Good news from David Maust. I have been fortunate enough to have been instructed in Latin by David and I have always like to use the term real deal when I see a real CI teacher in action. So yeah, David is to be congratulated for this award because he is the real deal. Here is his report:
Hi all,
Just wanted to share some good news with you: my principal called me in yesterday to let me know that he selected me to receive a “Teacher of the Year” award from our local Rotary Club in Whittier! They ask each principal in our district to select a teacher from their school, so I will be awarded at a luncheon along with the principals and selected teachers from the other 5 high schools in our district.
I really appreciate the validation from him that he considers the work I’m doing in class to merit public recognition. I’m the only foreign language teacher in my department who uses TPRS / CI and one of 120 teachers at my school. Sometimes I feel like the work I’m doing is too small to be noticed in a big school, but obviously it’s made an impression on my principal (and I’ve had a lot of encouragement from my other admins and the counselors lately too, especially from hearing a lot of positive student feedback).
My principal always says that he wishes he could take my class and I can tell he’s being sincere. I think the reason he enjoys it is that whenever he stops to observe he feels engaged by whatever is going on. I think he also feels the positive, creative and fun (but productive) mood in class; in this way the students really communicate better than me the effectiveness of CI.
I always enjoy hearing about your successes and just wanted to share one of my own.
Valete,
David