School has been in session for just over two months now. Earlier this year, I was applying for a summer program. It's a really big deal for me and I'm really excited about it. But I needed two adult recommendations for the application. I asked one of my old language arts teachers if I could fill in her information as one recommendation. She knows me quite well and is a good writer. But I was on the fence about who else to ask, and I finally went to my new Spanish teacher. I'd only known her about a month and a half, and she was still learning her students' names, practically. But Spanish is one of my favorite subjects and I had a good feeling about asking her. She said yes, and I filled in her name and sent in my application. In the weeks that have followed, I've become more and more glad I asked her to write about me.
It's about 7:15 on an ordinary September morning. I stop in to ask a quick question about the Spanish homework, and as I'm walking out the door saying thank you, she asks
"Claire, what do you want to do?"
Wait, what? I think.
"What kind of career path are you considering?" she clarifies.
I back up into the doorway and adjust my backpack, and answer that I'm not really sure yet. We talk for another twenty minutes about career paths, about how open my options are. This time when I leave, I say gracias, and I mean it a lot more. I am still amazed that after less than a month of school, I've just had an elaborate discussion about career options with my new teacher.
The longer I spend in her classroom, the more I admire her commitment to her students. She takes a serious interest in helping her students succeed in all that they do. She's currently helping a student apply to live abroad for a year, and gladly agreed to be one of my recommendations for an application very early in the year. And she teaches English Language Learners, ELL students. Her commitment to helping them learn English and showing them how to live in the U.S. is amazing. She quite often has left in the middle of class to translate for a counselor and student, or to put in a request to change a student's bus route. She has bikes in the corner of her room waiting to be repaired for ELL students to ride in the spring. She asks for old shoes and coats to pass on to students who have never lived in Iowa during the winter. And by teaching ELL students, she's really teaching every subject imaginable. Students come to her asking for help on their math homework, their physics, their biology. And she tries her best to help each one of them. She has been arranging tutoring between her Spanish and English students so both can gain some knowledge in the other language. She is a hero for those kids learning a new language in a new place surrounded by a new culture.
Gracias, Señora Bruce, para ver tanto potencial en mí.
Stay awesome,
Claire
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