What Do You Teach?
Spanish
Where Do you Teach?
Stuart Career Tech High School
How Long Have You Been Teaching?
11 years
How Does Educational Technology Play a Role in Your Classroom?
Technology really does broaden my ability to facilitate task-based language teaching: to host a diverse menu of activities for my students to enhance, and fall in love with learning a new language. Worksheets can have a purpose in the classroom, but diversifying real-life activities with technology as its host, keeps my students engaged.
How Do You Find Technology in the Classroom Helpful?
Via technology I can cater to our digital natives, which is really most of our students now. Culturally speaking: my kids can access Latin American museums, create and edit student-made novelas, increase proficiency by chatting with a mock pen pal. The window to the world is literally at their fingertips and we can exploit that as educators in limitless ways.
What Is Your Favorite Piece of Classroom Technology? Why?
Student iPads have really become vital in the classroom as well as my favorite. The classroom has been revolutionized with the iPad. The loss and saving of paper, accountability for student and teacher when it comes to assignment turn in and grading, diversifying to every learner such as the one that prefers individual learning and recording herself because engaging with others may pose an impediment due to public speaking fears.
What Is On Your Technology Wish List For Your Classroom? Why?
For me: an apple pencil, I grade a lot from my iPad, this would be super helpful. For my students: stylists they can use in class.
What Do You Love Most About Teaching?
I absolutely love to be part of a student’s self-discovery path. I tell all my students that yes, I do teach Spanish, but most of all, I love to see their journey as their cultural lens broadens. Cognitive and emotional culture competences are important assets for our students to acquire and become true world citizens.
What is one thing you would like to add to your tech wish list?
For me: an apple pencil, I grade a lot from my iPad, this would be super helpful. For my students: stylists they can use in class.
Nominated by:
Katie Ward: “Mrs. Guajardo does an amazing job of integrating a variety of tools in the LOTE classroom. She encourages student creation and frequent checking for understanding in the classroom. Mrs. Guajardo is not afraid to explore a wide range of applications and tools in her classroom to help her students be immersed in learning a second language”.