Rachel Romines (2006)
More than 1,300 Miles
As she entered the room, her enthusiasm grew. The classroom was full of colorful displays and centers. Students were working in small groups with eyes focused on the assigned task. She knew learning was taking place. The second-grade teacher, Susan 
Olsen, welcomed Rachel Romines-Hokanson to the classroom. This would be Rachel’s student teaching site for three months at Robbin E. L. Washington Elementary School (REL Washington Elementary).
Rachel taught various core subjects to the 21 students. Ethnic diversity in the classroom was 95%. Students also had instruction in other subjects such as computers, library, physical education, and fine arts. Rachel appreciated the positive classroom management structure within the classroom. She easily adapted as she began to increase the amount of time per day that she was teaching. She also believed the established communication between parents and the teacher had a strong positive influence on student learning within the classroom.
REL Washington Elementary has 569 students and includes grades K-6. It is one of 36 elementary schools in the Ysleta Independent School District in El Paso, Texas. The building principal was Emilio Quiroz. In the 60 schools in the district, 3,075 teachers educate 44,888 students on a daily basis. The class size average for elementary schools is 21 students.
Rachel graduated from Morris High School in Morris, Illinois. After graduating in December 2006 from WIU with a BS in Elementary Education, she moved to Birmingham, Alabama, with her husband. Rachel appreciated the opportunities for expanding her teaching experiences while at REL Washington Elementary. She described her experience as “wonderful” and indicated it was well worth traveling the more than 1,300 miles to be a part of the learning process in this second-grade classroom. She is now ready for a career in teaching.