Students at Lakewood Elementary School and Henry B. Gonzalez Personalized Learning Academy have expanded their communication skills in Spanish as well as their cultural knowledge, thanks to a collaboration between the schools through an international exchange program through the University of Barcelona. Gloria Prieto Puentes, a bilingual teacher at Lakewood Elementary, and her son, Sergi Calavia, an art teacher at Henry B Gonzalez, have brought this international exchange program into their classrooms the last two years. Prieto Puentes, who is originally from Barcelona and graduated from the university, first heard about the program from one of her colleagues, who shared…
Author: Priscilla Rice
Hailey Rangel, maestra de prekínder en Jill Stone Elementary School, se interesa por que sus estudiantes puedan ir a “excursiones”, lo que incluye actividades interactivas no solo para que aprendan, sino también para que ese aprendizaje sea significativo. Durante la pandemia del covid-19, se restringieron las excursiones y las escuelas solo podían recibir un número limitado de visitantes. El costo de transportar a los estudiantes en autobús a una excursión, incluso antes de las restricciones por la pandemia, también era un obstáculo, así que Rangel decidió que sus estudiantes tendrían estas experiencias sin deber dejar el salón de clases. Al…
Hailey Rangel, a prekindergarten teacher at Jill Stone Elementary School, is on a mission to bring “field trips” to her students, which includes interactive activities to not only engage them, but also make learning more meaningful. During the COVID-19 pandemic, field trips were restricted and schools had limited visitors. The expense of busing students to field trip locations even without the pandemic restrictions was also an obstacle. So putting two and two together, Rangel decided to bring the learning opportunities of field trips to her school, instead. At the beginning of last school year, she did research for free on-campus…
Para Sandy Peatrowsky, maestra itinerante para estudiantes con sordera total o parcial, todos los días son diferentes. Visita hasta cinco escuelas cada día para trabajar con un promedio de 16 estudiantes cada semana de casi todos los grados, y adapta sus lecciones y actividades a las necesidades de cada individuo. Durante sus visitas, la comunicación es un tema recurrente, ya sea sobre el vocabulario, la memoria auditiva o la acción de abogar por sí mismo. “Un estudiante que no usa un aparato auditivo ni que tiene pérdida auditiva podrá escuchar una palabra 100 veces, pero mis estudiantes posiblemente la escuchen…
For Sandy Peatrowsky, a deaf/hard of hearing itinerant teacher, no day looks the same. She visits up to five schools per day to work with an average of 16 students per week across most grade levels, catering lesson plans and activities to each individual’s needs. During her visits, communication is a regular theme, whether it be related to vocabulary, auditory memory, or self-advocacy. “For a student who does not have hearing aids or hearing loss, they will hear a word 100 times, but my student might only hear it 50 times,” Peatrowsky said. “We do a lot of work so…
The Lion King, one of musical theater’s grandest and most complicated productions, is not something that you’d expect from elementary school students who are the designers, actors, and dancers. But Jesus Moroles Expressive Arts Vanguard theater teacher, Jamie Nelson, and dance teacher, Brianna Miller, believed that this seemingly impossible task was possible. It was. The students staged and adapted the production this spring to great success and accolades from parents, team members and community. Nelson and Miller began collaborating two years ago when they presented the school’s first musical ever, Matilda, performed by fourth and fifth graders. The opportunity to…
Lo que empezó como un momento de enseñanza y esfuerzo por mejorar la comunidad ha hecho de Ascher Silberstein Elementary School un lugar donde los estudiantes, el personal y la comunidad pueden apreciar y aprender sobre la naturaleza. Todo comenzó cuando la directora Erika Pasieczny notó el gran número de perros que corrían sueltos por el vecindario. Abordó el problema inculcándoles a los estudiantes la responsabilidad de tener una mascota. “Nos dimos cuenta de que nuestra comunidad no estaba cuidando bien a sus mascotas”, dijo Pasieczny. “Así que hicimos un cuarto para animales para enseñarles a los estudiantes cómo cuidarlos”.…
What began as a teaching moment and a community improvement effort has turned Ascher Silberstein Elementary School into a place where students, team members and the community can appreciate and learn about nature. It all started when Principal Erika Pasieczny noticed how many dogs ran around loose in the neighborhood. She started to tackle the problem by instilling in students the responsibility that comes with owning pets. “We realized that our community wasn’t doing a good job of taking care of our pets,” said Pasieczny. “So we started an animal room, so we could teach all the students how to…
Desde que Dallas ISD la reclutó en Filipinas hace 27 años, Estrellita Perez Richter, maestra del programa de estudiantes talentosos y dotados de Julius Dorsey Leadership Academy, ha hecho del distrito su hogar. Perez Richter vino a Estados Unidos en 1995 para ser maestra como parte de los esfuerzos de reclutamiento del distrito a nivel mundial de maestros experimentados para combatir la escasez de docentes de ese entonces. Antes de venir a Dallas, había ejercido en Filipinas desde 1978 como maestra de inglés como segundo idioma a refugiados chinos de cinco a 60 años de edad. Ya que el inglés…
Since she was recruited from the Philippines 27 years ago, Estrellita Perez Richter, a gifted and talented program teacher at Julius Dorsey Leadership Academy, has made Dallas ISD home. Perez Richter came to the United States in 1995 to be a teacher as part of the district’s worldwide recruitment efforts of experienced teachers in response to teacher shortages here. She had been a teacher in the Philippines since 1978 and was teaching English as a second language to Chinese refugees—from 5 to 60 years old—before coming to Dallas. Even though Perez Richter spoke fluent English when she emigrated to the…