Coming in to the school year, Megan Widmer wanted to take a break from teaching but decided to sign on as a proctor for online Spanish classes. After her experiences with those classes and the students at Yutan, however, she has decided to sign on as the full time Spanish teacher and will be starting that role in January.
“So in my previous school, it was really hard with behaviors. And so I love Yutan because there’s small classes and the kids are really, really good, I mean, compared to other places. And I found out that I really did miss teaching. I think that I was just kind of created to be a teacher,” Widmer said.
Part of what led to Widmer’s decision was seeing the students struggle with the online homework and instructions without the in-person guidance from the online teacher.
“I think the biggest thing was just him (the online teacher) not being in the classroom, and that really limited the techniques that he could use to teach. So the main things he was able to do is just explain grammar and then give worksheets and wasn’t able to get a good feeling for how the students were understanding the material as he was teaching. So I think the students sometimes felt frustrated because there was kind of a disconnect between the teacher and the students,” Widmer said.
Beyond the teaching method, Widmer also noticed issues with the way the curriculum was implemented.
“I think some of those struggles were with just the curriculum itself. Especially the Spanish 2 students who didn’t have a good foundation from last year really struggled with just jumping into Spanish 2,” Widmer said.
One of the students in Spanish 2 who struggled to catch up this year is sophomore Derrick Seay.
“Last year we only did Duolingo and we learned singular words, but this year it’s more in depth. But it’s harder to learn online because we can’t get the help we really need,” Seay said.
When Widmer takes over as teacher after the semester break, she plans to teach a different curriculum. According to Widmer, the new curriculum is more than just earning grammar points and turning in worksheets.
“There’s going to be a lot of interactive activities that engage students with a lot of different types of learning and a lot of, you know, fast-paced type things, but also using the language more in context rather than just learning the rules of it and then taking a test,” Widmer said.
Students in Spanish class are ready for the online course to end and Widmer’s new curriculum to begin.
“The new curriculum is supposed to be more engaging and less worksheets, which is exciting,” Seay said.
The students are also anticipating better instruction from their in-person teacher based on help they’ve already gotten from Widmer in her proctor role.
“She re-explains the online lessons in a way that she knows we will understand,” sophomore Kylie Krajicek said.
When Widmer starts to teach the lessons full time, she hopes to improve students’ interest for Spanish class and to take something out of the experience.
“I’m really hoping that Spanish goes from students’ least favorite class to one of their favorite classes,” Widmer said. “So I’m hoping that I can just help them really enjoy Spanish and actually see a use for it and see the benefits in the language and have a good time.”
