By Julie Yoshioka
Daily Bruin Contributor
Although Alejandra Rivera attended UCLA for many years, she now
comes to teach instead of to learn.
Rivera completed her college education through graduate school
at UCLA, where she initially majored in economics before deciding
to pursue a career track that would land her at University
Elementary School, where she has taught for four years.
Upon entering the main lobby one morning, the 30-year-old
teacher spotted Fionn, a student who had forgotten his shoes at
home.
“What’s going on buddy?” Rivera asked as she
gave him a hug and sat down beside him.
He simply pointed at his socks without shoes before they both
chuckled.
Later, as she walked through the main corridor, she greeted
passing students and teachers with a “Good morning,”
quickly followed with a “Buenos dÃas” in
return.
In addition to her role as a kindergarten and first grade
teacher, she is also one of six bilingual teachers at the school
who spends most of the day alternating between Spanish and English
with her students and their parents.
Bilingual education is just one aspect of teaching methods at
UES, which serves as a laboratory for the Graduate School of
Education & Information Studies at UCLA and is used for
research and training.
“It’s a place of professional development and
training in technology and literacy,” said UES Principal
Margaret Heritage. “This is where we develop work practices
to see how effective they are and then disseminate them to
others.”
About 450 students attend the school, which teaches
pre-kindergarten through sixth grade. Students from all over Los
Angeles apply to the school for acceptance.
“Admissions are not based on performance,” Rivera
said. “As a lab school, one of our roles is to research and
reflect the population of California.”
On her way to the office, Rivera stopped by another
teacher’s room to discuss “National Recommended
Standards,” a video to be filmed at the school and used in
teacher workshops nationwide.
Finally she arrived at her classroom’s backyard, where she
found three students playing with a hose in the sandbox. They had
propped the hose on the back of a plastic dinosaur, creating a
makeshift fountain.
After gasping in surprise, she asked, “How’d you do
this? How does it work?”
The three boys described that by putting the end of the hose up
against one of the dinosaur’s spikes, the water fans
outward.
After congratulating them on their creativity, Rivera headed
back to the classroom where she briefed assistant Nancy Medina and
UCLA student intern Eugene Nah on the the filming and possible
arrival of a London Times reporter.
At that juncture, a little girl walked in to greet Rivera.
“The first thing all of the students do is give Ms. Rivera
a hug in the morning,” Medina said.
At 8:30 a.m., Medina went outside and shook a tambourine calling
the children inside, and then passed the tambourine to another
student who shook it around the playground to round up other
students.
Twenty-two boys and girls rushed inside for a large corner mat
and sat on a printed shape labeled in Spanish and English. Medina
then took roll as each student responded with either
“AquÔ or “Here.”
“One reason why we teach this age group in their native
language is because it is important for literacy
acquisition,” said Rivera, a native Spanish speaker.
“The goal is to be successful in an all-English
environment, but they need to develop academically in their first
language to be successful in English,” she continued.
After roll, Rivera sat a large wooden chair at the mat’s
edge as she told the class what would happen that day.
“Today there will be a lot of cameras … with lots of
lights. They’re making a video to teach teachers all over the
United States,” Rivera told the students.
The children became excited as they talked about the cameras,
lights and being on television. Rivera calmed them before turning
on a television and sitting at an attached computer to begin the
day’s lesson.
“We’re teaching students to use alternate sources of
information,” Rivera said, referring to getting the students
accustomed to computer use and the Internet.
She began the lesson by asking, “Last week, I sent home
the “˜er’ sound. Did you bring back some words that have
the “˜er’ sound?”
The students eagerly raised their hands and shouted answers as
Rivera typed responses which appeared on the TV screen.
At one point, when the students became noisy, Rivera called out,
“One, two, three, all eyes on me!”
The students immediately responded, “One, two, all eyes on
you,” as they came to attention. The rest of the lesson
focused on consonants and vowel clusters.
As she noticed students losing interest in the lesson again,
though, Rivera called out, “If you’re ready, touch your
nose, knees, head,” as she demonstrated to students, who then
followed in rhyme and action.
After recapturing their attention, she finished the lesson and
assigned students to different work tables. Some drew costumes for
a class play, while others worked on their personal histories for
the play’s program.
The students wrote the script and songs for a school play about
insects and the environment which had covered the year’s
curriculum.
“It’s not about our agenda, it’s their
agenda,” Rivera said of the school’s teaching methods.
“This (school) is child-centered. My job is to provide
resources to get them three steps ahead.”
At snack time, students scampered outside to eat and play on the
jungle gym and swings as well as ride tricycles as Medina and Nah
watched over them. Meanwhile, Rivera reflected on the role of
parents in education.
“One of my biggest beliefs is that I can’t teach a
child in isolation,” Rivera said. “I have socials and
monthly breakfasts with parents. I’m friendly with them and
their help means the world to me.”
After recess, the class converged on the mat once more as Rivera
began reading from Roald Dahl’s “Charlie and the Great
Glass Elevator.”
Soon the film crew walked in, and Rivera introduced them to the
children. A few minutes later, she returned to her lesson plan as
she asked the children questions.
“What is the difference between informational and
fictional text?” Rivera asked to begin her lesson.
The students raised their hands as they explained how the two
differed. They also discussed content organization in both types of
writing as they compared “Charlie and the Great Glass
Elevator” with a children’s book about bees.
At 1:30 p.m., Rivera assigned the boys and girls to different
learning centers for the rest of the day. Some were filmed with
Rivera as they explained specific projects that they have worked
on. Outside, other students engaged in a honey-tasting
demonstration to learn about different types of bees that make
different types of honey.
As the school day ended at 2:30, some students began leaving
with their parents as Medina took others to a separate location for
carpools. Still others stayed after school for the “Extended
Day” program
Rivera tidied up the classroom and stayed behind to chat with
parents and teachers, yet after such a busy day, she said,
“I’m exhausted.”
Still, she added, “I love it, I really do. The kids are
great. Today is a day of pressure, but these kids are
amazing.”