Welcome, I would like to introduce myself; my name is Milagros Madera . I was born and raised only seven blocks away from Elias Howe. I attended the City College of New York, graduating in 1986 from the Honors Program with a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education. I continued my education and received an MS in Bilingual Education from the City College of New York in 1991. I co-wrote an article with Ofelia García, entitled Spanish ability among second generation Nuyoricans: A study of its determinants. It was published in the book: Spanish in Four Continents. Studies in Language Contact and Bilingualism edited by Carmen Silva-Corvalan.
I had a full scholarship to the doctoral program in Theoretical Linguistics at the Graduate Center, a City University of New York but I missed teaching children. I completed 45 doctoral credits in Linguistics before returning to educating students. I consider myself to be a life-long learner and continue to take courses.
I am taking this opportunity to welcome you to my pre-kindergarten class at PS 51 (Elias Howe School). I value parents and guardians as the first educators of children. I believe that it is vital to a child’s education to keep an ongoing and positive relationship between school and home.
I feel so lucky that I love my job and it is such a pleasure to come to work everyday. Over the past 22 years, I have taught children at all age levels, from pre-school through the eighth grade, and have had the opportunity to work not just with children but adults as well. I have taught adults English as A Second Language and Citizenship classes. I have also taught undergraduate and graduate courses in linguistics, TESOL, and bilingual education.
I am proud to teach at PS 51; in fact, I think the school has such wonderful teachers and a nurturing learning environment that both of my children attend the school.
My basic philosophy is to provide classroom experiences that create an excitement and desire for learning. The uniqueness of each child is recognized and the children are given the opportunity to make choices. My aim is to have your child regard our school in a positive manner and to discover that learning is fun!
