Name: Magda Escareno-Maldonado

E-mail: mmaldona@cvesd.k12.ca.us

Year of Undergraduate Degree: May, 1985

Graduate Degree: M.S. in Educational Leadership, May 1993

As a new mom, I would love to see quality child care programs, where graduates work. I would love to network with other alumni still working with children. Receiving job announcements would be great. Focus on the betterment of our children's lives, play, education, environment and home life. Focus on multiculturalism, best practices from around the world, especially in the area of language acquisition. Make your visuals come to life with the smiles of families enjoying one another's company. I'm looking forward to seeing the Homepage once I have access to the WWW! I'd love to hear about guest lecturers on bilingual education, music, art, dance and literacy issues.

Since graduation back in May of 1985 I have worked for Head Start, Sherman Elementary School, Baker Elementary School, and currently at Parkview Elementary School. I have worked as a Bilingual educator with grades K-4. I have been a Bilingual/Media Center Resource Teacher running an IBM Writing to Read Computer Laboratory for kindergarten and first grade students and a school Library as well. Currently I am a Bilingual Mentor Teacher for the Chula Vista Elementary School District. I enjoy training new teachers and assisting them with any concern, problem, curriculum issue or combination grade nightmares. As primary grade teachers we are currently trying to make certain that we can be accountable for the reduction in class size that was just instituted. All first through third grade classrooms in Chula Vista have only 20 students or less to ensure that all students are literate. As a mentor teacher, I am currently working on a project to train parents so that they can be leaders and train other parents on key literacy skills that they can use at home. I am very excited about this. I am also involved in a grant written by SDSU teachers on early literacy that involves the production of videos to assist new teachers in a variety of strategies including the following: how to set up a print-rich learning environment, how to set up instructional centers, how to teach an effective language arts lesson, how to assess students on reading skills, how to teach the Limited English Proficient student effectively, how to teach an effective language arts lesson in Spanish and how to teach the writing process. I am currently very excited to serve on a committee designing a "dream" pre-kindergarten through 12th grade school. It is so exciting to hear about multi-age grouping, families, specialized buildings, MicroSociety, Dual Language, a community center on site, flexible schedules for working parents, technology to prepare our students for the work force and to connect them to the world, partnerships with businesses--and so many other research-based programs that we will utilize. The key words are quality instruction, accountability to the public we serve and doing whatever is in the best interest of the children. This "dream" school will be opening in the 1998-1999 school year and I can't wait. Between all of my committee meetings, my own 2/3 grade combination classroom of 19 students, building our dream house and enjoying my son Raphael--I live for the weekends. The staff at SDSU have always made me feel at home. I always recommend SDSU and am a proud alumni of the Department of Child and Family Development. Please feel free to contact me!