About

Who are you? I am a career middle and high school MFL/Spanish ToC (Teacher of Color). I have been teaching for 14years.

Where do you reside? In the Northeast.

Where do you teach? At an independent school.

Why do you teach at an independent school? TOCs are needed there. That’s the social activist part of me speaking. The pragmatic side? Why not?

What is the name of your school? For the purposes of this blog, I refer to it as Be Who You Are Independent School, or, BWYA for short. It has progressive leanings, but is not a progressive school in the truest sense.

How old are you? I was born in 1965. The year the Voting Rights Act was made into law.  I am 42 years old.

Why do you teach Spanish? I believe in the power of words to communicate, and in the power of understanding another culture through speaking the language of that culture. I hope to instill in students a love for learning and a love for self-teaching. Hopefully, through planting these seeds, their desire to continue their language studies and to travel will continue to grow.

What led you to study Spanish? I began my language studies in the sixth grade, in preparation for a career in nursing. My mother suggested that being bilingual would be an asset as a nurse. However, my enjoyment for Spanish led me to major in Spanish in college. A career counselor at college introduced me to teaching at independent schools as an option.

Have you always been a teacher? No. I left teaching after two years to do college admissions counseling, after which I entered an M.Ed. program full time. I then went back to teaching.

What informs your teaching? I teach students with a variety of learning styles and learning needs. Therefore, I draw from behaviorist theory, psycholinguistics, direct instruction, and learning for mastery, i.e. building a skill set which is indicative of what students should know and be able to do. However, I do believe in: Creating independent learners; using multiliteracies; learning as a process; and student-created products.

What informs your perspective on the world? First, my parents, who are from the South, and who grew up during the Depression and Segregation. Second, I am a product of the ’70s and ’80s, and grew up with a real sense of hope and promise, fueled by Civil Rights gains made in the 1960s. Third, I grew up in an integrated, predominately White suburb, attended integrated, predominately White schools first grade through graduate school, and work in an integrated, predominately White workplace. So, as a POC (Person of Color), I have learned and continue to learn a lot about race through conversation and observation, but mostly observation, especially when being “the only one” or “one of a handful”. Fourth, I am a graduate of a women’s college, which led me to become a feminist. Fifth, I enjoy the diversity of people and ideas, and like to travel and experience other cultures. Sixth, I am a student of critical theory, popular culture, history, and sociolinguistics.

What do you like to do in your spare time? You mean, when I’m not teaching or blogging? I dig jazz, (esp. Charlie Parker), soul music (James Brown and Aretha Franklin - the Reigning King and Queen of Soul, respectively), Bob Marley, Jimi Hendrix, the Blues, my mother’s fried chicken, cooking, reading, sleeping, shopping online, surfng the ‘Net, learning new tech teaching strategies, NCAA football and hoops, travelling, chillaxing with family and friends, treadmill workouts, photography, documentaries and independent films, and, of course, teaching.

Why do you blog? As a fellow blogger put it, I began to blog out of exasperation. See the post, “Blogalicious,” for the back story.

What do you write about? This blog is a mix of the professional and the personal. With respect to the professional, I write about teaching and learning, and the cultural context of independent schools. With respect to the personal, I make social commentary on education and other issues that interest me. It is a place to share my family and friends, who are so precious to me.

I notice that there are posts referring to race. I do comment on race fairly regularly, about as much as I write about teaching and learning. My interests are as varied and as wide-reaching as anyone’s. However, given the social construction of race in the United States, it readily defines me, sometimes overtly, but mostly covertly, depending on the situations I encounter in my Daily Walk. All that being said, I am a proud Black American.

***Two Things:

1. This blog is not representative of the views of my workplace.

2. Respecting and maintaining one’s privacy is of the utmost importance to me. So, I ask that you do the same for me and mine.