Alexis,

I bumped into a couple of your students at lunch, and they eagerly asked me what I had
thought of the IB Spanish 2 class I visited this morning. Very impressive, thoroughly
engaging was how I began, inadequately. I then complimented them on the quality of
their Spanish and noted the crucial fact that speaking in the target language happens
naturally and is accepted as the mode of communication by everyone in this class. I
could have gone on and on
Despite holes in my understanding of Spanish, I could tell that Jonathan and Kiran had
each prepared their reports thoroughly. They spoke with considerable fluency, which is
clearly the standard in this class, and they spoke with conviction about their detailed
analyses. Just as important, the other students were attentive; many were annotating
their books during the talks. The questions that followed were thoughtful and probing.
Your interventions were judicious and central to revealing subtleties of the stories.
When you put the visual depiction of subtext on the board, and referred to it several
more times, you provided a powerful reminder of an essential piece of Maria Jos
Navias artistry. The beauty of your approach was to give the students the tools to
unveil that discovery themselves, albeit with a few hints. This was masterful from a
pedagogical point of view and just plain fun. The students were on the edge of their
seats trying to decipher the nuances of meaning in a work of fiction where what is not
written is more important than what is on the page. What a wonderful lesson!
I appreciated the way you interacted so positively with the students. Your frequent
praise (Phenomenale!), your sense of humor, your patience, and your passion all
served to make the students appreciate the value of the shared process of inquiry, and
to feel good about themselves as scholars. Your optimism is contagious and serves to
motivate. Everyone is implicated in this group effort, but you are the leader, the
cheerleader, the authority, and the tone-setter. I also took note of the facility that you
and the students have to transition from shared laughter and inside jokes one minute to
serious, focused analysis the next. This is a sign not only of affectionate complicity
between teacher and students, but also of a class that functions with a high degree of
trust, not only in the instructor, but also in each other.
I really cant think of much to offer in the way of suggestions. I wondered when and if
you would intervene to correct pronunciation or word choice, but I also recognize that
the special esprit de corps that exists in this class might suffer from public correction of
such small details. A larger question might be around personalized assessment and how
it is achieved in a way that is timely and helpful to the students without burdening the
teacher.
I thank you not only for your outstanding teaching but also for your significant
contributions to the life of the school, for the example you set for all of us as a fully
engaged member of the faculty, a writer, a Cuban who has made New Jersey and
Newark Academy his home, and much more. I look forward to talking more at your
upcoming substantial.

Sincerely,

Don Austin
Head of School
November 2, 2015