CLA Spanish Program increases teachers’ comfort in teaching difficult topics

Bar graph of Spanish evaluation before/after comparison

Bar chart compares responses before and after an intervention across five comfort levels. The levels include: “Very comfortable, don’t feel constrained at all,” “Pretty comfortable, feel mildly constrained,” “Hard to say,” “Not very comfortable, feel constrained,” and “Uncomfortable, feel significantly constrained.” Overall, responses shifted toward “pretty comfortable” after the intervention, with fewer respondents reporting discomfort.

CLA is grateful to the 31 Spanish teachers who attended our April 11 program, Crisis y cultura en el siglo XXI, many of whom traveled long distances for it. We’re especially pleased that teachers’ evaluations show the program to have nearly doubled the number of teachers who reported feeling “very comfortable” or “pretty comfortable” teaching challenging topics.

Evaluation comments included

“I absolutely love this workshop. Not only did it provide stimulating academic discussion, but it also allowed time to meet and catch up with colleagues from across the state. It was (and always is!) one of the best professional development workshops I attend.”

“The resources and ideas can be used in the upper-level courses, where it is so hard to find materials to use.”

“Attending this workshop will shift the focus from lecturing in my class to maximizing student communication… Your support involves tailored professional development, using authentic materials, fostering supportive environments, and providing ideas that I can use to interact with classroom environments.”

CLA is grateful too to the program’s organizer, Professor Ricardo Padron, our Project Director for World Languages, and to the program’s presenters, Profs. Charlotte Rogers, Kelly Moore, and Nicole Bonino of UVA, and Profs. Jorge Grajales-Diaz and Maggie Payne of Piedmont Virginia Community College, and to Dean Kit Decker of PVCC for the materials he made available to teachers.