20 Minutes of Teaching Brilliance (On the Road with Trust-Based Observations)

5 Doris Cerda
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Hi, Craig Randall. Welcome to another edition of 20 minutes of teaching brilliance on the road with trust based observations. Today I have with me Doris Cerda. Did I say that last name? Right? Good. Thank you. And I forgot to ask you that beforehand. And Doris is actually only a second year teacher and I saw her last year.

And she is a pre K teacher working with autism spectrum children, and as a first year teacher, I was so blown away by your brilliance with the way you worked with the kids, persisted in language, built in routines and systems where the kids knew exactly what to do at transitions, and take care of and be responsible of their own materials.

It just, it just blew me away. For any teacher, but then as a first year teacher, even more. And so when we decided to start the podcast, I knew I had to reach back out to you and see if you'd be willing to chat about it. So thanks for joining me, Doris. [00:01:00] Um, let's start by how about maybe you introduce yourself, maybe tell a little bit about your background, how you got into teaching, maybe what made you want to be a teacher, wherever you want to go with it, okay.

Hi, everybody. My name is Doris. I am, um, an early childhood strategy teacher. I teach students, um, ages three through five, all of my children right now have the diagnosis of autism. I, when I first started, I wasn't sure I wanted to be a teacher. When I first came to college, I enrolled as a pre nursing major.

Um, and after taking some of those pre nursing classes, I can't do too good with needles and blood. So I was like, well, this is not right. So then I switched over to business, and again, taking some of those classes, I kind of realized I don't want, I don't want my work environment to always be like a corporate setting.

at that moment, I also started working at the Boys and Girls Club here in Reno. And that's kind of where my passion started going. I was like, Oh, I want to work with kids. Um, I [00:02:00] started reaching out to some of my colleagues, like, what path are you taking to become a teacher? What path are you, working?

Um, then I worked at a private pre K, pre, preschool program. and that's where I kind of knew, okay, like, I want to be a teacher. I want to work with smaller kids. And then I became an aide, in a similar class like mine, but it's a developmental delay class. And I started talking to the teacher there, like, what programs did you go through, um, and that's when I reached out to, to a counselor, um, at UNR, and that's how I got into teaching special ed.

I, I absolutely love my job, I love working with my kids, and just the setting, I absolutely love it.

Well, you're in a great school, too. I mean, it's a high need school, too. I think it's what, 99 or 100 percent free and reduced lunch, if

Yes, it's a Title I

Some of the top of one school and, um, in suburban Reno, I guess we would call it, right?

Yeah, yeah,

Not really Reno, technically,

[00:03:00] it's not like the center of Reno.

No, definitely not. It was a little dry out there when you were working.

Um, and there's nothing, see, it's strange because it doesn't seem like there's much around it. I mean, there's maybe some apartments, but it, it feels more industrial almost than

Yeah, exactly where our school is, um, there is a lot more industrial. there's a few houses, but it's, it's definitely growing, but there is a lot more industrial right here in this area.

Yeah, for sure. So high needs school for sure on all kinds of levels. So does that, for the autism spectrum for your school, do you draw from multiple, not just your area, or does it draw from other like neighboring

Yeah, my kids, I mean, so that they're not on the bus for so long, they do try to condense them to like this area, but I do have some kids who are, um, in, in a different neighborhood that's not necessarily our neighborhood, There's so many kids who are being diagnosed with autism and not as many programs that are open.

you know, we try to fit them wherever there's an opening, but [00:04:00] also looking at their, at the area and where they're at.

enough. So Doris, why don't we start talking about maybe relationships and language student relationships and language because when I was in your class, I think one of the most amazing things to me was just your your perseverance with language and and. Obviously language development is often delayed and, and, but you would state in very clear simple language the way you would want them to respond and, so do you want to talk a little bit about just building relationships with the kiddos and the importance of, of, of your work with, with that as

well?

For sure, I think you came in towards the end of the school year, so I had already established those relationships, we had established our routine, um, at the beginning of the school year, it does look a little different, it's a lot, a lot more flexible in the sense, okay, if right now we're, we're not ready to do this, then let's take a break, you know, let's, you know, Let's relax.

Let's calm down. And then when we're back to our calm down state, then we can return. [00:05:00] Establishing that relationship with my students that this is a safe place and I'm here to like, to, to meet your needs so that then we can work on our centers, work on our art project, you know? so establishing those relationships at the beginning of the school year will then, um, allow me to start working on, okay, now when I have my relationship, let's start working on our routine.

