Irma Garcia Interview

I interviewed a middle adulthood female named Irma Garcia. She is 55 years old who retired from being a childcare provider five years ago, due to health issues. Also, a widow with four grown children of her own. As we talked she informed me of her education level. She has a high school diploma and some college credits. She only did a year and wished she had finished her education. She came from a Catholic working family that taught her to be an independent and hard worker. Ms. Garcia is now self-employed as a baker. She bakes homemade cakes as a means of income. To keep herself busy she loves to play dominos and bingo with her friends on the weekend. In her spare time, she loves to read novels and self-help books, such as knitting and cross-stitching
to add to her homemade selling products. In my notes I realized that Ms.
Garcia’s was more into learning how to make homemade products by surfing the internet for self-help reading or videos. I found it interesting that 25 years ago she would actually work to gain a stable income. To improved her skills she attending a certificate training program in an institution. Ms. Garcia was a hair stylist 25 years. She worked on Broadway Street in Manhattan and loved what she did. Her employer new she had skills, but needed to polish it up a bit and offer her to pay her training at an institution for hair stylist. After Ms. Garcia had her third child she decide to stay home to be a housewife. Having her children though she to be the best mother her girls could ever have. Once Ms. Garcia lost her husband do to cancer, she knew it was important to find means of income. Experiencing childbearing and understanding the importance of being a caretaker, gave Ms. Garcia the idea to open up her on business at home as a licensed childcare provider by the city of New York. In order for her to have gained her license as a provider she had to attend many educational trainings. Also, have her home inspected for qualifications from the city. She enjoyed caring for working families who needed someone to care for their children when they were at work. In 2013, Ms. Garcia had to close down her own business of Family Day Care. She had a heart condition that was very series and needed her to rest and not overdoing it. Today she keeps herself
busy, but without overdoing it. She is her own boss, takes her time and limits her client’s orders when she know she cannot do too much. Ms. Garcia has realized how she has changed over the past 25 years. With her experience in life she has taken it easy, being humble, very patient and eager to learn. She feels free now that she does not need to worry about racing her children or working a full time job. Even though she lives alone, she likes to go out and have a good time, and socialize with other. Ms. Garcia stated, “Having an active sociable life with people who care and love you brings joy and happiness, which is living a good life” (Garcia, 2017). To conclude, I saw how Ms.
Garcia was able to reflect upon her past experience when I used the critical incident questions to understand how she learns. Just as how Brookfield explained how adults use critical reflection to help them become aware of their thoughts and actions in their personal life experience (Brookfield, 1990). With this interview I was able to see what was Ms. Garcia’s subject matter preferences and learning activities. After many triggering factors that crossed her path in life, she had the ability to gain new knowledge or new experiences to help her get through her everyday life. After he husband past, Ms. Garcia realized she had to change her life style and go back to work. Just as the Scott McLean stated, “Individuals are encouraged to recover responsibility for their own lives by realizing their inner cognitive potential” (pg. 202). Ms. Garcia decided to obtain training on what she felt was meaningful to learn. In this case, was to become a licensed caretaker for other children family. Also, she was similar to some of the adult learners in the Neoliberal times, but very sociable and valued family. In addition, to how Ms. Garcia’s learned was by “reading self-help books” to enhance her understanding of new information that meet her preference in learning (McLean, 2015). This has help me understand her self –characterization to being a seeker of fulfilling her need of learning through self-help books. Also, by being a person with responsibilities and
maturation has helped me categorize her as a Third Agers. A person who is free of attachment, such as from racing children and not having a fulltime job. This puts Ms. Garcia as a lifelong learner because “lifelong learning provides third agers with meaning and purpose in their leisure and in their overall lives” (Talmage, Lacher, Pstross, Knopf, and Burkhart, 2015). As an adult educator, analyzing the interview with Ms. Garcia has helped me understand her process of learning. In her prior knowledge and experience, Ms. Garcia experiential learning has helped her become more aware of her ability to reflect, conceptualize and adapt in new situations no matter what risk factors she had encountered in her lifetime.