It often feels ironic that I wound up being a middle and high school Spanish teacher because I was a terrible Spanish student in high school and left school believing that I was simply not good at learning language. When I arrived at college and learned that I had to take language as a requirement for my BA, I was not happy and decided to take Spanish in the hopes that some of it stuck. On the first day of class I was immediately struck by the difference in instruction and the classroom atmosphere from my previous experience. My high school teacher was dry and spent the whole class period lecturing. It was painfully boring. In contrast, my college professor dove right into the class with rapid fire questions, music, games, and took the time to slow down and answer questions if anything was unclear. On that day, I fell in love with language. That professor taught me that learning should be joyful. It should be dynamic rather than static, and that when students are engaged meaningfully, learning occurs.

I’ve spent my teaching career in boarding school settings, which helped me to consider my students’ experiences both in and out of the classroom. Because I lived in residence halls with students, I was often reminded that they walk into our classrooms coming off of a failed rehearsal, a missed goal, a break-up, a tough conversation with a parent, a bad test grade, a rough class before mine, etc. Taking those things into consideration, I paused before putting a zero into a gradebook for a missed assignment or coming down on a student if they were seeking a lot of negative attention during class. I found that a quiet conversation after class to better understand what might be getting in the way of their learning was as valuable to their learning as what we were doing in the classroom. These conversations also enabled me to better understand how to students them as they navigated getting back on track.

My last department chair was one of my most valued mentors and is someone that I still seek out when I’m wrestling with something. I appreciated that she held us to a high standard, while doing everything she could to make sure that we felt supported and that we had opportunities to learn and improve. I liked it when she observed my classes because she was generous with positive feedback while providing constructive suggestions for ways to enhance our instruction. Her visits never felt punitive (which they can feel) and always felt like an opportunity to become a better educator. This translates to the classroom and is something that I was mindful of when reviewing student work or in my interactions with students.