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This is an incredibly diverse class in terms of students' backgrounds, strengths, motivations for taking the class, commitment to the AP test, interest in different aspects of language and culture, exposure to Spanish, writing skills, pronunciation, etc. This makes it a scary class to teach (how can I possibly meet everyone's needs?!) and a rewarding class to teach (you learn so much from one another, and your differences are a testament to the role of diversity in creating meaningful, challenging learning experiences together).

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By accident. I had studied a little Spanish in college and I wanted to spend a few months in Spain in and then do an internship in Paris. But I kept extending my stay in Spain. After that I came back to the US and got a degree in Linguistics. I hoped to get a job at a community college teaching English, but ended up working as an interpreter for a while, more stuff happened, I got my teaching endorsement in both English and Spanish, and it turned out it was easier to find a job in Spanish. I'm SO GLAD I ended up where I am, because I am really enjoying this work.

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I don't think about it very much. The cool thing about being over 30 is that I feel more and more comfortable in my own skin, no matter how lumpy or imperfect. If you don't already have the experience of being mostly comfortable in your skin almost every day, I hope you get to try it sometime.

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Don't have one. I usually listen to country when I'm working around the house, I like dancing to reggaetón, salsa, and funk, and I listen to latin folk and rock when I'm driving. I got to see a Bomba Estéreo concert this summer!

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Absolutely, in your English class.

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Normally we'll start in a circle. Facing one another allows me to see immediately if the group is having trouble understanding, or is distracted by something. It also helps us to get to know one another. It makes it easier to get up to do partner and group work. When we do extended writing exercises, you can usually turn to the table behind you or reconfigure your seating.

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I have about 140 students per year, and they all have different opinions about what is fun. I try to do a variety of things so no one is unhappy 100% of the time.

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Gosh, no sé. There used to be an old Union HS here, then there wasn't, and when a school was opening here (about 12 years ago?) they decided to name it Union in honor of the earlier school. I think.

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I don't decide this until late June.

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I love teaching both 1st or 2nd and an advanced class. It's a nice mix and keeps me on my toes. If I could take classes at Union, I'd love to take Physics or Chemistry. I never got to take those in high school.

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Actually, I was recently re-reading a book I read a few years ago about Stoicism. So amazing! If you think you know what this is, you're probably wrong. In a way it's a lot more like Buddhism than most Western philosophical perspectives.

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Third year not so much, AP more. You should expect to be mentally present all the time in class, and to study vocab outside of class.

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If you're curious about the content, you can check out the AP college board website and see a little of the scope of the course. In general, the course is based on themes and texts related to those themes, rather than groups of vocab words and grammar concepts. You will have personalized vocab quizzes (based on words you choose), and there are high standards for clarity and content in the AP writing rubrics on which our writing exercises are based.