Part of the reason I am going through the promotion process is because I am dedicated to being a leader in Spanish department, and lead future opportunities to connect and collaborate with other departments.
Team Teaching
Before Annamarie and I began co-teaching together, we had limited experience working in a classroom with another instructor. The year before I came was her first year co-teaching, and I had only been a mentor teacher to a student teacher. It has taken us time to learn how to leverage two Spanish teachers in our classroom. She has been incredibly open to new ideas and learning new ways to leverage technology to increase student growth. One thing we do together that has made many of our lessons more successful is editing each other’s daily lesson plans and ask clarifying questions. The designated lead teacher explains each activity to the supporting teacher, and the supporting teacher looks at it with the eyes of a wiley student who may try to derail the lesson by finding ways out of working. Through this process we can modify challenging lessons and troubleshoot potential problems before we are in front of students, ensuring that every lesson is as smooth as possible. Another activity we collaborate on is writing measurable objectives so that students understand what they are learning, how it fits into the rest of our curriculum, and how it will help them be a knowledgeable traveler.
This year we have found a nice grove by being the lead teacher of the grade level team that we are on. I support her as she lead teaches 10th grade, and she supports me as I lead teach 9th grade. To allow the lead teacher to completely focus on instruction the support teacher monitor tardies, uniforms, bathroom breaks, behavior for independent learning grades, workforce enforcement, and disruptive students. She also keep tabs on email for students who may need to go see another staff member. Depending on what the lesson may entail, she may also lead a specific group on a different activity. We keep one Google Doc with our daily lessons plans and the support teacher take notes on directions or activities that went particularly well and highlights areas we need to develop further before the next trimester.
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Not only do we plan lessons together, but we debrief the notes together. It is similar to what we've observe Darr, Barefoot, Ovial and Long do. For Spanish 9 and Spanish 10 we discuss the following
It is humbling and helpful to have another set of eyes and ears that observe different students in the shared classroom. Our constant communication and coordination demonstrate to students that we are on the same page. By having two, completely engaged instructors focused on creating a positive learning environment during the entire class, our students know we expect them to work, and they are less likely to refuse to engage.
Content Area
Within the Spanish content area I lead by being organized and transparent. I focus on possible solutions and opportunities for growth. We try to provide as many opportunities as possible to allow our students to continue to pursue a rigorous study of Spanish. We have worked together as a department to align our curriculums and provide consistency across the grade levels. One example of this is the 5 minute Daily Oral Practice activity at the beginning of every class in every grade. All students ask and answer questions in Spanish, thus helping with retention and listening/speaking skills.
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Interdisciplinary Collaboration
Many a Spanish department meeting hours have been spent on lamenting the loss of traditional Spanish curriculum programing at City High. However, a focus I continue to bring is how we can expand our student’s knowledge of Latino cultural literacy by partnering with other content areas. I believe it is through collaborating with other content areas that we can work to grow the department into a strong, relevant part of the city high experience. The skills we develop in Spanish class will serve the students far beyond the trimesters they have Spanish.
We’ve begun by partnering with Research class in Spanish 9. Not only do we reinforce dot jot notes and active reading strategies, we also plan week long units collaboratively to research topics in Hispanic culture. We have researched various aspects of Latin American countries as well as Ancient American cultures. We also partner in a unit about immigration where students research causes and effects of immigration, and work to answer the question How should immigration in the United States be more or less restricted? We have found that these collaborations lead to increase understanding and engagement with complex issues.
There are other opportunities I have thought of, including possible scenarios where Spanish teachers have a 3 year loop and students can take Spanish at CCAC or Point Park senior year.
I also work to collaborate across our school through our Costa Rica program. I am honored to work on this unique opportunity provided by our school to our students. Last year I helped plan a few lessons in the class before we went to Costa Rica, including bringing in two guest speakers. In addition to collaborating with other educators planning the trip, when I chaperoned the trip I helped translate and support our students during the trip. I also took photos of our activities, some of which have been feature on the City High homepage.
Last year I was learning about the program and experiencing it for the first time. This year I am the only person from City High going on the trip who has done so before, which means I am responsible for making sure the all parties attending the trip are prepared. While Keiha Peck is instrumental is coordinating the trip details, I have taken a leadership role within the staff and students going on the trip. I now teach the Latin American Studies class twice a week, to help prepare the students for the Spanish they will be expected to use, the blog we will maintain throughout the trip, and help answer basic questions regarding the experience. In many ways the Latin American Studies class is the culmination of our essential question - we are preparing the students to be knowledgeable travelers on a trip we get to experience together. I look forward to being a consistent resource for the Costa Rica program each year.
Another opportunity is 11th grade Cult Lit class when students focus on global issues and international literature. That is a perfect opportunity for English, Social Studies, and Spanish teachers to collaborate. (In fact, I’ve already wrote down some thoughts).
Grade Level and School Wide Collaboration
Beyond my department I support other teachers in the school, on my grade level as well as across the teams. As a teacher split on two different floors I work with two groups of teachers. Since starting at City High I have facilitated two sessions during our Professional Development days on ways to integrate Google Apps for Education (GAFE) into the classroom. One was on utilizing Google Docs, Presentations and Forms. Lou Tamler stated that this session “was well conceived, well run and of real value” to the participants. I also co-led a session with Stacee Barefoot about creating websites for classes with Google Sites.
In addition to facilitating workshops regarding GAFE, I also make myself available for one-on-one assistance with colleagues and their specific needs. Last year I helped Angela Musto use Google Calendar as a way to sign out small breakout rooms in the senior wing. I helped Trish Howison create this year’s 2015 Scientific Literacy site. And I continue to help Stacee Barefoot and Kelly Darr with tips and tricks on their 2017 Scientific Literacy site, such as link PDF files of homework to the Calendar on their page.
On my grade level team I maintain high expectations for all students. I focus on creating positive relationships with students in the classroom, in the hall, and in advisory. As a non-looping teacher I support Sable’s advisory. I also help Harrop create advisory lessons. I also help create and present the 2017 grade level presentation to the leadership team. One of the areas I support all teachers is by helping to manage students who are sent to the teacher’s office during 3rd block. I have monitored students as they call home for misbehavior and spoken to them about ways to stay engaged and on task in class.
Last year I was on the 2015 Independent Learning committee with Linda Savido, Mark Barga, Cliff Luft and Yvonne Costable. We met on a weekly basis to discuss what Independent Learning meant for our grade level and how we should scaffold our classes to help students be successful independent learners. I have taken many of the conversations and actions we came up with in those meetings and added them to the discussion about Independent Learning on the 2017 grade level team.
Finally, I am a positive collaborator on the Transition Middle States Committee. I choose to work on that committee because as a teacher who currently only loops in 9th and 10th grade I believed this would be a great opportunity for me to learn about our post-secondary program. Trish Howison and I have created a timetable of actions that would be collaboratively implemented in advisory, career class and parent teacher conference days as a way to share students’ post secondary plans with advisors and parents in an intentional manner.