Literarily About Me

Childhood Aspirations

I have always wanted to be a teacher ever since I can remember. I used to gather up children in my neighborhood and play rock school, spelling and word school, reading school and any other school I could think of. Teaching and learning was and still are passions of mine. Coupled these passions with my passion for reading and you will understand my blog and also a little about me.

Achieving My Dream

To realize my aspirations, I decided to attend Spelman as my undergraduate school. While there, I majored in Elementary Education, Middle School Education and Secondary Education – Spanish. I studied Spanish as a hobby, I grew up speaking Spanish and didn’t want to lose my skills. Majoring in three areas meant taking more than the recommended maximum number of classes and completing three student teaching assignments – one on each level. At the end of four years of graduate school, I received my B.A in all three education levels and earned my teaching certificate in all three.

I never planned on teaching high school. Originally, I had taken an elementary position; but when making arrangements to sign my contract, I was notified that the school’s enrollment had dropped and the position was no longer mine. This happened a week before schools opened. I called around to other schools in the metro systems, but nothing was available until I called the county where I spent the majority of my career. They did not have any elementary or middle school positions; but when I responded to my secondary area of expertise, the Superintendent’s office responded “Hallelujah, Spanish teacher quit this morning come on in.” So began my journey.

I loved (and still do) my students. They helped me to develop into the teacher I aspired to be. I loved teaching Spanish. During my first year at the school, I was the only Spanish teacher, teaching 3 classes of Spanish and 2 English classes. I later added an independent study French Class. The offerings later grew to where there were three full time Spanish teachers. In addition to Spanish I, II, III, IV and IV, I added AP Spanish Grammar and Composition and AP Spanish Literature.

I continued teaching Spanish for 14 years while gaining leadership experiences as a district resource teacher, department chair, and member of the school’s leadership team. I have been blessed in my career, earning several honors which include, but are not limited to, Georgia Teacher of the Year (First African American to earn this honor), Burger King Excellence in Teaching Award, Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award, AATSP Spanish Teacher of the Year, the Christa McAuliffe Teaching Award, and serving as President of two International organizations (First African American to be elected to the positions).

Preparing a Legacy

To continue a legacy and celebration of preparing teachers, I began my district’s first Future Educator of Georgia Chapter; served as the state advisor of the Georgia chapter; started a elementary Spanish program where I used my advanced Spanish class students as teachers; hired former students in a Foreign Language in Elementary School language acquisition program; and worked with some former students in one of the state’s only three Dual-Language programs. When I won the Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award, I invested some of the monetary awards towards three scholarships for three students who wanted to teach. I am proud to know that several of my students became teachers and some school and system administrator. Additionally, my daughter was inspired to invest in education as her chosen profession. No matter what the task at hand in my life has been, books, community and service always have been present.

Engaging Students by Making Connections

Community involvement is important to me, whether the community is coming into the classroom or the students are going into the community. Providing opportunities for students to connect to the community was a regular practice. One of my favorite memories is when the students performed fairy tales in Spanish at an elementary school as a response to the “students will be able to retell…”. On this particular day, the students were retelling Cinderella, in Spanish. They surprised me when they solicited some of the elementary school to dance at the ball. It wasn’t rehearsed, but I had invited a dance studio instructor to come to the class to teach the tango as part of the unit on Argentina. We had previously learned the salsa and merengue in the units on Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic. The students felt comfortable enough with their Spanish skills, the standard and dancing skills to incorporate it into their performance. It goes without saying, the ball was the talk of the school.

Some of our favorite activities were our weekly before-school desayunos. These breakfasts were held every Thursday morning at Shoney’s. The rules were simple: all are welcome; buy your own breakfast; and only speak Spanish during those 60-75 minutes. What started as five people quickly grew until there were over 25 students. Although limited in their speaking, first year students didn’t shy away. They listened and joined in with the more advanced students when they could.

Once a month we held tertulias at someone’s house or occasionally at a restaurant; each social gathering had a focus: discussions and conversations, literature, completed projects, planned activities, culinary and gustatory experiences, had demonstrations presented, danced, etc. The topics were endless as was the fun and experiences. Every tertulia included food; the Ecuadorian hosts served food from their country. . My friends from Puerto Rico had a Puerto Rican feast. At the home of my friends from Spain, the Spanish feast was second to none.

This happened no matter where we went. For over ten years, I arranged and escorted children to Mexico. For seven days they were to use Spanish. To encourage them to use their Spanish skills, I got creative or some would say, devious. Some of my mischievous acts included, but were not limited to mixing up plane tickets and boarding passes; having the hotels’ housekeeping staff to remove all the linen from the room; and requesting that servers bring the wrong order to everyone but me. On one trip, I took one of the school’s troublemakers who was not passing my class. He was the only boy. The girls were all “A ” students. Anyhow, Marco proved the importance of engagement and connections; he took charge when the girls wouldn’t speak out. He surprised all of us because it was evident that he had been listening when he pretended to not know anything. To make a long story short, when we returned to school that following Monday, I ask the question posed by teachers since who knows when, “What did you do over the break?” Of course, I asked in Spanish. Marcus almost jumped out of his chair to answer. He took up the majority of the class, showing pictures, answering questions, and sharing his knowledge. I let him have his 15-plus minutes. At the end of the class, one of the students asked, in Spanish, “What did y’all do with Marco?/¿Qué hiciste con Marco?” That for me was the reward.

I further connected my students’ use of their language skills by involving them in community service and service learning opportunities with the Latin American Association; with the implementing a Hispanic Heritage Picnic in our town; providing opportunities to publish their essays and poems in language periodicals; and oral and written interpretation and translations for the community. When I translated our county’s first sheriff manual to Spanish, the students created the first Spanish jail signs and posters.

