Where to begin? I suppose the actual beginning will do.

In 2016 I left a position as a Vice Principal at a small public school. I left due to declining enrollment but also because, despite all the hard work I had invested to achieve this position–my heart wasn’t in it. Previously I had taught English and ELD, but I didn’t want to continue in those areas either. I needed a new challenge.

So I signed up for the (brutal) Pearson tests and became a Spanish teacher, based wholly on my experience as a native speaker. I sometimes reflect on how far I have come from Mama Nene’s kitchen, my grandmother who taught me Spanish when I was small. And yet Spanish isn’t just a language I can speak. It’s the living memory of preparing nopales, the warm smell of refried beans on the back burner, and the taste of homemade tortillas with butter.

So there I was, certified and ready to impart my love of the language to middle schoolers at a bigger, newer public school. As a Department of One, I didn’t have much to go on, but thankfully my District was all on-board with TPRS methods and comprehensible input. I attended my first conference in Reno, Nevada, and immediately I knew that I had found my people!

At first I taught three classes of Spanish 1 for grades 7 & 8, with two classes of Intro 2 Spanish to sixth graders as a trimester elective. Then we added Spanish 2 for 8th grade only, with just two classes available for Spanish 1. Then three years ago Intro 2 Spanish was phased out altogether, as the demand for the year-long Spanish 1 class had increased to four full classes. I still teach one class of Spanish 2 as well.

In May of 2023 the students that I had met in sixth grade for Intro 2 Spanish and who had continued with Spanish 1 in seventh and then Spanish 2 in eighth grade–well, they graduated from middle school. I cried so hard that day. I had no idea I could feel so proud and so protective of these students I had the privilege to know for three years of their lives.

This year, in May of 2024, the students I had when we all went home to quarantine in 2020–well, those students came back to say goodbye before graduating from high school. I was so happy to see them, and they hugged me and we took selfies and I cried some more.

What a crazy roller-coaster ride this has been. I have told stories in full costume and published books and presented at conferences and actually signed autographs. (That last part is the craziest.)

So come along with me as I begin my 19th year of teaching. It’s going to be a wonderful adventure.