The December Dual Language Teacher of the Month: Ms. Maggie Parker
The December Dual Language Teacher of the Month, Ms. Margarita Parker, hangs her teacher shingle at Edison Language Institute in Sacramento, California, where she teaches first grade.
Ms. Parker was born and raised in Columbia, where she attended a bilingual school. Her passion for becoming an educator was ignited when she was a young school girl in Columbia. She recalls that even as a young school girl, she knew that she would become an educator,
I knew in my heart that teaching was for me. I always dreamed to have my own classroom and students. I role-played with my cousins pretending I was their teacher
The path to becoming an educator took a slight detour when she moved to United States, when she began working on a degree in Programming. She quickly changed gears to education to fulfill her childhood dream. As a Liberal Arts major, she decided to focus on becoming a bilingual educator so that she could inspire the children in her community. She wanted them to know that being bilingual makes a person unique, helps to open doors in the future, and allows one to learn about other cultures.
In her classroom, she shares her own life experiences of learning to be bilingual and bilterate with her students. She hopes that her own experiences inspire them to fully embrace becoming bilingual and biliterate. She greatly enjoys teaching in her native language of Spanish. Her principal shared the following observation about Ms. Parker,
Maestra Parker is an outstanding teacher who truly exemplifies the essence and spirit of bilingualism and dual language education
Continue reading to find out more about the December Teacher of the Month…
As a student who attended a bilingual school, Ms. Parker understands the challenges and benefits of being bilingual, which provides her with the ability to truly be empathetic with her students as they begin to discover these challenges and benefits of bilingualism on their own. In her classroom, she strives to develop highly engaging lessons, that apply her knowledge of helping students to become bilingual.
In her classroom, children are engaged in lessons that demand high cognitive skills to tackle the complex texts in Spanish and to engage in academic discourse in Spanish and English. Her classroom is truly a learning community that continues outside of the walls of her classroom, as she works in collaboration with parents, establishing strong relationships with them to help so that they can support their children at home.
Ms. Parker is respected by her colleagues and is a valued member of the Dual Language team at Edison Language Institute. She also in avid learner and seeks out opportunities to grow her professional knowledge as a dual language educator. She has attended CABE, where she was energized to return to her classroom to continue to promote bilingualism and biliteracy amongst her students by implementing the many teaching strategies that she learned about in conference sessions.
She appreciates learning techniques that help to promote native language, as well as second language learning. The strategies that she learned include, using visuals, music, cooperative learning, etc. However, the most important strategy that she has learned, and which she lives by is giving students plenty of opportunity to explore and use language in authentic settings.
Ms. Parker views her classroom as a community where her job is to get to know each of her students so that she can provide,
A powerful environment where they can learn and feel valued. Once I have a community I have high expectations from my students. They know that we all need to do our best and work hard to be great citizens.
Continue reading to find out more about the December Teacher of the Month…
This carries past her classroom as she challenges her students to connect what they learn in the classroom with their place in their home, and in their community.
As a bilingual person, Ms. Parker greatly values the importance of bilingualism and biliteracy. Her goal is to ensure that her students embrace their journey to become bilingual and biliterate. Many classroom discussions center around celebrating evidence of bilingualism in the world. They find examples in the stories that they read, the people they study, and the experiences that each share about their language experiences.
In her classroom we don’t hide, we speak other languages and celebrate them!
As a teacher, her goal is to inspire her students on a path that will lead them to understand the importance of continuing their education to culminate with a college degree. She envisions her students joining the ranks of educators, doctors, engineers around the world, using their bilingual skills to help others.
I want my students to see me as the teacher that inspires, pushes them to be better and has high expectations to go to college and be a great citizen. I want them to see me as that teacher that will always be there for them to help and advise them in anything they need.
She hopes that her passionate and bold approach to classroom practices is inspiring her creative, bilingual, critical thinkers to go out into the world to leave their mark as global citizens. She plans to stay connected to her students to help them stay on track to becoming college graduates.
We celebrate the December teacher of the month for the passion and dedication she brings to her work with the many students whose lives she touches.
