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Ms. Toering’s passion for teaching and the ability to lead students to success in the classroom has been shaped over the past 13 years as she has taught. Here at Eureka High School Ms. Toering teaches Spanish 1 and Spanish 4; however, there is more to Ms. Toering than what meets the eye. In middle school and high school, Ms. Toering took as many Spanish classes as possible. It was at Thomas Metcalf School she began to take Spanish classes. “I started taking Spanish in sixth grade at Metcalf,” said Ms. Toering. Ms. Toering went University High School and continued to take Spanish classes. She said, “At U-High, I took a Spanish 2, Spanish 3, and a college course.” Soon after graduating high school, Ms. Toering
From a very early age, perhaps the age of six or seven, I realized that I enjoyed disputing things. As I grew older, I attempted to curb this tendency, since I thought it might negatively impact people’s views of me, but I never intended to stamp it out, as it was too integral to my nature.
Introduction Teachers have become gateway keepers to providing education to students. Over the span of several years, teachers have been criticized for being unprepared, unable to adapt to different learning styles, and are increasing the number of students who aren’t learning. With this achievement gap increasing, it brings up the idea of what the education system is doing wrong and what improvements it needs to make. The education system needs to be redesigned to strengthen its curriculum, it’s connection to both practice and theory, and the idea of a powerful educator. The first aspect of this memo contains an interview with Diana Regalado De Santiago, a math teacher in the Socorro Independent School District for the past six years.
She is now starting to fit in but still feels a sense of loss. ‘I
It was difficult for me because I didn’t always understand certain words or phrases in English that I knew in Spanish, and sometimes I felt left out. In the middle of the year, my family moved me to a school with a Bilingual Program. Again, I had a hard time because now I had to learn all of the letter names and sounds in Spanish that I had been learning in English.
We lived in a small town called Fort Hancock, Texas with my grandparents. Everyone just spoke Spanish in that town and for that reason, I learned to just speak Spanish first. When we moved to Oklahoma City I was five. I had to transition to English, which was hard. I got made fun of, but luckily improved later on my literacy journey.
As a child, I had to navigate from an English-speaking classroom to a Spanish-speaking home. At eight in the morning I was given instruction in English by my professors at school. After three in the afternoon at home, I engaged in Spanish conversation with my mother, father, and siblings. When the summer vacation came around, it was back to speaking Spanish only, and then I regained the Mexican accent that had faded away during the school year. My experience learning English was different from what earlier Spanish-speaking generations in the United States dealt with.
The Instructional leadership team meeting took place on November 15, 2017. The people in the meeting were: cooperating teacher; Amber Merrick, field supervisor; Melba Foster, and teacher candidate, Aide K Soto. The meeting started with acknowledgments by Aide K Soto to recognize Miss. Merrick for her support, expertise, and gentleness. Miss. Soto reflected on her last experiences including; first teaching performance, meetings with colleagues, relationships with students, and interactions with parents. In the areas of strengths, Miss. Soto recognized that being bilingual aid her to communicate with Spanish speaking parents. Relating to areas of improvement, Miss. Soto needs to learn more about school activities
On October 26th, 2016, I had a phone interview with Mrs. Alexsundra Henry, who is an eighth grade gifted language arts teacher at Richards Middle School. She has been a middle school teacher for over twenty years and had experience teaching grade levels sixth to eighth grade. To be a middle school teacher, it is required to have a Bachelor’s degree of education and have at least a minimum of 6 months to 1 year of teaching experience. However, Mrs. Henry took a different educational direction by receiving her Bachelors in mass communications (similar to English) and Master’s in education.
and my I’s, it was difficult to learn the different sounds. It was hard for me to grasp the concept of learning Spanish, because I was too young to keep up. It would have been easier for me if my dad had waited until I was older to understand. A better method would have been to enroll me into a head step school that would have helped him with his teaching. When I started school, I was put into ESL classes to help my development in both Spanish and English.
My interest in teaching started at a young age. I used to watch my teachers in awe as they were able to find new ways to get their students involved and excited to learn. Their enthusiasm to teach was so inspiring. I would often find myself using that same fervor as I grasped each concept. I, then, was able to relay it to my fellow classmates as a peer tutor. To this day, becoming a teacher is a passion that flows through me. However, my enthusiasm and passion are not the only reasons I would be a good teacher. I aspire to see a student’s ability to grasp the knowledge they never before understood. I aspire to see a student succeed at something they never thought they ever could. I aspire to not only support students with academic skills, but also with life lessons about the value of community, pride in one’s own ethnicity, good citizenship, sportsmanship, and more. I aspire to play a fundamental role in ensuring that all students from all cultures and learning abilities have the opportunity to be guided in a positive learning
My cooperating teacher has been employed in the field of education for 19 plus years. She has been in her current position as a Pre-Kindergarten teacher at the Lighthouse Learning Center for 12 years. Observing a teacher who has so many years of experience in the classroom is very beneficial. She shared with me this week her teaching philosophy that has evolved from her many years in the classroom. The components of her philosophy include a focus on people, strategies, and tools.
I had the privilege to observe Ms. Melanie Cagles’s kindergarten classroom. I did my observation at the Jasper County Primary School. Her classroom was a regular educational classroom. It consisted of male and female students of Hispanic, White, and African American races. Ms. Cagle is a kind teacher and she made me feel welcomed. She treated me with respect and showed me around her classroom with details. She always had a smile on her face. She was happy and showed cared for her students. One thing I noticed and liked about her is that she treats all her students with the same respect they deserve. The students received me with smiles and a lot of questions. They asked why I was there, how old I am, what is my name over and over, and will I be their teacher. They whisper that I was the
I did notice learning Spanish at an early age helped me retain vocabulary over a long period of time. Even though I did not learn a large amount of vocabulary and grammar, what I did learn stuck with me for years. When I finally revisited Spanish in high school, I had to learn the basics all over again. The structure of the class did not make it easy for me to remember much vocabulary after the semesters, or even after a few class periods. I think there were a number of reasons why I never retained as much Spanish as I did in kindergarten compared to when I learned it in high
When I was growing up, I remember attending elementary school, learning a new language seems to be difficult at first, but I was able to learn the English language because of the dedication of one of my teachers. Now, as I reflect on this experience, it is obvious that she was dedicated and enjoyed teaching her students to be successful. I know today that she made a difference in my life as I navigated through my education experience and high school years to present.
Mrs. Alvarado was not only my teacher, but she was also my role model and my inspiration. She pushed me when I believed that I could not achieve success or meet my goals. I never had confidence in myself and I would always give up easily when a task was too difficult. However, Mrs. Alvarado never gave up on me and continued to motivate me even through my tantrums. My low confidence came from me not being able to be at the same level as the other students. In fact, I had trouble with reading and writing because of the