Lee High School

How do educators use their teaching skills, strategies, and personal experiences to effectively

instruct their students?

Spanish Teacher

Eduardo Altamirano

Senior Capstone

Jody Snyder

April 13, 2018

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Eduardo Altamirano

Jody Snyder

Senior Capstone

April 13, 2018

Spanish Teacher

The growth of Spanish speakers has been increasing by 233% since 1980 when there

were only 11 million Spanish speakers, and now with more than 37 million speakers, Spanish is

the most non-English language in the U.S. today. “Spanish is spoken by more non-Hispanics in

U.S. homes than any other language. The number of Hispanics that only speak English at home

is also expected to rise about 34% by 2020” (Ortman). The growth of being a Spanish teacher is

expected to increase by 6% from 2014 to 2024. A Spanish teacher focuses on specific areas of

reading, writing and verbal communication. ​The goal of a Spanish teacher is to use their

teaching skills, strategies, and personal experiences to instruct their students effectively.

Spanish teachers use different strategies, tools, methodologies, and resources to help their

students to easily understand their lessons and keep them engaged and focused during the class

period. Being cooperative will make students get the opportunity to work with classmates and

feel more confident to open up themselves while trying to speak Spanish. Using technology as a

teaching strategy is an excellent idea because the lessons can be more interactive and that will

encourage students to stay focused while learning and interacting with other students. “If the

student perceives the activity as simulating and controllable, then the student tentatively labels

the activity as interesting and engages in it. If either condition becomes insufficient, then the

student disengages from the activity” (Middleton). The strategies that a teacher uses can define
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how well the students will learn, pay attention, interest, and their efforts in the class. Not all the

students will learn at the same time because they all have different paces, mistakes that will be

made, and doubts about their abilities. This does not mean that the teachers have bad strategies;

sometimes, in some classrooms, there might be some students that will have no interest in

learning. Motivating students plays a key role when trying to make them feel confident while

learning Spanish because some of them might have no interest in the subject. “Motivating

students includes a fascination with the subject, a sense of its relevance to life and the world, a

sense of accomplishment in mastering it, and a sense of calling to it” (DeLong). To be

successful, Spanish teachers will have to continue to create innovative ideas for their students by

trying to not always do the same thing and by making them feel motivated to learn with

innovative strategies.

The future of Spanish in the United States is projected to rise in an enormous way

because of the Hispanic population that will come to the United States in future years, and the

need of Spanish teachers will also increase. Immigration is an important factor in how the

Hispanic population will keep growing, and also because in the future, that population is

expected to have kids and keep growing as well. “If Spanish is important for Latinos, and

Latinos are important for the United States, then Spanish will be important for the United States”

(Moreno-Fernandez). That is how the future of Spanish teachers will surely increase. The

acceptance of Spanish is happening right now, and a good majority of students in high schools

prefer to pick Spanish as a second language instead of French, German, etc.

The effectiveness of a Spanish teacher is the most important factor while teaching

because it shows if the students are learning something and it also evaluates how well prepared a
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teacher is, or for a teacher of any other subject. The effectiveness of teachers has been rising the

last couple years, but it has not been rising ‘just because;’ it is due to the preparation of the

teachers that had become good at what they do. The quality of the teachers is constantly

improving, and it will continue to do so for the wellness of the young generations and the

society. Some regulations that are made by the Department of Education are made to ensure that

every teacher is ready to teach and succeed on any classroom that they teach and that every

student is receiving the best from a great educator. “The Teacher Preparation Regulations are

made to bring transparency to the effectiveness of teacher preparation programs, provide

programs with feedback to help them improve continuously, and respond to educators across the

country who don’t feel ready to enter the classroom” (King Jr.). As in every job, whoever wants

to have a better position would want to be more prepared, but this can be done by showing

results. That is why every teacher must show that they are prepared and completing their tasks by

accomplishing the requirements that the Department of Education asks. Teachers are not only

involved with students inside the classroom; they also might serve the school community by

showing moral support to the students, but that is also what forms an exceptional teacher.

The hard work and dedication of a teacher must be very important and influential for the

society today and the ones for the future because it not only just involves all of the students but

also involves every parent of those students. They are trusting every teacher with the future of a

nation. Teachers have to keep in mind that the have a huge responsibility being in charge of the

formation of a young person from elementary school kid to high school to college. The most

important thing is that a teacher has to be as perfectly prepared as possible and always be ready
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to give whatever it takes to leave good teachings to their students, either in the classroom or

outside of it.
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Works Cited

Gill, Eric. ​How to Become a Spanish Teacher: Education Requirements, Salary, and Other

Career Info​, Room 241, 4 Oct. 2012,

https://education.cu-portland.edu/blog/teaching-careers/spanish-teacher/. Accessed 13

Apr. 2018.

King Jr., John B. ​Improving Teacher Preparation: Building on Innovation​, US Department of

Education, https://www.ed.gov/teacherprep, Accessed 13 Apr. 2018.

Lopez, Mark Hugo, and Ana Gonzalez-Barrera. ​What is the future of Spanish in the United

States?​, Scool of Languages, Literatures and Cultures,

www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/09/05/what-is-the-future-of-spanish-in-the-united-s

tates/. Accessed 13 Apr. 2018.

Mcdaniel, Rhett. ​Motivating Students​, Vanderbilt University, Vanderbilt University, 10 June

1970, cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/motivating-students/, Accessed 13 Apr. 2018.

Mineo, Liz. "Se habla Español ." The Harvard Gazette, Harvard University, 7 Dec. 2015,

https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2015/12/se-habla-espanol/. Accessed 23 Apr.

2018.

Teaching Effectiveness​, Flinders University , 0AD,

www.flinders.edu.au/teaching/quality/evaluation/teaching-effectiveness.cfm+, Accessed

13 Apr. 2018.