We have our routine, but now we can start working on our standards, start working on our goals, start working on our objectives. so it's a step by step, I can't just jump into, okay, you have to do this, we're doing this right now. and my students need a lot of that flexibility, a lot of that sensory support, a lot of those sensory breaks.

so, um, Getting to know my students will then allow me to know how to accommodate for them in my classroom and those right accommodations to get them to focus for longer periods and, engage more and work more and, do more in the [00:06:00] classroom.

So, do you want to maybe talk about what some of the specific, like in the beginning there, what were some of the actual specific strategies you took to build those relationships and build those routines with, with the

kiddos?

so last year I had a student, When he first came to me, he wouldn't sit anywhere near the table, and he wouldn't eat anything. Um, I would not make him sit at the table. I would not make him eat. When he, when he was ready, he would come, he would take little bites, he would go sit back down on the floor, and that's totally okay.

It's a new environment. It's new faces. It's new people. It's new expectations. I can't just expect them to come into the classroom and know my expectations. It took us, I want to say, about, um, before he started just even sitting in the chair. Um, so just being patient with them and knowing that they'll come around, they'll learn our routine, they'll learn our expectations.

Um, and just really just being patient and

Letting them build comfort within the [00:07:00] environment itself. I mean, there's three, four and five year olds, right? So it's their first time for many of them at school. And so, so that was, that was a big piece with that. Is that one example is just that patient yet. They're seeing the routines that you're developing at the same time, even though they're not necessarily participating in

them even

absolutely. I have a kiddo who, I mean, this year recently, I want to say within this past week, He hears the timer and now he'll grab his own stuff and start throwing it away. He'll start putting things away. And he was one of my, my kiddos who I got this year, who it took a lot, a lot of repetition, a lot of repetition, um, hand over hand or guidance to, okay, your turn to clean up, your turn to throw away.

And now he's doing it all independently. And once you get to those like milestones and you see that you're like, okay, like all of our work is paying off. Like. We're doing something right, like we're doing something.

And I think, and I want to come back to the language part and building the verbal language skills of them, but [00:08:00] since you went ahead and, you jumped to where I was going to go next, we'll come back to the verbal language part in a little bit. Let's, let's go with, with the routines and the clean up. And it's, it's preschool, right?

So it's, a lot of it's spent in centers and activity and play and learning through play. And, and so as part of that, there's. They're changing from one center to another center, or one type of an activity to another type of an activity, but they're out and they've got, I mean, there's, there's designated areas, but then also they'll bring things to tables and work at the tables individually, and you have support, but you, you, The kids, like, it just astounded me to watch three, four, and five year olds.

And, and you would do countdown warnings, right? Because the timer can be upsetting so that they're preparing them for that. And, but just to watch those kids know exactly where to put the things away and put them away so neatly and perfectly. Like, as a parent, I'm jealous of what you're doing, which I had those skills with my own kids back when they were little.

So can you talk [00:09:00] about that really, really important element of building in those

routines?

first I do want to say that my internship really helped me prepare, in how I wanted to set up my classroom, how I wanted to set

um, how I wanted to set up my classroom, different ways that I can take their data, how to, Get their centers ready and how I wanted their centers to look.

so I do want to say that my internship definitely helped me a lot. I got most of my ideas from my internship.

You had good modeling and student

teaching experience then, Can I jump in and just say one line, just to, just, like one of my favorite all time lines is, Show me a great teacher and I'll show you a great thief.

yeah, yeah.

Right?

Exactly. Yeah. Okay.

and I mean, I, I am also willing to share my resources with other teachers. I think collaboration is also very important. collaborating with my aide, with other teachers, see what they're doing, what's not working. Reflecting on my teaching as well. If [00:10:00] something's not working, what can I do to make that situation go smoother, um, that transition to go smoother.

All of that really helps as well.

But, going back, this week is, um, on Thursday, on March 22nd, it is, um, National Down Syndrome Day. David sent out this awesome video of, like, where, where, um, there's a quote saying, basically saying, like, you think I can't do something just because I have Down Syndrome, but I really can do it.

