Marissa Marquez-Ocampo chose kindergarten teaching for her senior project. She wanted to help non-English speaking students and encourage parental involvement, as she struggled without her parents' involvement when she first started school in the US not speaking English well. For her project, she created lesson plans and tutored a student named Omar in English, having a positive experience that reinforced her desire to become a teacher, especially an ESOL teacher able to serve both English and Spanish speaking students. She found the senior project process initially seemed like a waste of time but ended up choosing a topic perfectly suited to her future career goals.

1. 1550 Owens Store Road
Canton, GA 30115
April 28, 2012
Judges, Senior Project
Creekview High School
1550 Owens Store Road
Canton, GA 30115
Dear Judges:
My name is Marissa Marquez-Ocampo. I’m a student from Creekview High School and
for my Senior Project I did kindergarten teaching. The reason I chose kindergarten teaching was
because kindergarten was the start of my education here in the United States of America where I
couldn’t speak English very well, but I want to make a change. I want to be the first Hispanic
teacher from my family to actually help the non-speaking students and as well encourage parents
to participate more in their children’s education, but also I want to be a kindergarten teacher
because I enjoy being with children. As I was remembering when I was in kindergarten I
remembered that my classmate’s parents would get involved in our class’s activities, but I would
never see my parents there. They would always tell me they couldn’t because it was no use to
contribute if they didn’t know how to communicate with the teachers or parents. I really
struggled throughout school but I never gave up on trying.
In my research of kindergarten teaching I found that being a kindergarten teacher is not easy.
Teachers actually put a lot of effort for their students to learn the basics like reading and math
and also social studies and science. As teacher begins a unit they have to create lesson plans. The
lesson plans are for about a two week teaching. Lesson plans help teachers get organized and
also follow up for what they are going to do for the day. Teachers also have activities that follow
the lessons so as students learn they also have fun learning.
My product was to create lesson plans and also to help a student with his English. My
facilitator, Ms. Rogers helped me begin my product. She showed me an example of how lesson
plans are created. In Mimosa Elementary School kindergarten teachers have a specific format
when creating their lessons. Ms. Rogers at first was confused about what my product was going
to be, but then I explained to her and she finally understood. I also used one of Ms. Rogers’s
students as my product, his name is Omar. Omar is 6 he is a student from Mimosa and one of my
facilitators’ students. I was introduced to Omar’s family through Ms. Rogers because she thought
Omar could need a tutor. I was delighted to help him in his English. Omar was a great student
and perfect example for me. I helped him most likely with his reading and understanding the
concepts of what he reading and writing. Math for him was not too difficult, but I still helped
him. I had an amazing experience. I felt like a teacher.

2. As I was working and communicating with Ms. Rogers and as well helping Omar with
his English I realized that this is where I want to be. I want to become a teacher and help, but
then yet I realized that what I really want is to be an ESOL teacher. This is a great advantage for
me as a Hispanic student because I can both speak English and Spanish as my first language and
a petit of French. I think that it would be a major improvement for me because I can encourage
parents to be more involved in their children’s education and also because I would be a great
example for my family.
In my opinion, at first I thought this whole process of Senior Project was a waste of time,
but then I changed my mind. I think I chose the perfect topic as my Senior Project because it
relates to me in way that I can take this, step ahead, and move on to an actual career in my future.
Judges, I want to thank you for taking up your time and in reading my letter of me
explaining what my Senior Project was about and how I accomplished my goals.
Sincerely,
Marissa Marquez-Ocampo