Online Education Teacher

Ventura Unified School District

August 2020 to Present

Being a Distance Learning (DL) teacher during school closures was an honor. I am privileged to be a pioneer in the global society of educators who turned brick and mortar schools into remote learning in a matter of months. DL was a completely structureless system. Some felt it was barren; others felt it was chaos. I knew it was space for innovation, creativity, and freedom.

In June 2020, I was asked to be a Canvas builder for the AVID program. Canvas is a Learning Management System (LMS) where a teacher can build an entire course. I was unfamiliar with the program but determined to create a useful final project that would meet the needs of teachers and students who struggle with tech. To figure it out, my partner and I watched clips on how to build a page, talked to the other teachers about what they wanted posted, researched other AVID programs, surveyed students about what they wanted to learn this year and piloted our page. We took teacher feedback until we had a page accessible to all AVID teachers and students.

During that same year, the district was piloting a homeschooling program called FLEX, which had been in the works long before school closures. Though I had assistance from the counselors, I checked the graduation requirements for students and assigned the correct courses for them on Edgenuity.com. I checked their daily progress, contacted them when they fell behind and kept them on track. I had six students who were all taking six courses that all had their own due dates. In order to keep them on track, I had to be highly organized. I also graded and offered them tutoring.

Of the seven teachers who taught for the FLEX program in the 2020-2021 school year, I was chosen to manage the new Credit Recovery Course program for the following school year. It had similar expectations as the FLEX program. For both programs, I must be a strong decision maker, problem solver, course writer and tech teacher for students and parents.

English Teacher

Santa Paula High School/Foothill Technology High School

August 2013 to Present

I prefer the College Prep (CP) courses to the Advanced Placement (AP) courses because they allow for more creativity and project based learning. I mostly teach ninth grade. I believe my job with them is to teach them how to be successful in high school. In addition to the state standards for English, I teach study skills, organization, school culture, technology and social skills. For academics, I focus on writing and presentation skills, which tends to be their greatest struggle.

Over the years, I’ve developed a few anchor projects that challenge students to incorporate the literature with their own creative vision. The 2084 project is aligned with George Orwell’s 1984. Students create a fictional dystopia that includes a dictator, economic system, flag, map, national animal, propaganda and a short story. All of this must have a symbolic meaning and general theme. All work is created in Google docs, Google Drawing and Google Sites, which is a new technology to some ninth graders. The final projects are presented to the class.

Another project is called the Shark Tank Toy. William Kamkwamba, in his memoir, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, builds a windmill from scraps he finds in the dump in order to bring electricity into his family’s home so he can study at night. I assign my students to build a toy from trash around their house. At school the next day, first, we play with the toys. Then, I teach them modes of persuasion (ethos, pathos, logos). I always teach this lesson in January. Their weekend homework is to watch the Super Bowl ads and decide how the advertiser is persuading us. Students then make an ad for their toy utilizing a mode of persuasion. The ads are presented to the class Shark Tank style. Each student in the audience has five chips to invest in the most deserving toy.

ESL Teacher

Wall Street English, AVS English, ELS Educational Services, Ventura Adult Education

May 2010 to June 2013

I began my career in education at Wall Street English in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I taught adult students who were learning English. Some were beginners; others were brushing up before entering a university program in the US or Canada. Most of what I taught was conversation based.

At ELS, I taught English to international students most of whom were from Japan, Thailand, Taiwan, Brazil, and Saudi Arabia. They were usually college students who were looking to obtain a master's degree from a US institution. In the mornings, I taught grammar, speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Teaching at ELS combined my love of language with my love of international studies. I had considered staying longer, however, I felt that I belonged on a high school campus. I knew that a teaching credential was the right step for me at that time.

At Ventura Adult and Continuing Education, I taught English to adult students of varying education levels. Some had never attended schools while others had completed grad school in another country. Some students were fluent in conversational English while others had academic English skills but were too timid to make a mistake in verbal communication. This experience taught me how to manage a classroom with adult expectations. I learned that adults are even more afraid than kids to make a mistake. I decided to make myself the example. I would give directions in English first, and then Spanish. In language classes, this is seen as a loss of education, however, it worked for my class and me. My Spanish grammar was poor and I asked students to help me. I showed that I wasn't afraid to make a mistake. Neither were they. We became a team.