My Philosophies

My Educational Background & Teaching Philosophy

I knew ever since I was a young girl that I wanted to be a teacher. I always loved school. I also acquired a passion for languages and cultures very early. I have traveled and studied all over the world and am able to enrich and enhance my classes with this knowledge and experience. I have taught Spanish for over ten years and have been a student for over 25. As a non-native Spanish speaker, I understand the struggles and frustrations of learning a different language. This has actually helped me as a world language teacher and as an educational leader. I know that all students are capable of learning a different language and I intend to facilitate and guide their learning so that they are capable of their full language potential. Being a teacher is one of the most challenging, yet one of the most rewarding professions. In order to be the best world language teacher possible, I follow my personal guidelines of: being positive, accessible, fair, relevant, understanding, flexible, communicative and proficiency oriented, motivating, enthusiastic, showing respect, interacting and communicating thoroughly/positively, having high expectations, integrating technology, and providing timely and corrective feedback. I believe that these criteria used along with the five basic foreign language skills are essential for a positive and effective foreign language learning experience.

The most effective teachers are the ones that have positive relationships with their students. Being positive is very important, especially in foreign languages where students feel that they have been transported into another world where everything is difficult to understand and confusing. Along these same lines, the teacher must be accessible to the students not only when conflicts and issues arise, but in general for practice, interaction, and reassurance. Fairness is important from daily interaction to grading. Relevance is something that didn’t seem as important when I was in school. However, it is extremely important to today’s students. With the variety of stimuli and opportunities in the world, students are always asking why they need to know something and what use it will be. I teach keeping this in mind and provide my students with a realistic and relevant foreign language experience. In this experience, I am understanding of the students’ backgrounds, beliefs, previous knowledge, previous experiences, and situations. I take pride in diversity and thrive on any opportunity to share experiences with my classes. Life happens; therefore, a great teacher must be flexible and willing to work with students and their situations. Specifically for foreign languages, students must be able to communicate, yet must display a certain level of proficiency. My teaching philosophy is a blend of communicative and proficiency based so that students can reach their maximum potential in Spanish, while being effective and relevant. Personally, I try to motivate students in a variety of ways from positive verbal praise to special awards and ceremonies. When teaching, one of my most notable qualities is my enthusiasm. I am able to convey my passion for languages and cultures to my students, which is one of my main goals. In addition, showing respect to students is critical. In order to gain respect, one must show respect. Communication is vital, especially in foreign languages. It is not only a huge part of the curriculum, but must be thorough and positive in general as well. Another one of my most notable qualities is having high expectations of my students. I set the bar high and expect great work and effort out of my students and am a firm believer that students will rise to the level of expectations. In my classes, whether in the face-to-face or online environment, I am a huge advocate and promoter of technology integration. There are so many exciting new web 2.0 tools for foreign languages and I provide the opportunity to learn and use a wide variety of them (such as, but not limited to: blogs, wikis, podcasts, Screencasts, Voicethread, Audacity, Blackboard, videos, Google docs, Twitter, Animoto, Slideshare). Last, but definitely not least, I provide timely, specific, and directive feedback for my students on their work. I always tell my students that I actually like for and want them to make mistakes because that is how they learn. I model those errors and corrections for other students. I also tell them that if they got everything correct, then what is my purpose? I challenge my students and help them acquire the language skills needed to be successful in whatever career or life choice they choose.

Along with my personal aforementioned traits and qualities, the substance of foreign language education comes from the five C’s of the curriculum set forth by America Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. They are Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons, and Communities. These categories have and are broken down into sub-categories in different states and countries, but in essence, they are the same. I follow these five C’s strictly in my teaching. I agree whole-heartedly with what they represent according to ACTFL: “Communication is at the heart of second language study, whether the communication takes place face-to-face, in writing, or across centuries through the reading of literature. Through the study of other languages, students gain a knowledge and understanding of the cultures that use that language and, in fact, cannot truly master the language until they have also mastered the cultural contexts in which the language occurs. Learning languages provides connections to additional bodies of knowledge that may be unavailable to the monolingual English speaker. Through comparisons and contrasts with the language being studied, students develop insight into the nature of language and the concept of culture and realize that there are multiple ways of viewing the world. Together, these elements enable the student of languages to participate in multilingual communities at home and around the world in a variety of contexts and in culturally appropriate ways.” Combining all of these categories provides the opportunity to produce well-rounded, knowledgeable, insightful, language proficient, culturally tolerant and understanding students.

Last, but not least, the world language curriculum has gone through a major transformation in the last several years. There is now a much bigger focus on language proficiency, as compared to accuracy. I am a true believer and advocate for proficiency-based world language instruction (and for mastery-based learning, in general). It just makes sense. It's imperative that students establish a strong foundation of knowledge before they move on to the next concept(s). Furthermore, learning should be engaging and relevant. It shouldn't be confined to four walls or a textbook. Students should be able to demonstrate mastery and move forward, without being held back. In this aspect, this is a very exciting time for education. New courses and content are being developed to help create successful 21st century learners and doers. I'm eager to see what lies ahead!

My eLearning & Instructional Technology Philosophy

In a recent publication of Higher Education in an Era of Digital Competition , Donald Hanna stated, "the challenge is not simply to incorporate learning technologies into current institutional approaches, but rather to change our fundamental views about effective teaching and learning and to use technology to do so." This quote directly reflects my views on distance learning and the fact that we are preparing a different type of learner. The way that students learn and teachers reach/teach them is different in today's world and is constantly evolving. As educators, we must not only be open and willing to such change, but be beacons of innovation and continual improvement. In the face-to-face classroom, technology can help and hinder. The key is to finding engaging age and content area appropriate resources. Using a wide variety of technology can make things interesting for students, but can also overwhelm them. It is important to assess the pros and cons of the technology and to assess if the students is learning more and benefiting more from the use of the technology or not. Technology can benefit teachers greatly, as well, in their planning, preparation, and organization for class. For more information about my use of instructional technology, please visit the "Instructional Technology" page of this website.