I don't apply that just with children with Down syndrome, I apply it with my students. I have high expectations for them. I know they can do it. Yes, it will take time, it will take a lot of modeling, a lot of repetition, but I know we can get there because I've seen it. Like, I do have high expectations, but at the same time, We take it step by step to get to those expectations, to get to that place, so I think it's also very important to, understand the needs of our, of, of my students, but also know that [00:11:00] they're capable of doing things independently, because when I talk to my parents, the parents, my classroom, you know, they, they want their kid to be able to speak, they want their

Of course.

go through routines, let them know.

So that's my expectations for them. I would like for them to get to there. So that's how I, you know, that's my mentality. I know we can do it. It will take time, but I know we can get there.

So persistence, relentlessness, um, high expectations, patience, thinking about from the parent's perspective, thinking about if I was a parent, what I would want for my kids, because ultimately our, our job, whether those kids or that you're working with on the autism spectrum or kids, the general ed students, it's still to make them successful.

Successful functioning members of society and many of your kids eventually couldn't live independently or supported down the road. And so, why should I lower my expectations because they have [00:12:00] a disability of some sort, so. So, so with those routines then and, and that, I mean, are there like, do you have a plan in place from your internship that you learned that did this?

Howard, I mean, you. using, you're talking about really important, like in terms of your mindset, right? Which that, I don't want to minimize that at all. It's, it's so, so valuable. Like, no, I'm not giving up. This is what we're doing to do it. I have to be patient. Like I can't, my timeline has to be differentiated for each individual child to where they're at.

Like you were saying the boy at the beginning of the year. Beyond that, and again, not minimizing that, are there, what other things are you doing to To establish those routines, like to, talk to me, talk me through more

of that.

A lot of

modeling, a lot of hand over hand. Um, so let's just say throwing the trash away. Um, I do a lot of modeling, or I'll do hand over hand. So, um, or I'll place the tray in their hand, and then I'll guide them to the trash can, and then they'll throw it away. Um, [00:13:00] a lot of that modeling, a lot of when I tell them like, Oh, our timer went off, let's throw away.

Then we go to the trash, to the trash can, we're throwing away. Using also all of that repetition of the language. to let them know, okay, the timer went off. We're going to throw away. and a lot of visuals as well. A lot of visual schedules. a lot of prompting beforehand, verbal prompting, letting them know, um, if they're washing their hand, prompting them verbally, like we're washing our hands, we're turning on the water, we're scrubbing our hands, using all of those language to describe what they're doing.

will also build their language skills as well. Yeah,

to, for understanding and building of language at the same time, and I'm hearing modeling. I'm hearing the audio visual with like the visual, visual schedules, visual cues, what I'm sure like pictures of somebody putting something in trash, what that looks like, talking them through it, the I [00:14:00] do, we do part, I'm actually doing it with you, carrying you, and talking you through it as you're doing it.

So they're learning by doing as you're guiding them through it. Through it, which is all just good pedagogical stuff where like sometimes people think, well, you have to use different strategies, but the way it actually manifests might be slightly different in your class with more hands on, but it's still it's the same pedagogy, right?

we definitely do, you know, a lot of first then statements as well, first then words. but in order for them to be able to understand the visual, I also have to model what that visual means. So, you know, let's take a look. Again, throw away trash and then we can get blocks or whatever. You know, modeling first trash, then blocks.

And sometimes they need that visual, like the concrete. So I might need to have the actual blocks and then the actual trash can beside them. So they can make that connection. The picture of the trash is the trash can. The picture of the blocks is the [00:15:00] blocks.

And so drawing all that together. Not just the pictures, but then, so you're doing all these different sensory loads to then help that understanding really develop for the, for the students. So we were there, I think, in early, I was there in early May last year. And so when you were there, like, when it did become the timer, like every kid, whatever they were playing with, they knew exactly where it went and exactly what to do to put it away.

And they were like, they were the most diligent workers. That's all just accumulation of all of that and showing like where each set of.

And another thing is consistency. Like, I have to be consistent. Our schedule from the beginning of the school year to the end of the school year is really similar. I do not make any drastic changes in the middle of the school year because that throws my kids off. We've been doing the same thing for so long and now you're telling me it's different.

And that, you know, having those changes in the middle of the school year can also, increase their anxiety, increase, okay, well, I [00:16:00] was depending on this. This is what I knew was coming next, and now all of a sudden it's changing. So consistency and, and just this, you know, minimal changes to their schedule, is really important for my students.

Yeah,

with, with the routines, even when you have routines within those routines, there's even routines within routines, which is like, Hey, we have five minutes left. Hey, we have three minutes left. All those. I mean, that's all part of the process as well.

