9 tips for Female Dual Language Teachers in Pioneering Career
Dual language teachers are constantly looking for ways of improving their career. For International Women’s Day & Women’s History Month, we wanted to share some tips for women dual language teachers to advance their career. Changes in the dual language field are constantly happening, and it is important to stay on top of the curriculum additions, program changes, etc! Please utilize these tips in your classrooms, and honoring women nationwide!
1. Recognizing when you are most productive
As women, we are often balancing many different duties; motherhood, being a daughter, a wife, our career, and extracurricular duties. Recognizing when you feel as though you can work best will allow you to give the maximum quality of work. This will allow you to create the best possible outcome for your students, feel the most accomplished, and utilize the rest of your day to the best of your ability.
2. Being Honest
In achieving a better work balance, one must know what they can do, can’t do and are unwilling to do. In Dual Language classrooms, you will have a range of students, including ELLs, and some with special educational needs. It is important to acknowledge when you are overwhelmed and be willing to ask for help. It is important to give extra attention to ELLs and special educational needs; and asking for help will allow these children to get the attention they deserve to succeed.
3. Keeping working hours
Being a female dual language teacher, one must strictly work within stipulated working hours. Utilize an effective to-do list which will come in handy during teaching hours. This to-do list needs to prioritize what needs to happen in school, at home, and for you personally. By staying to the allotted working hours, you will have more time for both yourself and your family outside of school.
4. Staying healthy
A healthy dual language teacher will always lead to higher marks because they invest in their students and the success of their schools. The teacher should always ensure they get a good night’s rest, this will be different for everyone depending on what is possible within your schedule. Make yourself your priority! Teachers can exercise and have balanced diets before and after school. Being healthy will allow you to feel the best version of yourself. Don’t measure this on physical results- it is about how you personally feel and how much energy you have throughout the day!
5. Making work easier
A huge workload is brought about by a dual language teacher’s strategy. When it comes to working one on one with students, teachers can apply a strategy such as mind mapping which can help their students to understand more by summarizing the class load on their books. Another strategy which can work is speed reading which will help students read longer content within a shorter period of time. When a teacher applies such methods, it can save both time and sanity!
Continue reading to find out more tips on pioneering your career…
6. Build Relationships
A social support network is always important for a healthy mind. Allowing those close to you to give advice, help when necessary, and be available to vent will allow you to be the best version of yourself. It is important that you give your students this support network as well, but it is only possible if you have implemented it in your own life as well!
7. Adopting Technology
Students are becoming more and more familiar with technology as time increases. As teachers, it is important that we stay on top of it as well! Utilizing technology in the classroom can help organize lesson plans, provide an interactive experience for your students, and make learning fun!
8. Parent Involvement
It Takes A Village! This will allow your students to learn both at home and in the classroom. This includes fostering a good relationship among the parents, students and their teacher. When trust is built, there is effective communication between the school and the parents. In pioneering your teaching career, by allowing your students to continue their learning at home, they will end up learning everywhere, which will allow your teaching to truly flourish. The parents may end up learning along the way, too!
9. Speak Your Mind
In the growth of your career, don’t allow fear to hold you back when it comes to speaking out your concerns on issues with students. It is always good to speak out on the challenges you may be facing, and to be honest with the parents. This may allow issues that can arise in the future to be put to rest at an early age. You are in a unique and pivotal position in your student’s lives, so honor this responsibility!
To conclude, a female dual language teacher can apply the above listed tips and improve their career while improving the lives of her students! By taking this advice to the classroom, the teacher to student relationship improves drastically, hence advancing performance in school work. Happy Women’s History Month!
Author: Patricia Griselda Pérez
Dr. Patricia Pérez holds an A.A. from Ohlone College: B.A. and M.S. degree from California State University, East Bay and an Ed.D. from the University of San Francisco. She serves as an educator, consultant and teacher coach, which provides professional development, curriculum development and multicultural awareness services to local and international educational institutions and corporations. Dr. Pérez is fluent in Spanish and began her career as an elementary school teacher in a bilingual classroom. In the past two decades, she has developed a wide range of experience working at every level of public education, providing support to educators and directly to students. Her interest focus on promoting educational excellence through equity in order to overcome institutional barriers that confront underserved students of diverse backgrounds. Dr. Pérez is also an accomplished writer and has published in the areas of multicultural education and organizational management and leadership. She is a contributing author to Multicultural Education in Practice: Transforming One Community at a Time and Collaboration and Peak Performance: A Multidisciplinary Perspective for Emerging Leaders.