In May of 2000, I graduated with an undergraduate degree in elementary education and a minor in English as a Second Language. My first teaching position was in a rural school district. I taught fourth through eighth grade bilingual classes, two sections of seventh and eighth grade Spanish, and worked with several at-risk students. Frustrated by the educational gains these students made, and the lack of respect for bilingual education, I applied and was hired for my current fourth grade position in a neighboring school district. After seeing many problems in students’ ability to transfer.
