About Richard Russell
I’m not sure what I teach. For most of my career, I’ve taught high school Spanish; but I’ve recently switched to 5th grade and would like to continue on that level. Elementary students are so much easier to handle than teenagers.
As a teacher, I’ve emphasized planning and classroom management; but in the last couple of years I’ve come to see rapport with students as the single most important element of effective teaching. We don’t have to be loved by our students; but if kids don’t like us, it’s difficult to teach them anything.
I’ve got a pretty impressive education. I graduated summa cum laude from the University of Texas at Austin with a major in Latin. My M.A., also from U.T., came many years later in the area of Foreign Language Education. In the interim, I had more or less taught myself Spanish. As is so often the case with foreign language students, I didn’t really become fluent until I lived in the foreign country. With my M.A. in hand, I taught English in Medellín, Colombia while Pablo Escobar was still around.
After returning to the U.S., I married a girl from Peru and for the first time in my life had to earn a decent living. I started out as a Latin teacher but soon switched to Spanish by passing state proficiency exams. I’ve now taught for over 20 years and am constantly amazed at how little my impressive education counts when it comes to actually getting a job. We have to remember, I guess, that effective public school teachers learn their trade on the job.
Website: http://RichTigerRich.Learn-Learn.us/