Educator Spotlight
“Teaching a language means teaching your students global and cultural competence through establishing connections—moving them from deep reflection to action—to instill value of and support for languages.”
The most fulfilling aspect of my teaching career has been to have taught every grade level between kindergarten and 12th grade. I've learned so much about strategies, resources, and curricular development by teaching every grade level. This has left a lasting impact on how I approach facilitating language instruction with my learners.
Furthermore, the memories that I have of my former students, and the new connections that I am cultivating with my current students, have been transformative.
My favorite parts of being an ACTFL member are cultivating relationships with other world language educators, professional networking, and seeing how ACTFL continues to grow to support every language educator!
I initially became a member of ACTFL in 2019, which was the very first time that I presented at the ACTFL Convention! It was so invigorating and such an amazing experience. Not only learning from language educators around the world, but meeting faces I had seen online. Some of my closest friends that I have now were individuals I met at Convention.
As a result, I became heavily involved with ACTFL through the Leadership Initiative for Language Learning (LILL)—providing workshops, a keynote, presenting at the Convention three times, and I now serve on multiple committees. I look forward to what is next for our organization!
The advice that I would give would be that this journey is not a sprint. It is a marathon and your journey. The journey is filled with joy, challenges, risks, hard work, passion, and growth!
The important thing is not to compare your journey with another educator: Get in a supportive community that will support both you and your growth, and never stop learning.
Get inspired by even more Educator Spotlight profiles in our growing archive of member testimonials! Then explore all the resources available via ACTFL membership.
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