Hello,
My name is Monique Weaver and I am currently working in at South Eugene High School with Lynette Williams. I'm a preservice teacher, currently earning my degree in Middle/Secondary education at the University of Oregon to be certified as a Spanish and ESOL teacher.
My name is Monique Weaver and I am currently working in at South Eugene High School with Lynette Williams. I'm a preservice teacher, currently earning my degree in Middle/Secondary education at the University of Oregon to be certified as a Spanish and ESOL teacher.
I am passionate about education for social change/justice. I actively work to implement a variety of sources, topics and viewpoints in my classroom, all aimed at cultivating the critical consciousness of my students. My goal as a teacher is to teach my students how to think--to give them the capacity to critically analyze the world they live in and take informed actions within it--not what to think. I am open to all opinions and encourage active dialogue amongst the students and myself.
My educational background is a bit unique as I did not attend a very traditional university. After spending a year at George Fox University studying Writing/Literature, Philosophy and Spanish I transferred to Friends World Program, which is an international studies, experimental education program run through Long Island University. With this program I spent one year in London studying Peace and Conflict Regulation--conducting case studies in Northern Ireland and the Former Yugoslavia--amongst other topics. I then headed to Central America where I focused my studies on "education as a means of social change" (my area of focus, equivalent to a major at most universities). I spent the first term in Costa Rica getting acquainted with Central America, researching alternative education models, working in an elementary school (see photo) and environmental issues (which Costa Rica is famous for). My second and final term I headed to Nicaragua to conduct an action project in a rural community outside of León where I lived with a Nicaraguan family and co-taught English at the local high school.
As a consequence of the nature of my studies my Spanish knowledge is less grammatically based, as I gained most of my skills through interactions with Spanish-speakers outside of classroom settings. To compensate for this, however, I feel that I have a wealth of experience and a unique perspective to offer to my students. I also have an intense passion for the Spanish language which will aid in the development of my more formal skills. Additionally, I feel that at the beginning levels of Spanish it is more important for students to hear Spanish spoken correctly (something that I feel relatively confident about) than to focus too much on the grammatical aspects of the language, which they will be more thoroughly exposed to at more advanced levels. Hopefully my experiences will prove beneficial for my students as I teach them what I know about speaking Spanish and work with them to improve our Spanish skills.
