This bio is from Annemarie in Maine. The more of these I read – and thank you for personalizing the blog so fast in response to my request – the more I feel like we can really build a comfortable community where trust is paramount and these bios are a key piece of that vision so thank you again. I hope to post a lot of these in the next few weeks.
Well, well, I never thought I’d be teaching Spanish in a classroom. I worked “in the field” as an Outward Bound instructor and expedition-based high school educator (same school as Elissa) for about 6 years. I never thought the traditional classroom was where I belonged. But…I needed a a job and I got one at a fabulous public middle school in Portland, Maine (which is also an EL-expeditionary learning school.) Even though I still feel a little weird and out of place in a classroom, it’s a very reasonable schedule for having a 2 and a 4 year old. And it sort of pays the bills, the child care bills anyway.
I didn’t really know what I was doing my first two years of teaching. I tried a lot of projects, social justice stuff to do with Hispanic culture. Had some awesome moments and conversations with students, but never in Spanish. I always knew I was missing something because I couldn’t figure out how to speak Spanish in the classroom and have the students understand me. My 3, 4, and 5 year of teaching are all a blur because I was either just about to have a baby or just had one and did anything I could do to get through the teaching day (this involved lots of coffee and muffins.)
Then….then, and the end of my 5th year I went to a 3-day Von Ray workshop with my friend Elissa and I was psyched because I knew this method was much more up my alley compared to what I had been doing. That was in June and so in September I started doing stories, but I didn’t really know what I was doing and why until I took your workshop last October (2010) in Maine. Then the pieces started coming together.
Some of my teaching highlights from last year: one of my students told me and the class about a dream she had in Spanish; one of my classes, starting from last year, sings this line from a song every time someone walks into the room, “Te quiero, te adoro, mi vida” giving all our visitors warm fuzzies; and this year, students attempting to speak Spanish to me before class starts as they come in the room. Oh, oh, I just thought of another one. I had written a dictado on the board for students to correct their own dictado. We did a choral reading and translation of the sentences (which were from the circling with cards) and then I asked questions about the sentences. WIthout any prompting, one of my students created a new story in Spanish on the spot by combining aspects of the 4 stories written on the board. WOW. I was BLOWN away.
I still have doubts and major downer moments, but I had these before, too, and my students were learning a lot less Spanish.
This year is the first time I’ve started with Circling with Cards and I’m really enjoying it as are my students. I’m doing it with my 6, 7, and 8th grade classes (I have two 40 minute classes of each grade everyday, in three different classrooms.)
Also, this year I’m participating in a PLC (Professional Learning Community) which focuses on student engaged assessment. So, I will be delving into how to most effectively assess my students with their help in my classes. I came up with some general learning targets as a way for my students to evaluate themselves and their progress in my class once a week (I’ve attached them-the last one might need more explanation – I asked students to share with me a strength/positive attribute they bring to the class that can help create a positive classroom culture and help all students succeed.) Please, any feedback is welcome. The “I can” language is a school wide initiative we are using – you know, kid friendly language. In fact, all the teachers at our school are creating learning targets in their classrooms for the students to see on a regular basis.
I feel very lucky to work at my school because I have the freedom to teach how I want in the classroom. My principal completely supports and is fascinated by TPRS.
So there you have it. Outside of teaching I rock climb, I sing in a choir, and read lots of fiction. Gosh, I sound kind of boring, but honestly it’s all I can do to hold it together somedays what with working full time and taking care of my kids!
Thanks,
Annemarie Orth
Spanish Teacher
King Middle School
Portland, Maine