Originally published April 3, 2015
By Daniel Perez
UTEP News Service
Ask Cyndi Giorgis about The University of Texas at El Paso’s involvement in the planned Mesita Early Childhood Development Center (MECDC) at Vilas Elementary School and the UTEP administrator gets energized.
The El Paso Independent School District (EPISD) recently announced its plan to combine the student populations of two elementary schools near the University – Vilas and Mesita – into one school under one principal. The MECDC will serve Pre-K, kindergarten and first grade and be home to the district’s professional development school. The concept will benefit the Pre-K-5 students at both campuses who learn in a dual-language environment. In addition, UTEP’s faculty and students will be exposed to new teaching, learning and research opportunities starting in fall 2015.
Both sides continue to develop the scope of work, but Giorgis, Ph.D., dean of UTEP’s College of Education, said it will expand upon the University’s existing partnership with EPISD that includes research and pre-service/in-service professional development. It will involve additional classroom observations and opportunities for research in early childhood development, dual language and multiliteracies.
Her faculty already has started to share research ideas and weave one into another. The general feeling is that they want to be on the ground floor of something special, Giorgis said.
“We want this to be a model early childhood development center that could be replicated in El Paso, across the state and across the nation,” she said. “We’re comfortable and confident about what we can accomplish. Everything is doable.”
Giorgis praised the school district for its innovative plan to combine Mesita and Vilas elementary schools, which are located less than two miles apart, into one school with two campuses. Mesita, 3307 N. Stanton St., will serve second- through fifth-grade students. The MECDC (Vilas), 220 Lawton Drive, will accept prekindergarten through first grade students. Both schools will offer instruction in English, dual language, and gifted and talented dual language. MECDC will begin to offer Mandarin Chinese as part of its dual language track in fall 2015.
College of Education students who have reached junior class status and who are enrolled in teaching methods courses will be invited to participate in the program. Giorgis is looking for students interested in early childhood and eager for hands-on opportunities to teach lessons in conjunction with methods courses. They also should be willing to become part of that MECDC community.
“They need to see value in this model and become invested in it,” Giorgis said.
Alma Caudillo, a junior bilingual education major, called MECDC a “great idea” and wants to be part of the first UTEP student contingent that studies out of that campus. The Horizon City mother of three young children is taking her methods courses this spring and is considering taking some more this summer.
“The interest in the overall development of a child is important,” said Caudillo, who is attracted to early childhood research. “Curriculum should focus on meeting milestones for mental and physical development. I would be happy to be part of it.”
Jackie Al-Hanna, a Mesita dual language kindergarten teacher, said she looks forward to moving to the MECDC and helping new student teachers such as Caudillo to get comfortable in the classroom, but also to be ready to try new things. The El Paso native already has spoken with one of her former professors about a technology-focused research project using iPads.
Al-Hanna, a UTEP graduate who earned her bachelor’s in interdisciplinary studies in early childhood in 2010 and her master’s in children’s literature in 2012, has taught at Mesita for five years and was a tutor there four years before that.
“This is a wonderful opportunity to immerse young students and the student teachers,” said Al-Hanna, who expects to receive her Master of Education in education technology from UTEP in December 2015. “It’s very innovative.”
As part of the plan, University faculty and students would use learning labs set up by the district on the top floor of the MECDC. The labs also will be used for teacher professional development, said Ivonne Durant, EPISD chief of academics and school leadership.
Durant, who earned her Master of Education degree in administration from UTEP in 1977, said she is eager to see UTEP’s student teachers work with children in the classrooms at an earlier stage in their professional development.
“As a former classroom teacher, I value that very highly,” said Durant, an educator for more than 40 years who plans to help with teacher preparation at the MECDC. “We’re looking forward to improving the way we bring our teachers into our profession, and once they’re with us, how we continue to improve our practice through this collaboration.”
Durant credited Giorgis for being open to the collaboration and for her creative ways of enhancing teacher preparation. She also acknowledged Elena Izquierdo, Ph.D., associate professor of teacher education, for her body of work that made the dual language program successful within the El Paso High School feeder pattern.
Izquierdo, a Vilas graduate, said she hopes to be involved at least in the dual language and biliteracy components, but is thrilled with the focus on early childhood development. She said the greater involvement by UTEP’s faculty with their experience and research expertise will enrich the learning environment.
“It will be its own little world,” Izquierdo said of the MECDC. “This is going to be a new day for everyone.”