Balboa Academy: Year Two

The world of knowledge takes a crazy turn when teachers themselves are taught to learn.
Bertolt Brecht


A year ago, as I was getting ready for my second year at Vasco Núñez de Balboa Academy, I wrote the piece Balboa Academy: Year One. Revisiting this entry took me back to the initial shock of returning to the high school classroom after teaching college for many years.

The transition was difficult, but I overcame the hurdle with the help of a mantra my dear friend, Bill Madonna, gave me—a mantra I repeated for weeks during my morning shower: “Today, I’m going to make a difference.” Before long, as I mentioned in last year’s entry, my outlook changed and I began to enjoy the high school experience thoroughly.

Last year—my second year at Balboa Academy—although I still encountered the usual challenges every high school teacher faces, I had a terrific time. (And repeating the mantra is no longer necessary: it has become a mindset.) First of all, much of the credit for the fun I’m having goes to Jean Lamb, School Director, who understood that I needed time to write. She allowed me to teach part-time and this has made an enormous difference. Thanks to Jean’s flexibility and giving character, my teaching load went down from five to three classes: two ninth-grade Spanish courses for native speakers and the Introduction to College Writing.

The ninth grade Spanish classes had many superb moments last year. At times, the class discussions reached levels that matched any college course I taught in the past. As part of the curriculum, we read the fiction of many noted writers. Among them: Ricardo Palma, Emilia Pardo Bazán, Horacio Quiroga, Jorge Luis Borges, Julio Cortázar, Juan Rulfo, Ana María Matute, Gabriel García Márquez, Elena Poniatowska, Mario Vargas Llosa, and Isabel Allende.

Also, in the Spanish course, we studied several gifted poets, including: Garcilaso de la Vega, Santa Teresa de Jesús, San Juan de la Cruz, Luis de Góngora, Fray Luis de León, Francisco de Quevedo, Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Rubén Darío, José Martí, Juan Ramón Jiménez, Vicente Huidobro, Alfonsina Storni, Federico García Lorca, Octavio Paz, and Pablo Neruda.

Although the works we read were complex, the students plunged into them with enthusiasm. In fact, now that I have learned quite a few lessons about the importance of pacing in the high school classroom, I’m looking forward to teaching this class again. I expect this upcoming year’s ninth-grade Spanish course to be much improved.

At mid-year, I wrote The Pleasure of Guiding New Writers. The entry explores my experience teaching the Introduction to College Writing course. That class, taught under the auspices of the University of San Diego, went well. More importantly, to date, every student who’s gone on to attend college in the United States has reported that their university of choice has accepted the course’s three credits. There are several things I will do differently this year. Again, the changes will be mainly in terms of pacing. But teaching this course in a high school setting for the first time (I taught freshman English in college on several occasions) was, for me, a great learning experience. With the help of the book Creating Writers: Through 6-Trait Writing Assessment and Instruction, I implemented and conducted energizing workshops that taught and encouraged students to become effective critics and editors of essays.

At year’s end, I was pleased with the substantial improvement the students made as writers. Moreover, I’m proud of Words of a Dragon—the student-published anthology that contains their best writings. This year, the quality of my teaching in Introduction to College Writing is bound to improve thanks to the lessons I learned last year.

When June rolled around, and everyone was saying farewell as they left for summer vacation, I was surprised that I didn’t feel the least bit tired. The 2007-2008 academic year was, for me, a decidedly enriching and rewarding experience.

As a result, with one day left before the students report back, I’m eager to begin year three.