Laura Jasinski

1. What is your educational background and what positions have you held? Please include the current school district and grade/s.

I graduated from Slippery Rock in 2020 with a degree in Early Childhood Education and Spanish. During the 2021-2022 academic year, I studied at the University of Alcalá in Madrid, Spain to pursue a masters degree in Multicultural and Bilingual Education. I graduated in June 2022. Along with completing a masters program, I was also teaching English as a language assistant to sixth graders at an elementary bilingual school in Madrid called CEIP Severo Ochoa. After going home for the summer, I returned to Madrid at the beginning of the academic year to teach for the 2022-2023 school year at the same school, however, working with first and second grade. I decided to stay in Spain and continue being a language assistant. For the 2023-2024 academic year I am at a charter school in the same town as my previous school. However, this year I am working with 5-12 year olds teaching English from Kindergarten to sixth grade. It is a heavier load, however, I get to have experience with all the grade levels this year.

2. Name one SRU experience, in general or specific to the field, that you will never forget and explain why.

When I was in my junior year I had the opportunity to work with a first grade student from Puerto Rico during one of my field experiences. The school was looking for people who spoke Spanish because several students had low levels of English. During my time working with the student I was able to identify his language learning needs and create and administer lessons in English and Spanish to help him improve specific language skills. It was amazing to see how much he could absorb within the few weeks that I got to work with him. Being able to combine using Spanish and English made a big difference for him as he could fully understand what he needed to do. It was a great experience and I will never forget that student and how happy he was to be able to see his own progress. He is one of the reasons why I decided to pursue bilingual education.

3. Name an SRU faculty that had a positive influence on you and explain why.

Throughout my four years at Slippery Rock I had several classes with Dr. Gisela Dieter who is a Spanish professor. Being able to be in several of her classes allowed me to get to know her better and share my aspirations of combining my love for education and Spanish. She was a wonderful

professor and my language skills improved immensely in her classes. She was very passionate about the Spanish language and educating her students on all the cultures involved with it. I remember discussing my plans with her about moving to Spain to pursue a masters degree as well as teach English, she was so helpful in writing me a recommendation and was there for any help I needed. She was always so supportive of me and I learned a lot from her. During my senior year when I was student teaching she asked me if I would be able to do some research for her on bilingual education as she was thinking of creating new courses at Slippery Rock. It was fun being able to learn more about that field and help give her ideas. I hope to see her again one day!

*Honorable mention to Dr. Tours who I was able to bond with over our love of Spain

4. What initially piqued your interest in pursuing a degree in education?

I had always enjoyed going to school and being involved in all it had to offer me. During my junior year of high school I decided to take an elective class that allowed me to be a teacher's assistant at our elementary school several times a week for an entire semester. I really enjoyed that experience and looked forward to going to the class every week. I thought it was cool to see how a teacher can impact so many students in their class and aid their educational, emotional, and social journey. I still remember some of my teachers from elementary school and how positively they impacted me. I want to do that for my students.

5. What do you love most about teaching?

One of my favorite things about teaching is seeing the students start at level 1, minimal experience or knowledge on a skill and see them progress over time as you instruct them until they have mastered/improved in that skill. It is not only cool to see as a teacher but seeing how excited the students are that they are capable of doing it. Most of the students I work with this year do not yet speak English, they can understand a good amount of what I say, but they have minimal speaking experience. We are currently at level 1. However, over the course of this year I am excited to see how much English they will absorb and it will be amazing to see where they are at the end of the school year.

6. What makes a great teacher?

I think a great teacher understands that every student learns differently, many come from different backgrounds, and teaching is not one size fits all. They understand that if they want to be an effective teacher they have to use differentiation, real-world strategies, understand the levels their students are at and incorporate their lives and cultures into the classroom. They should create an inviting and engaging classroom that promotes learning no matter what stage the students are at. The students should feel like they are capable even though it may feel challenging sometimes. The class is a community, a team that works together towards a common goal with the teacher guiding the students to success. Students and the teacher feel excited and desire to go to school each day (although it definitely gets tough sometimes). Going to school shouldn’t be seen as a chore, it should be seen as another opportunity to learn something new and continue to grow as a person.