.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_01: I um and I don't see that anymore.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: I don't I haven't seen that out in the new elementary schools.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if they're still around.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: We still have some sets at, but I think they're at the older schools.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_01: At the older schools, but I remember that also being a lot of fun was box hockey and tether ball.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_01: Those were the big two that were new and exciting at the time.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's fun.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, good.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I appreciate you opening up with us a little bit.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but our main purpose of having Priscilla on the podcast is to uh share stories of how people get into teaching.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, like I said before, we've got some straight arrow stories that, you know, maybe my mom was a teacher and I went to college and became a teacher.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but there's we have folks who have joined from the military, we have folks who have joined from industry, we have folks who've joined later in life, uh, and then we have a really kind of emerging pathway, uh, more and more folks who have gone from being a para to being a teacher, and uh I think really hit the ground running because of all of the years of experience in education.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: Our human resources department has really done a great job working with different colleges to set up pathways uh to help our paras or or any other community member become teachers uh in ways that allow flexibility to work in the district while completing their coursework.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um and in some of those programs, working as a paraeducator fulfills some program requirements.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: Uh as Priscilla mentioned, working with students provides the opportunity to practice what you're learning in college in real time, and that's a real asset.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: I wish I would have had that when I was going through college in my education program.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but we just want people to know that uh we have partnerships with several university programs.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: Uh some of them offer tuition discounts, some have again flexibility to to work and to learn and to earn a credential.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: There are a lot of options out there.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: And if you or somebody you know are interested in uh maybe becoming a para and then working towards a teaching certificate, please reach out to our HR department.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_00: Uh they have really great experience helping folks make that transition, and we'd love to have you on board.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: Please share this podcast with others who, you know, maybe they are 18, 19, 20 years old and and might be interested in a path like Priscilla's path because teaching is really honestly, I think it's unbiased, but I think it's the best profession, and we need great teachers, and I think going that para route is one of the ways you can get in and see if you like it and see if it's your passion and maybe make a whole career out of it.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_00: So uh, Priscilla, thank you so much for being on the Recess Podcast.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for having me.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: All right, and uh Vicki Alonzo is our producer, uh so thanks to her for getting this on the air.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_00: And until next time, this has been Alice Pacciati.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_00: I will see you on the Recess Podcast.