Right. you, you mentioned collaborating and reflecting and data. Let, why don't you talk about like the, the reflecting and the collaborating first. Because I just think those are important. Like, self reflection is really, really important and working constructively with peers is really, really important.

I mean, it kind of fits into that, show me a good teacher, show me a good thief thing, right? And so, can you touch on the [00:17:00] role of those? And I'll also just say this, like, Doris, you were a first year teacher when I saw you. I know that. planning is so, so important in the process, especially your first year, because there's so much to learn and do.

And, and I know, but you know, people always throw out like millennial, like the millennials this and the millennials that, like they, they get such a bad rap. And, and I rightly or wrongly, I don't, I don't think it made you think it's individual people, but like, I think people say with Gen Z, I'm Gen X. So if people say Gen Z, they'll sometimes say, Well, they just, they just think that they, work's work and it ends when it ends.

And, and so they don't, they don't want to put in the time. And, and, well, one, I think one way that you can look at that is we're saying, really, they, they want work life balance, which I think is really important. Like workaholic, like that, that has no appeal whatsoever. Yet, when you're a first year teacher, Yeah. You can't, I don't think you can just rely just on [00:18:00] that work life balance without knowing that if I don't put that time in, right? So, anyway, and I've got, it's a little off topic, but it's not because the collaboration and the reflection piece tie into that. So, you, I'm going to let you go now with that extra information that I added

in.

a lot of classes, and I think those classes, and it was after school or before school, those classes really helped me reflect on what, you know, what was going on in my classroom, how to make the transitions easier, how to handle, um, behaviors in a, in a better, in a better form for my students.

Um, so I can say the classes that I took helped me reflect a lot on my teaching. also, um, We have two other pre K programs here in, at Desert Heights, so I was able to collaborate with other teachers as well. get their insight, = you know, any, any advice that they could give me.

[00:19:00] also, working with OT, working with speech, a lot of the behaviors, Can rise from them not being able to communicate their needs. so I got a lot of help from our speech therapists and getting visuals, what we can do to help, um, facilitate their. their language and communication between me and them.

Um, also working with OT, my kids have a lot of sensory needs. Um, what sensory strategies I can use with them. Compression vests, chewies, like little, um, weighted scarves. Um, I have a buzzing bee. It vibrates when you lay on it. You know, all of these strategies that I can incorporate in my classroom and use when they're not in my classroom because at that point They come in and you know they work with the students, but then it's me in there So I really try to use the strategies that they're using when they're not there So my students are still receiving those strategies even when you know OT is not in the classroom [00:20:00] Their speech therapist is not in the classroom.

PT is not in the classroom. So understanding and asking them questions like, Hey, you know, how do I model this? How do you say this? How do you sign this? Really not being afraid of, Oh, I'm not going to look like, I'm like, I don't know what I'm doing. It's okay to not know, especially as a first year. It's okay to like, Ask for help.

Ask, you know, how to do this, how to do that. and I think that's,

Literally warming my heart hearing you say this.

It's warming my

it's really okay to ask for help. Um, it doesn't make you less of a teacher if you don't know how to write an IEP, if you don't know how to take proper data. You know, college can get us through so far, but being in the field and being, actually doing the work is just so much different.

So, it's okay to give yourself grief as well. Give yourself some time to relax, and, and reflect on it as well and collaborate. Really don't be afraid to ask for help.[00:21:00]

I mean, and what you're saying is growth mindset. And I mean, you know, this being a trust based observation school is like we literally say the whole point of doing trust based observations is building enough trust so that I can come into your classroom. Have you try something new? Have it be a disaster?

And you're, you're not worried because, you know, we're going to praise you for taking that risk because that's how we're going to grow. And then you're going to keep taking risks because you know that. And so just to hear you talk about that mindset of growing and trying and taking in what we're learning, not like from our specialists too, and not just relying on the specialist, but I'm going to incorporate it into my own practice.

And you think, boy, there's, I think more and more people with that. The sensory issues that are being diagnosed in school than ever before. And so not just for a special ed autistic teacher, but any teacher, what you're saying, those same strategies they could use in their classroom while they're listening to this.

Wow. I've got a student in there. Maybe I can use some of those same [00:22:00] or reach out to my OT and maybe get some advice and help with those kids too. so you also mentioned data, and so I think, I don't know if you were tracking your kid, I think you were doing, anyway, why don't you talk about data and tracking and what you're doing with your kids, because I think that's, it's oftentimes overlooked and putting in the time to do that is important.

