In graduate school, I earned my Masters in Teaching. I commuted to school by bus and enjoyed meeting people who were pursuing teaching for a variety of reasons. My masters thesis was about taking the principles of “Sheltered Instruction” (a kind of structured immersion often used to teach science, history, and other subjects to non-native English speakers) and applying them to teaching Spanish as a second language. I drew on my undergraduate study of linguistics in order to make a strong case for a new model of Spanish language teaching.
With further study and student-teaching, I received endorsements to teach Spanish and drama. I also took a test for an endorsement in advanced high school mathematics. I did this because the education department said it would make me more marketable. (Being responsible to my career was my first priority, you may recall.) And unlike Spanish, math was easy for me, so I thought I might as well get the endorsement. (I had no idea at the time how much mathematics would end up meaning to my life, but that’s a different story!)
In 2011, after graduating, I studied in Salamanca, Spain, so that I could become as fluent as possible before beginning my teaching career.