Crisp County High School
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Spanish Class Links:

                            Spanish I Syllabus
                            Spanish II Syllabus
                            Grading Policy

                            Hello everyone,

                            My name is Stan Garland and I live in TyTy,GA which is a known far and
                            wide for having some of the finest plant nurseries in the United States.
                            While I live in TyTy, I teach about 40 miles away in Cordele, Ga at Crisp
                            County High School.  Cordele has a population of about 15,000 citizens
                            and is situated near the lovely Lake Blackshear.  Our beautiful Crisp
                           county and Cordele are known as the Watermelon Capital of the World
                            due to producing more watermelons here per year than anywhere on the
                            planet.

                            I am originally from Orlando, Florida where I grew up during influential
                            years.  My father was a minister so we traveled around a lot between
                            Florida, Georgia, and Tennessee.  I have moved around some 13 or 14
                            times in my brief  26 years.  Due to these travels, we were exposed to
                            many different ethnicities and cultures.  In Orlando, my father's church
                            was situated in a Puerto Rican and Cuban neighborhood.  There is where I
                            first became interested in teaching and learning Spanish.  I began to
                            learn Spanish from my friends and classmates at a young age and it had a
                            profound impact on my life.  Later in Georgia, the church my father
                            pastored was in the inner city where we worked in Black the community.
                            In Johnson City, Tennessee, we worked with poor Appalachian people by
                            ministering to them both spiritually, educationally, and economically.
                            I received an A.A in Foreign Language and A.S. in Secondary Education
                            from Abraham Baldwin College in Tifton, Ga. Later, I received a B.A. in
                           Spanish and a B.S. in Secondary Education with a Specialization in
                           Spanish Education from Valdosta State University in Valdosta, Ga.  I,
                            also, attended the Universidad de Guadalajara in Guadalajara, Mexico
                            where I studied Spanish Literature and Grammar and tested the highest Spanish
                            fluency of any non-native speaker student enrolled at the time.  I am
                            certified here in Georgia to teach Spanish 7-12th and currently intend on
                            adding certification in ESOL and Reading.  In 1998, I began teaching at
                            Clinch County High School where I headed the foreign language department.
                            Beginning in 2001, I moved here to Crisp County High School to be closer to my
                            family.

                            Starting in 1995, I began to work for the Federal Department of Migrant
                           Education as a paraprofessional in Pre-K classes.  Beginning in the year
                            2000, I taught my first migrant summer school class and I have been
                            hired to teach it again this year, as well. I really enjoy teaching
                            Pre-K and the little ones teach me a lot about how students interact in
                            my High School classes.  They are kind of like examining the primordial
                            soup that one day congeals into high school students.  During the rest
                            of the year, I teach at Crisp County High School where I am one of three
                            Spanish teachers.  I teach Spanish 1 and 2 to grades 9-12th.

                            Currently, I am pursuing a Master of Arts in Education in Curriculum and
                           Instructional Technology at the University of Phoenix, Arizona.  I am looking
                            forward to learning how to integrate technology into the curriculum in meaningful
                            ways.  I believe that children today must have technology skills and technology is
                            the medium that will revolutionize education by giving students access to wealths
                            of information that will engage them in the learning process in new and exciting ways.
                           I strive each day to be part of that process.
 
 

I believe that teaching is a ministry.  Teaching is one of the greatest ways that one can serve the community.  Ghandi once said, "Be the change that you want to see in the world."  This statement is a call to action and places the responsibility for the direction of the community on the individual.  Communities never change until individuals change themselves.  If we ever want to affect change in the educational community then we must "be" the change and "live" the change ourselves everyday as we teach our classes.  The apostle Paul wrote that "faith without works is dead because it is alone."  In the same way, we must not just wish that education will improve in America we must take active steps everyday in our classes to teach better, more effectively, and from bell to bell.

I believe that the teacher is the critical factor in the classroom.  As Harry Wong states in his book How to Be an Effective Teacher, the effective teacher can do three very essential things:  1. Has positive expectations for student success,  2. Is an extremely good classroom manager,  3. Knows how to design lessons for student mastery.  Educators must maintain positive expectations toward their students.  Many studies and much research supports the assertion that students' success is directly linked to the teacher's expectations.  Teachers must be good classroom managers in order to foster the proper learning environment.  This is best facilitated by managing time-on-task.  Classes who are engaged in the learning process have many fewer disciplinary problems.  Insubordination, off-task behavior, and other interference in the learning process should be dealt with swiftly and consistently according to the established discipline ladder.

I believe in both the Constructivist and Direct Instructional models.  First, the teacher is the one who most often brings the expertise to the classroom.  It is his/her duty and responsibility to guide and manage the class, to disseminate information, administer discipline and encouragement, and monitor the learning process.  A teacher must know the material well in order to teach it because the blind can not lead the blind.  At the same time, teachers must not fail to appreciate students' prior learning and must utilize what information and skills that students bring to the learning environment.

Regarding foreign language education and ESOL, I believe that in an increasing global job market that having bilingual skills will be necessary in order to function in future business.  Spanish is the most logical choice since it is the second most spoken language in the U.S. after English.  Already, we are seeing the great influx of Hispanics that have come to our region to seek temporary employment in agriculture and industry.  We must be prepared to meet the needs of employers who will require personnel who are conversant in Spanish or who at least can communicate basic instructions.  Besides, foreign language education encourages intercultural understanding which will, no doubt, be an essential quality to have in a worker.  Remember, education is worthless unless it makes us better citizens. The Nazis, for example where highly educated but they killed millions of Jews and Gypsies because they lacked the basic intercultural understanding that teaches us to be tolerant and accepting of the differences of others.  We must teach such qualities and values in conjunction with the Georgia state mandated Work Ethics requirements.  But, we must teach multiculturalism without advancing any political agenda.

Lastly, probably the most important quality that a teacher must bring to the classroom is a love and enthusiasm for his/her subject.  Spanish plays an important role in my life and has for many years.  I think that everyone should be bilingual and I think that Spanish is the language that one should choose.  Enthusiasm is contagious and can be a motivational factor for students in the classroom.  Your students will never love Spanish more than you love it.  If it inspires you then it will inspire them.  You just have to come to school everyday and say within yourself, "they let me come here and they pay me too!"