梅丽莎·道尔顿
2018年名人堂提名
斯克里普斯中学
猎户座湖，密歇根州
2018年我校入围者
西班牙语
我个人的政策是每年都要进步. On the last day at Scripps we file out, forming a big line, and wave to our kids. 大多数时候我们都很情绪化, 思考我们在那些挂在窗户上的面孔上扮演了什么角色, 在公共汽车上欢呼. I start school each year with this fresh image of myself as I wave goodbye in June, 祝你度过最美好的一年. 然后，忙碌的教学生活开始了……
职业发展
不可否认，我们整天都感到疲劳、压力和担忧. 完美是难以捉摸的. The only recourse we have is to fortify ourselves with professional involvement to grow our skill base. 每次我参加一个研讨会, 一个会议, a meeting with colleagues or even wander upstairs to eat lunch with fellow teacher friends, 我很受鼓舞. Gaining insight from others is the primary reason I stay involved professionally. 我喜欢教书. There is no other career that would offer me so much emotional or intellectual satisfaction. I’m a relatively serious and analytical person, therefore I like to do things by the book. 我非常喜欢阅读ACTFL的出版物, and sometimes incur a slight amount of teasing from my colleagues when I know on which page a diagram, 找到标题或引用. The more prepared we are with ideas and strategies, the better we articulate ideas to forge policy. 最后，作为一个积极的学习者，我为我的学生树立了理想的品质. I constantly tell them they are about to be guinea pigs for a new idea and they love it.
政府颁布的政策, 我试着把柠檬变成柠檬水, 克服我无法控制的事情. 例如, 2002年我搬回美国的时候, 我在斯克里普斯工作，他们需要西班牙语和法语证书. I was certified in 西班牙语 and was proficient in Japanese, but had no university course work. Under NCLB I needed a major in Japanese and there was no existing comp-out test at the time. 我是在取得证书的条件下被雇用的. 修完奥克兰大学提供的所有课程后, 我整个夏天都在米德尔伯里读四级, 并在密歇根州立大学接受了Endo-sensei的指导. 我会说是我的日语, 在日本的一所幼儿园工作后，他变得很灵活, 但我很高兴地跳了进去. Seven years later my successful program was eliminated due to the lack of analogous course at the high school. 两年的语言要求无意中伤害了我的日语课程. 在日本学习了ESL培训的技巧后，我的结果是积极的, attending Middlebury and through Endo-sensei encouraging me to attend the ICJLT Conference at Columbia University, 在那里我听到了Merrill Swain和Paul Sandrock的第一手报告. 通过综合这些策略，我的学生受益, 比如Abby Leskiv, 荣获NCJLT新年明信片设计比赛冠军.
我在米德尔伯里大学自愿参加的OPI促使我接受了MOPI培训! 具有讽刺意味的是, 每次我冒险离开人迹罕至的地方, 从长远来看，我离教学水平更近了一步. The summer Japanese was discontinued I spent a day sulkily, navigating TripAdvisor. 当太阳落山, 我计划去西班牙北部度两个星期的假, 住在牧羊人的小屋和租来的车里! 我必须重新获得灵感. I took pictures of store fronts, fruit at the markets and sampled every flavor of ice cream. My daughter romped on beaches with the children of my now grown, 西班牙语 friends. 那年秋天，当我回到学校时，我是一个全新的人.
领导和专业参与
当我女儿还小的时候，我得到了最好的PD机会. I realized that MSU CeLTA held language camps for children the same weeks as CLEAR scheduled workshops. 我幸运的女儿参加了两个暑假的中文和西班牙语夏令营. A great outcome of that experience was that I witnessed first-hand the fabulous communicative strategies that were imparted by the MSU language staff. 我参加了我的研讨会, 然后听我女儿一场接一场地讲, 因为她在营地里遇到了好主意. I applied skills learned at the CLEAR Workshops when I was contracted to create three 西班牙语 1 Moodle Units for Oakland Schools. Many of the activities on Moodle have CLEAR Rich Internet Applications embedded in them. Through taking on development work I improved my Moodle pages because I was guided by the hands-on technological assistance from Oakland Schools consultants, 伊尔玛·托雷斯和朱迪·尼科尔斯. 虽然这是一个十年的过程, I am able to spend more time in the target language in my classroom and relegate the practice for students outside the school day.
My classroom was dramatically improved by differentiated instruction and standards-based grading. 我大胆地为我们的学校改进小组推荐了一本肯·奥康纳的书. My principal generously ordered copies for everyone and we attended many workshops. I was invited to join these PD opportunities and found myself eventually sitting on a district committee to develop policies for a SBG conversion at the middle level. 在这些会议上，我遇到了最好的老师的想法. I then shared those ideas with the World Language teachers while contributing on the Oakland Schools SBG team. 通过测试的想法从标准为基础的评分, my relationship with my students has been enriched because I alleviated the negative underpinnings of my grading practices. I work with many educators when presenting Oakland Schools workshops on SBG with a team of colleagues, also in my role as moderator on the Michigan 5Cs Network Forum and the OS World Language Leadership Team planning Saturday Café Workshops. 经常, 我也会向我的学员反馈我的ACTFL灵感, Emily Robinson, 在计划这些研讨会之前. 我从帮助其他教育工作者的过程中获得了极大的满足感. 教学是一个具有挑战性的职业，因为我们的成功, 还有我们的学生, is nearly exclusively derived from a deep sense of self-worth requiring extreme confidence, 准备和平衡的精神坚韧. 今年秋天，我将超越我在MIWLA的四场演讲, 建议为西班牙语教师举办目标语工作坊. I will be working with my 5th student teacher, to design this workshop promoting the 90/10 classroom. 我还提交了一份关于2018年中国外国语学院SBG会议的提案.
宣传
In Michigan, I am working hard to advocate that our World Language Requirement stay intact. After receiving a disappointing response to my letter regarding HB 4315/16 from Representative Reilly, I doubled-up and joined my district’s recently formed Legislative 宣传 Committee. 在我们的会议上, 我可以亲自去找他，重申我在CSCTFL关于编码的政策演讲, 把它扩展到10分钟的观众, 最后，我给了他我的名片，并邀请他到我的教室. 许多老年人反对向学校征税. I have organized my AATSP Sociedad Hispánica de Amistad students to visit the 西班牙语 class at the Orion Senior Center to bring good PR to my language program, get the students thinking about 西班牙语 beyond the school and encourage a multigenerational interest in World Language education. 有很多有创意的方式来星际网赌登录. 熟练的学生是我们最好的武器.
另外, I supported Viviana Bonafede and the Detroit Public Schools Immersion Program as a guest speaker at parent workshop in April. I spoke on the topic of language proficiency and the importance of language study at a young age. I compiled research and documentation to provide a thirty-minute speech for parents and Detroit language educators. I look forward to more opportunities to speak on a public level and project my passion for languages in the future!