Ms. Ronquillo

“I know what it feels like to not know something and feel lost. So I always made sure to ask for help or ask questions. When I finally had an answer, I would share it with my classmates and teach it to them. I got good at helping and tutoring others so I started to tutor younger kids back in high school. I liked teaching other people and noticed it as a strength and pursued my teaching credentials. When students have that “aha” moment, when they finally understand something, moments like these encourage me to keep working towards becoming a better teacher. Teachers are underpaid for the amount of responsibilities they have to do and are expected to teach certain amounts of topics but there isn’t enough time to teach it. State tests are unfair because how do you expect kids to remember stuff all the way from the beginning of August? Yes, I still see myself as a teacher in ten years but I don’t always want my focus on just teaching, I want to find time to do hobbies like nail art, clay art, crochet, etc.

When I went to college, I wanted to pursue a medical career because I went to college as a science major and halfway through I changed it to math. Because of that I had to retake certain classes to graduate. I also had to take additional classes for my teacher credential program to become a teacher. I had to travel back and forth from LA, to Merced, all the way to Berkeley. Berkeley wasn’t a nice place and also because I wasn’t familiar with the place. I don’t know, right now I’m only thinking of dedicating my time to teaching but perhaps going back to the idea of getting my master’s degree in the future. My responsibilities as a teacher is to build and deliver lessons to students so they are prepared for any assessments, skills they’ll need for next year, they’ll need in the future, college, career, and life. My communication and presentation skills have developed since I first started my teaching program until now. I got better at communicating and teaching even though it was a struggle at the start. ”

Advisor’s note:  Ms. Ronquillo is an alumna of AJMS.