A New Possibility:
Job Shadowing Raquel Marquez
Last week, as part of my senior project assignments, I completed my job shadow interview. I scheduled a day where I could follow the person of my job shadow and I could see her practice her job and learn from it. I interviewed Raquel Marquez, a Special Education teacher in Middle School in Porterville. I have always thought well about teachers that pursue a career in this field I believe that it takes a kind, admirable and devoted person for this job. It is not that these kids are not easy to love, and from experience I can say that they are extremely easy to love, but because it is a challenge. Children like these have always been my admiration they make us reflect on life and make us
realize how lucky we are to live a normal life. I love to see how they try and how they take advantage of their education when some kids like us take that for granted. I have always said that kids with these special needs and disabilities are a gift. They are gifts from above that have come to teach everyone to value life and value what they have. I have always been interested in a career in this field. I love children in
general but something about these kids has always had some sort of impact in my life. I have been around many children with special needs and disabilities, therefore I have learned to respect them and treat them as they deserve to be treated.
I honestly expected to not completely love the job. I predicted to feel awkward in the classroom. To my surprise it was the complete opposite. All the teachers were nice to me and treated me well. They were okay with answering all the questions I had for them and I learned many new things. The children were exceptionally well behaved. They were sweet kids beyond all; they were interested in my visit and asked me many questions. Many of them were able to communicate and those who couldn’t simply smiled to show their friendliness toward me. I felt welcomed in the class room. A couple of children were in the severely handicapped group and those neither smiled nor talked but one of them did manage to stretch her arm out and touched me with her cute yet saliva filled hand. Something I thought I would mind I realized I didn’t I thought it was cute of her to demonstrate her interest in me in that way.
The whole day passed by smoothly but there was a moment where I was intimidated by the work Marquez had to do. The kids have a physical education period towards the end of the day where they exercise and have fun by playing soccer. One of the girls in Marquez’s class was having a great time playing with her friends when suddenly she dropped to the floor. She was having an asthma attack. Fortunately, Marquez knew how to act quickly and ran to the room. In a matter of seconds she was back on the field with the girls’ inhaler. She quickly
came and helped the child and soon the girl was back on her feet. This moment was really shocking for me, I had never seen an asthma attack in my life. I am not sure that if I was in Raquel Marquez’s shoes I would have been able to act that quickly. I understood that in order to have a career in this job and take care of your students as best as possible you must have to think quickly and have fast instincts. You must be able to act fast and not panic as well as have a good memory to know what each one of your students’ needs especially because half of them cannot speak.
Over all my experience at Barlett Middle School was amazing. The most memorable moment that I will stay in my heart forever was the last twenty minutes of class; where the kids had a Zumba session to end their exercise routine. I saw these happy and energetic children dance and jump up and down without a care in the world. One of the kids was so involved in the Zumba video that he moved his hips and body as if imitating the famous Shakira. It was amusing and heartwarming to see him so into the dance. It made me happy to see that these kids, even with the challenges they face, manage to maintain a smile in their face. I understood why Marquez said that her job is the most rewarding and why she wouldn’t trade it for the world.
In the end, I realized that I am completely compatible with a career in this field. It has good hours, it is only a Monday through Friday job and you have all summer and holidays off. I really enjoyed the environment and I felt great with the kids. The only part that intimidates me is being able to act in an emergency. I feel that if I do not know how to act quickly like Marquez does I would be putting a child’s life in danger.
My experience by following Raquel Marquez in her workplace has given me a new idea of what to study and what I want to do with my life. There is still a lot to think about but this job completely fascinated me.