December 31, 2011
On the last day of the year, as I soak up my last bit of home before heading back to Arkansas tomorrow and back to my kiddos and Aula 6A on Monday, I realize that I have so much to be thankful for and that I have learned so very much in 2011. There have been many moments where I have wanted to stay in bed rather than brave another day teaching Spanish to teenagers, but there have also been moments that I have cried from joy and high-kicked (yes, literally) in honor of student mastery.
At the beginning of this calendar year, I was preparing myself for my TFA commitment, reading blogs and fantasizing about having my own orderly classroom where students would want to learn as much Spanish as possible and would study and succeed at extremely high levels. I ended up with a clutter of a…
Teaching is exhausting. I should be sleeping now, but I am am asking (read: begging) for help instead. This March, during our school’s Spring Break, I am taking 12 of my Spanish II and III students to Honduras for a service trip. We will be working at a school and orphanage for abused, neglected and…
read more »
My kiddos always ask me about the tattoo on my right ankle. It looks like this: My best friend and I were both born in early June, eight days apart, and, while in Spain a few years ago, we got matching Gemini tattoos. According to Tarot.com (legit, I know), the “Gemini world is one of duality.”…
read more »Me: “Chicos, how do you expect to become bilingual and biliterate if you aren’t immersed in the language?” Spanish III girl: “Profe, we aren’t even literate.” Me (to Spanish I boy who never shuts up): “I do not care what you have to say. Right now, we are working, not chatting. Cállate.” Boy: “Fine. See…
read more »I just created my first DonorsChoose.org project. I need some books for my kiddos so they can continue to grow their love for reading as they learn about Latino culture. The achievement gap is as much an exposure gap as it is a literacy gap, so I want to tackle both with some amazing literature!…
read more »Here is a conversation that transpired in my Spanish III class today: Student: “Profe, you’re TFA right?” Me: “Sí.” Student: “So you’re leaving us after two years, right?” Me: “Nope. I’ll be here as long as they let me keep teaching Spanish.” Student: “Yay!” Sadly, I wish I could say that this was an isolated…
read more »Tomorrow begins Week 4 already?!¿¡!? Holy cow! So much has happened, and things are so much different than I imagined. I had so many ideas of what this experience would be like, but most of them were completely wrong. There I went thinking again. I thought I would cling to TFA and my fellow CMs.…
read more »So much (and yet so little!) has happened in the past few weeks. I am currently sitting in my hotel room, my casa for the next three weeks, and I am so bored and restless and excited and motivated and anxious and tired and every other emotion you can think of. I have those moments…
read more »Institute is over. I’m moved out of the dorm, sitting in the DSU Union waiting for the last day of Orientation to begin. It doesn’t feel real. I am so excited to finally be done with Institute and to be getting ready to plan for my year in my Spanish classroom with my students! The…
read more »Almost two weeks have passed since I last posted, and it is now the Sunday before the last week of Institute! How did this happen?¡ I am so excited, nervous, overwhelmed, and a little sad (yes, I said it) that it’s almost over. I will be teaching high school Spanish in Arkansas in a little…
read more »
Teach For Us thanks our national sponsor for its generous support