Do you want to touch on that a little bit?

Yeah, so all of, this, last year I had eight students, this year I have ten. all of my students are on an IEP, so they have goals and objectives that we are tracking. Um, those goals and our objectives are tied to their standards, our pre K standards. so Having a good system to take data is very crucial because it's, it can, it can easily be overlooked to where you're like, Oh man, I haven't taken data all year.

I try to incorporate it into our centers. So when my kids are rotating centers, there's an option where they can come work with me. And that's when we're working on their data goals, we're doing art. Um, [00:23:00] That's how I incorporate their data. Looking at their data, I can then see, oh man, you know, little Jimmy is not, not understanding the concept of math, not understanding the concept of counting.

I can incorporate that then into another area of, of our day, where we can start working more on recognizing numbers, recognizing shapes, letters, um, You know, and I can also see, oh, most of my students are not understanding letters, so I can start making activities that are based off recognizing letters.

so, taking the data, reflecting on the data, and seeing how you can improve, improve their knowledge on a certain standard can be very, is very beneficial, and establishing that routine of how you're going to take data is also very, very important because data can be something that's very hard to take, especially, I only have 10 students, but even with my 10 students, sometimes I feel overwhelmed taking that much data.[00:24:00]

So I can't imagine, you know, other classes that have more students,

um, and are having to take data.

And yeah, and what we're talking about is micro data, that data on that each individual, because I think sometimes data gets daunting and the word data gets thrown out and like in terms of overall test scores, but it really, what you're talking about is I'm looking at that, that one individual student and what's the data on that student related to their IEP, or even if it's not, if it's just my standards and benchmarks for that student, and then I'm I'm thinking, okay, so for that student, or if there's other groups of students that fit into the same category, now what am I going to do?

How am I going to adapt or differentiate or whatever language you want to use to help that student have success? And it, it, it is, it's daunting, it's, it's challenging for sure, yet because I'm taking that microdata on that student, that's the path to help me. Read success where if I don't know that I'm just assuming like sometimes people do checks for understanding form [00:25:00] of assessment And they'll make judgments on the whole class based on the answers of a few students And we have to look at each student if we're gonna help them succeed And so when you do how do you track do you use a notebook to you?

Do you have a with each student is it electronic? Why don't you share a little just a tiny bit

about that, too?

I have a clipboard for each of my students. My students are also, they all have their each color. So their color on their desk matches the clipboard. And then on that clipboard I have, printed, I, I took from their IEP, I put the goal, the objective, and then I did a table, how I would like to start taking the data on it.

And that's just, I did that for all of their goals, and that's how I have it for everyone, and I'll go in there and I'll write down notes, I use the plus and minus system, plus if they, if they did it correctly, minus if they didn't, and then I'll just write in, um, little notes depending on how the objective is written.

Also depends on if whether the child has, you know, met that one, met that goal, [00:26:00] or it, or did not meet that goal for that day. And again, based on how the objective is written, I look at weeks or trials, um, to determine whether that overall goal has been met, or we should. Either rethink about rewriting the goal or just keep working on it.

that's even, that's reflection in a different way than what you were talking about earlier, but that's still reflection, and then that's affecting what I'm doing with my practice. Like, I can have lesson plans, but I have to be willing to adjust my plans according to where my kids are at. We can't just automatically teach tomorrow's lesson tomorrow.

Yes.

Doris, this has been absolutely amazing. I think there's a lot for, for us to learn. For people to be able to learn from you, whether it's about the data or your routines or just a plethora of things, I know there might be some listeners out there that might want to reach out and to be able to learn from you, even though you're a second year teacher.

And so would you mind sharing out your contact information for anybody? You might want

to get ahold of you.

Yeah [00:27:00] my school email is Doris dot Serta c e r d a at washoe schools dotnet if you guys would like to reach out If I could be of any help, I I absolutely am available I always say I try to help. If I don't know, then we can, you know, ask someone else, look together or work it out.

Good. And for people that don't know, Washoe is W A S H O E. So, washoeschools. net, uh, for those that aren't from the Reno area. So, Doris, thanks so much for your time today. I really appreciate it. It was an absolute joy watching you teach last year, so I'm glad we got to

reconnect again.

Thank you for contacting me. I really appreciate it. It, it touches my heart because I'm like, okay, like I know I'm doing something right. so I really appreciate you reaching out.