{"id":13434,"date":"2018-06-07T16:10:35","date_gmt":"2018-06-07T20:10:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/?p=13434"},"modified":"2019-08-28T13:12:12","modified_gmt":"2019-08-28T17:12:12","slug":"sunny_deitrick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/2018\/06\/07\/sunny_deitrick\/","title":{"rendered":"“You’re Our Biggest Fan”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sunny Deitrick<\/h2>\n

I am an AACPS:<\/strong> English Language Acquisition Teacher, Old Mill High School | 2018 Teacher of the Year Nominee<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"SunnyMy first day of school as a student was both frightening and exciting.\u00a0 I remember my first grade teacher finding ways to communicate with me, a shy, intimated girl who spoke no English.\u00a0 When I cried because of cultural misunderstandings, she would sit with me until she figured out what was upsetting me.\u00a0 She was empathic and made me feel safe and secure.\u00a0 And my ESOL teacher helped me connect to my new life in the states.\u00a0 He found ways for me to learn new words as well as make connections with my teachers and peers.\u00a0 My own educational experience brought me into the field of education.<\/p>\n

It is important to me to teach the same way I\u2019ve been taught.\u00a0 Not all students are the same; some students come to school with an educational background while some have a limited education.\u00a0 It is important to activate their prior knowledge whether it\u2019s an experience in their village or something they\u2019ve read in their school books.\u00a0 Even with the differences in educational level, they all have the same struggle of learning a new language.\u00a0 They all need to be shown equity and be provided with a safe and inviting learning environment.<\/p>\n

From my experiences, I have formed my philosophy of what makes a great educator.\u00a0 They would have to be passionate about teaching and show respect towards their students, help students when they are struggling academically and social-emotionally, and collaborate with other faculty members.\u00a0 They should also find various ways to explain a topic if the students does not understand by familiarizing themselves with students\u2019 culture and interests to use real world examples. It\u2019s very difficult for English Language Learners, especially if they enter high school when they first arrive.\u00a0 They have so many obstacles such as learning a new language as well as pass High School Assessments to fulfill their graduation requirements and pass all their classes with a satisfactory grade. They would also have to become familiar with new foods and cultures.\u00a0 I\u2019ve seen them progress every year, not only in their English acquisition but also their academics and social interactions.\u00a0 They have more self-confidence and not afraid of trying new things.\u00a0 It brings me such great joy when I see my students walk across the stage to receive their high school diploma and become active members of our community.\u00a0 I\u2019ve never had children of my own, but am lucky and fortunate to have known so many wonderful children in my life.<\/p>\n

It is important for me to make connections to my students and build a foundation that will help them towards graduation and beyond. I went to many soccer games and a majority of my new students were playing.\u00a0 They approached me and said in English, \u201cYou\u2019re our biggest fan.\u201d\u00a0 It may seem like a small thing to connect with students in their lives but is a way I know to help them connect with this new world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

” I remember my first grade teacher finding ways to communicate with me, a shy, intimated girl who spoke no English…It is important to me to teach the same way I\u2019ve been taught.”–Sunny Deitrick, ELA Teacher, OMHS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1001013,"featured_media":13453,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_expiration-date-status":"saved","_expiration-date":0,"_expiration-date-type":"","_expiration-date-categories":[],"_expiration-date-options":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[145,130,132,207],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-old_mill_stories","category-aacps_story","category-employee_stories","category-toy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1001013"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13434"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13434\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13454,"href":"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13434\/revisions\/13454"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}