Presently, I am out in St. Louis, Missouri teaching Spanish at MICDS as well as coaching their 7th and 8th grade FTC robotics team. This spring I will be traveling with a group of our high school students to Argentina as part of an exchange program, and I will also have other opportunities to travel to Spain and Peru with students in the future.

At University of Delaware I was able to explore my interests in Spanish, Hispanic cultures, pedagogy and the sciences, all of which made it easier for me to market myself when going on the job hunt. Particularly important were my experiences living and studying abroad in Spain, Chile and Peru; as well as my experiences student teaching, TAing, and then part-time teaching at Wilmington Friends during my last year of graduate school.

During my time studying Spanish education and second language pedagogy at UD, I was able to learn about theories of second language acquisition and best practices that I was then able to transfer to my lessons at Friends as well as my lessons at MICDS. Here we focus on teaching language within the three modes of communication and according to ACTFL’s standards, for which I received a great foundation and understanding through my pedagogy and education classes while at UD. I also had the pleasure and good fortune of seeing excellent teaching on a daily basis in my Spanish classes, and finding mentors and role models in Dr. Brown and Dr. Cubillos (whether they realized it or not!).

Moreover, this past year I presented a workshop at the Summit for Transformative Learning in St. Louis, which drew teachers from Missouri, Illinois, and Ohio. My workshop focused on scaffolding readings, teaching students how to read and assessing students’ reading abilities. To my surprise, my session was filled with teachers from a variety of disciplines, including foreign languages, history, English, and elementary education.

I have no doubt that my education and the opportunities afforded to me through studying Spanish Education (BA) and Spanish and Pedagogy (MA) at University of Delaware were hugely important in helping get where I am today, and I am so grateful for that!