Teacher of the Yea
Contents Feature Stories UWM grad is Teacher of the Year Alum gives economics talk at Nobel Summit JAMS instructor shows film at MKE Film Festival Chemistry student studies drug-resistant germs Geosciences alum at NASA at Commencement
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L&S Dean: Scott Gronert In Focus Editor: Deanna Alba
When Susan Richardson’s students take a test and come across the word perpendicular, they’re not fazed, even though they’ve learned the concept in German as “senkrecht auf einander.” “We have kids who never learned math in English, and they’ve never heard the word perpendicular in class, yet when they take standardized tests they score as high or higher than students who are learning all these terms in English. They understand the concept,” said Richardson, a third-grade teacher at Milwaukee’s German Immersion School.
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The Department of Public Instruction recently selected Richardson as one of five teachers of the year for Wisconsin. She is a graduate of UWM’s MAFLL (master of arts in foreign language and literature) program. Another teacher with UWM connections honored was Koren Jackson, a special education teacher at Milwaukee Public Schools’ Transition High School. She completed the School of Education’s special education program as a post-baccalaureate student.
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Children’s “brains are like sponges”
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Richardson sees the selection as an opportunity to share her passion for giving all children the opportunity to learn other languages. “When you catch kids in this linguistic window between ages 4 and 7, their brains are like sponges,” she said. “They can absorb so many more vocabulary words than an adult. They’ll have more bridges, synapses growing in their brain.” And while she teaches in German, any language learned in a good immersive environment is a benefit. “If it’s German, fantastic. If it’s Spanish, ‘fantastico.’ Their brains will benefit for life.” Besides, she adds, “The more languages you know, the more doors open to you.” Milwaukee German Immersion School is a public school with 600 students, and has the mission of educating urban students using German as the core language of instruction. All classes every day are taught in German, except for a 30-minute period at the end of the day focused on English language arts and literature. While a few of her 28 students come from families with German backgrounds, Richardson said, most do not. Like learning a secret language
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Richardson’s own journey into another culture began with her German grandparents, who lived just down the road from her family when she was growing up in Sheboygan.
