梅丽莎·道尔顿
2018名人堂 Nominee
斯克里普斯中学
猎户座湖，密歇根州
2018 Finalist from CSCTFL
西班牙语
My personal policy has been to improve every year. 在斯克里普斯的最后一天，我们排起长队，向孩子们挥手致意. Most years we are quite emotional, contemplating what role we had on all those faces we see hanging out windows, 在公共汽车上欢呼. 每年6月开学时，我都会带着这样一个全新的形象和自己挥手告别, hoping for the best year ever. Then the busy life of teaching begins…
职业发展
There is no denying the fatigue, stress and concern we feel throughout the day. 完美是难以捉摸的. 我们唯一的办法就是通过专业参与来增强我们的技能基础. Every time I attend a workshop, 一个会议, 和同事开会，甚至上楼和老师朋友一起吃午饭, 我很受鼓舞. 从别人那里获得洞察力是我保持专业的主要原因. 我喜欢教书. 没有其他职业能给我带来如此多的情感和智力上的满足. 我是一个比较认真和善于分析的人，所以我喜欢照章办事. I truly enjoy reading the ACTFL publications, 有时，当我知道图表在哪一页时，我的同事会稍微取笑我, rubric or quote is found. 我们的想法和战略准备得越充分，我们就能更好地表达想法，制定政策. Finally, by being an active learner I model desired attributes for my students. 我经常告诉他们，他们即将成为一个新想法的小白鼠，他们喜欢它.
With policies handed down from government, I try to turn lemons into lemonade, working through the things I can’t control. 例如, when I moved back to America in 2002, I was hired at Scripps where they needed 西班牙语 and French certification. 我有西班牙语证书，日语精通，但没有大学课程. 在NCLB法案下，我需要主修日语，而当时没有现有的对比测试. I was hired on the condition I fulfilled my certification. After taking all classes offered at Oakland University, I spent the summer at Middlebury in Level Four, and was taken under the wing of Endo-sensei at Michigan State University. I would say my Japanese, after working at a kindergarten in Japan was fluid, but I gladly jumped through the hoops. 七年后，由于高中缺乏类似的课程，我成功的项目被取消了. Inadvertently, the two-year language requirement hurt my Japanese program. My outcome was positive after learning techniques from ESL training in Japan, 就读于明德学院，并通过Endo-sensei鼓励我参加哥伦比亚大学的ICJLT会议, where I heard first-hand presentations by Merrill Swain and Paul Sandrock. Through synthesizing these strategies my students benefitted, 比如Abby Leskiv, winning the NCJLT New Year’s Postcard design competition.
The OPI I volunteered to take at Middlebury prompted my MOPI training! 具有讽刺意味的是, every time I ventured off the beaten path, I was lead closer to teaching for proficiency in the long run. 夏天的日本菜停了，我闷闷不乐地花了一天时间浏览TripAdvisor. 当太阳落山, I scheduled a two-week vacation to Northern Spain, stays in mountain shepherd huts and rental car! I had to regain inspiration. 我拍下了商店的门面，市场上的水果，品尝了各种口味的冰淇淋. 我的女儿和我那些已经长大成人的西班牙朋友的孩子们在海滩上嬉戏. When I went back to school that fall I was a new person.
Leadership and Professional Involvement
One of the best PD opportunities occurred when my daughter was younger. 我意识到MSU CeLTA在CLEAR安排的工作坊的同一周为孩子们举办了语言夏令营. My lucky daughter attended Chinese and 西班牙语 camps for two summers. 这次经历的一个重要成果是，我亲眼目睹了密歇根州立大学语言教师传授的极好的交际策略. I attended my workshops, then heard the play by play from my daughter, as she encountered good ideas at camps. 当我被签约为奥克兰学校创建三个西班牙语Moodle单元时，我运用了在CLEAR工作坊中学到的技能. Moodle上的许多活动都嵌入了CLEAR富互联网应用程序. 通过承担开发工作，我改进了我的Moodle页面，因为我得到了奥克兰学校顾问的实际技术帮助的指导, Irma Torres and Judy Nichols. Although it has been a ten-year process, 我可以在课堂上花更多的时间在目标语言上，而把练习时间留给学生.
通过差异化教学和基于标准的评分，我的课堂得到了显著改善. I boldly recommended a Ken O’Connor book for our School Improvement Team. 我的校长慷慨地为每个人订购了副本，我们参加了许多研讨会. 我被邀请加入这些PD的机会，并发现自己最终坐在一个地区委员会制定政策的SBG转换在中层. At these meetings, I encountered ideas from the best teachers. 然后我在奥克兰学校的SBG团队中与世界语言的老师们分享了这些想法. By testing ideas from Standards- based grading, 我和学生的关系也变得更加丰富，因为我减轻了对我的评分做法的负面影响. 当我和一组同事在奥克兰学校举办关于同性恋群体的研讨会时，我和许多教育工作者一起工作, 同时我也是密歇根5g网络论坛和OS世界语言领导团队周六咖啡研讨会的主持人. 经常, I also bounce my ACTFL inspired ideas off my mentee, Emily Robinson, prior to planning these workshops. The gratification I feel from helping fellow educators is abundant. 教学 is a challenging career because our success, and that of our students, 几乎完全来自需要极度自信的深刻的自我价值感吗, preparation and balanced mental fortitude. This fall I’m moving beyond the four sessions I’ve presented at MIWLA, to propose a target language workshop for 西班牙语 teachers. 我将和我的第五个实习老师一起设计这个推广90/10课堂的工作坊. I also submitted a proposal for a session on SBG for CSCTFL in 2018.
宣传
在密歇根州，我正在努力倡导我们的世界语言要求保持不变. 在收到众议员Reilly对我关于HB 4315/16的信的令人失望的回应后, 我加入了我所在地区最近成立的立法倡导委员会. 在我们的会议上, I could approach him personally and reiterate my CSCTFL policy speech on coding, stretching it into a ten-minute audience, at the end of which I gave him my card and invited him to my classroom. Many seniors are against supporting taxes for schools. 我组织了我的AATSP Sociedad Hispánica de Amistad学生参观Orion Senior Center的西班牙语班，为我的语言项目带来良好的公关, 让学生在学校之外思考西班牙语，并鼓励多代人对世界语言教育的兴趣. There are many creative ways to advocate. Proficient students are our best ammunition.
另外, 今年4月，我在家长研讨会上作为客座演讲者，支持Viviana Bonafede和底特律公立学校浸入式教育计划. 我谈到了语言能力和从小学习语言的重要性. 我汇编了研究和文件，为家长和底特律的语言教育者提供了一个30分钟的演讲. 我期待着将来有更多的机会在公共场合发言，表达我对语言的热情!