Continuing my Path to Lifelong Learning

After 14 years teaching Spanish at the same school, I had the opportunity to put a dream to reality to create a program without budget restraints and to design my job. Although difficult to leave the school where I began my career, I left. I accepted the position of curriculum coordinator for ELL and Languages, but decided to continue teaching. I taught AP in the afternoons and taught and broadcasted Spanish in the elementary school (PK-5) of over 2000 students from a studio and from classrooms. For five years this was my reality.

When there was a change in the superintendent, the position was eliminated. It wasn’t a surprise to me as I was the district’s only coordinator. I was hard to justify having a language and ELL person when you didn’t have a math, science, social studies, language arts or any other coordinator. Although offered a teaching position, I elected to finish my leadership certification. I did that while teaching part-time Spanish at a Montessori School.

After a year at Montessori school, I left to become an Assistant Principal at a high school. Four years later I became a Principal at a Middle School for five years. After two years in the position, I retired from the elementary school where as a Principal, I started a Dual Language Program. After retirement, I taught Spanish at a middle school as a long term substitute while awaiting the teacher to be cleared for travel from Spain to the U.S. I also taught middle and high school students as long-term substitute at a Christian school while the teacher had alternative cancer treatment in another state.

My success at these positions and with teaching in general were a result of continuous hard work, great colleagues, supervisors who had the children’s best interests at heart, great opportunities, and extensive training. Some of my experiences include working as a consultant for a textbook company presenting curriculum and instruction ideas that complimented the books; serving as an officer/representative of several education organizations, traveling as an educational presenter/keynote speaker/consultant of several educational agencies and companies teaching/presenting several courses related to curriculum, instruction, administration, assessment, and community building.

Yes, Teachers Have Lives Outside the Class

When it comes to my personal life. I am married to a physical therapist who is a voracious reader. He was a youth track coach for over 10years. He also had been a youth football, swim, basketball and baseball coach. We have two adult children, both in their late 20s. Both were avid and gifted track runners in their own rights.

My youngest, my daughter, was a high ranking sprinter from age 7 through college. She has always been an avid and almost daily reader. She holds a Bachelors of Science (B.S.) degree and is certified in early childhood/elementary education. She also holds her Masters of Education (M.Ed) and Education Specialist (Ed.S) degrees in Curriculum and Instruction. Recently she defended her dissertation and was conferred for her Doctor of Education (Ed.D) degree in Curriculum and Instruction.

She is a collegiate Assistant Track & Field Coach. She holds several track and field certifications from USA Track & Field (USATF) and the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). Most are in sprints/hurdles/relays, jumps, and strength and conditioning. She has coached at the youth and high school level and for the last four years coaches at the collegiate level. She also serves as a USTFCCCA mentor to a new coach who resides and works several states away. As a staff member she serves on the college’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) committee. Whereas my niches are children picture books and middle/YA books. Her niche is Young Adult books, especially if it has a connection to sports. Some of her favorite authors include Rick Riordan, Tim Green, John Feinstein, Mike Lupica, Kwame Alexander, Margaret Peterson Haddix, and Walter Dean Myers.

Reading has always been an important part of our lives. We always made sure books were in our house, cars, and offices. Both children have more books than shelves, as do my husband and I. At last count we have over 27 bookcases plus books in piles and some still packed and stored in boxes. Need I say more, we love to read. We are true bibliophiles.

My reading preferences are children-Young Adult Books. However, I am not limited to that category, I also like adult books, the newspapers, magazines, inspirational and self-health books. If it is a book, I probably love it…except horror and thrillers; Went through that stage and had to move the books out of the house so I could sleep at night.

Besides learning and reading, my hobbies include scrapbooking, travelling on both long trips and day trips, as well as writing. I love visiting places to which I’ve never been: museums, botanical gardens, college campuses and lighthouses. I love beaches, the mountains, sunrises, sunsets, and artistic bridges. I love DIY projects, cooking when I feel like it, and crafting. I will pull over to look at murals, statues, street art and to take a photo of something that inspires me. I have made it a goal to climb as many lighthouses as I can. Unfortunately, pre-COVID, I had only climbed one. I will climb others.

Focused on the Love of Reading and My Passion for Learning

Among the training that I have had are those related to diverse thinking, learning modalities, multi-sensory learning, reading , math, multiple intelligences, portfolio assessment, critical thinking, standard-based instruction, cooperative learning, learning centers, concept-based learning, project-based learning, service learning, community-based curriculum, Struggling learners, ADD/ADHD learners, hands-on learning, and instructional technology, experiential learning, learning-focused, student engagement, differentiation, real-world based learning, individual learning differences, professional learning communities, book and author studies; and maximizing brain-compatible learning.  I now blog and hopefully will eventually published one or more children’s books and a memoir.

One of my most recent projects is the implementation and creation of a Little Free Library and Special Lending Collection Library at my church. I began with a book drive and loans of some books from Black History Collection. I now serve as the stewardess and curator of the Library

I also enjoy making presentations at conferences, workshops, and groups, serving on panels and roundtable and hosting book events. I take pride in being an active member of several book clubs. My most recent presentation was on Unpacking and Identifying Microaggressions and of course, I included 40+ children and middle grade books that included or addresses microaggressions as part of my display.

So no matter what your challenge is or what reading opportunities are present to encourage reading, enhance skills, help struggling readers, inspire reluctant readers or enhance the abilities of the “gifted” or advanced reader, this blog is for you.