1 0 • GCU TODAY
the student really fly along to the point where they’re
doing the planning, the grading — they’re managing the
classroom.”
Stirring the underachievers
The sixth graders in Jorge Ontiveros’ class at Palomino
Intermediate School make up the bottom 25 percent
of their grade’s academic performance. Many of
the students are still learning to read at their own
grade level, and some have Individualized Education
Programs, or IEPs.
“I should hear talking. My room shouldn’t be quiet,” Ontiveros
warned the class, firmly yet compassionately, while presenting an
assignment on the roots of Hinduism, part of a world religions unit.
Palomino and its neighboring elementary school are nestled between
one of the newest Boys and Girls Clubs in the Valley and a park once
threatened by gangs and drugs. But neighborhood partnerships with the
police and other stakeholders have helped improve the overall quality of
life in the square-mile Palomino area, known in north Phoenix as “the
Square.” The schools have played a major role.
Ontiveros, a Rodel Exemplary Teacher who is working on a master’s
degree in educational leadership from GCU, mentored GCU alumna
Hannah Lasley during her Rodel Promising Student Teacher placement
last fall.
The school’s Rodel Exemplary Principal, Jenny Robles, wanted to hire
Lasley before she completed the program but had to settle for bringing
her on board in December. The school had an opening in a fifth-grade
class, and the principal was so sure of Lasley’s poise that
she had her start immediately.
This semester, Ontiveros is mentoring GCU senior
Emily Wagner. She and two other seniors, Reyannin
Haggard and Jessica Wood, make up the current Rodel
Promising Student Teacher class.
Wagner, 22, experienced many firsts in her first few
weeks at Palomino. She recently met for the first time with
a parent about a critical issue with a student.
“It made me remember why I wanted to teach in the
first place,” she said.
During the Hinduism assignment, Wagner floated among groups
of students, stopping once to define pilgrimage. “It’s like a religious
journey,” she told the students and showed them how to search online
for the foundational values of the Hindu faith, as they had for Judaism
and other faiths earlier. Wagner encountered resistance but eventually
had them willing to follow directions.
“Once they get it, their whole attitude changes and they’re completely
different people for the rest of the day,” she said, recalling one moment
when a girl in the class connected with the material and spent the rest of
the day grinning ear to ear.
Wagner has learned that Ontiveros tries to make her feel comfortable
and allows her to make mistakes. For Ontiveros, it’s about infusing the
student teachers with the confidence to “let them fail, let them try.”
“Whether it’s good or bad, we always reflect,” he said. “There’s always
an opportunity to improve.”
Palomino Intermediate
School teacher Jorge
Ontiveros (far left), a Rodel
Exemplary Teacher, coaches
students with GCU student
EmilyWagner, his Rodel
Promising Student Teacher
for the spring semester.
