“I taught English at Saipan Southern High School for four years and it’s been my second year here at Koblerville Elementary School,” she said.
She is teaching fifth grade students and handles many student support programs such as Spelling Bee, the Academic Challenge Bowl, and Umang Times, the school’s monthly newsletter.
Her students learn by example.
“I do it first for them. They copy me,” she said.
It also helps that she talks to them simply and clearly.
“I think the biggest thing that helps my kids is the way I talk to them. I don’t use big words. I try to talk to them as if we are on the same level. I use words that they use a lot,” she added.
To help her students appreciate classroom activities she uses tools such as visual learners.
“I use a lot of shows from TV or movies that they are very interested in. I use that during my teaching. I use a lot of Power Point presentation. They like a lot of pictures.”
She tries to learn things about her students and learned that they can express themselves more when it comes to group work.
“Kids like to do group work. I think they like to do posters and that’s how they present it in front of their classrooms. Their speaking skills are also being practiced,” she said.
If a student disrupts classes and she needs to call his attention she talks to him one on one.
“I would speak to the student outside of the classroom,” she said.
To make the children more enthusiastic and appreciate the long-term value of education, she makes them realize the need to set and meet life goals.
“I tell them, you want to be rich, a nice car or nice house, do well in school.”
Most of the students are from low-income families, that is why she encourages them to exert more effort so that they can have a brighter future.
“I motivate them to do well,” she said.
She focuses a lot on teacher training and language arts.
“We have to teach every subject but because my specialty is language arts I focus a lot on that because you can’t do science or social studies if you can’t read or write. So I focus mostly on reading and writing,” she said.
She also helps her colleagues teach reading vocabulary and reading comprehension.
Last year she conducted five workshops.
There are also times when she has been sent off-island to participate in seminars.
