"Bonjour" y "hola," hello and thanks for visiting my home page.My name is Sheila Mincey and I am so delighted right now to have a job using foreign languages every day. I have worked at Jefferson County High School for three years teaching tenth, eleventh, and twelth graders Spanish. I am knowledgable in French as well in case you want to try out your French on me.
I have really been pleased with my third year of teaching at JCHS in comparison to my initial years and my courses of study at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, have directly aided me to feel more successful. They have helped me to be a better instructor both in understanding the kids I teach and in providing better visual instruction. Having almost all of our visual "extras" that came with our text this year, both DVDs and audiocassettes does not hurt either!! These aids make the language more accessable to everybody in the class.
Among the issues regarding young people that have been most helpful to me relate to brain function and to how the students must not feel threatened in order to achieve maximum retention of subjects taught. This issue of fear is one I really deal with as a foreign language teacher because so many kids come in with the thought that they cannot learn a new language. I try to emphasize the positive idea that they are learning a language system that has "formulas" much as math does and the idea that each student is not expected to be perfect immediately, but each is expected to try.
With help from my UTK classes, I have used more powerpoints in my instruction which was a main goal I had on my personal goal agenda. I have used more varied instruction also with overheads and posters. Kids really seem to enjoy visuals and as I get more experience, I plan to offer the young people more in my classroom this coming year.
I am so proud of my young people this year. I have seen more enthusiam in the classroom than ever, and I am so proud to work with them. It doesn't hurt to have a little humor in the classroom to make learning fun, and I have some very witty young people! I want my students to develop more confidence in speaking as the year draws to a close.
last updated 2008
Jefferson County Technology Center
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Visit my classroom webpage at http://classroom.jc-schools.net/minceys