Lady Rowdon has joined the Warrior Nation, instructing Spanish both at the high school and the middle school. 

Rowdon is excited to join the Susquehannock community and to learn more as an educational professional at the high school. 

“I wanted to gain new experiences in a smaller school setting and continue sharing my culture with students,” Rowdon said. 

Rowdon was inspired by her Columbian  household, since she was born into a family of teachers.

“I come from a family of teachers, so teaching has always been part of me,” Rowdon said. ¨I’ve taught at the elementary level and college levels. It has been a great experience to plan and adapt lessons for different age groups.” 

Rowdon feels a strong connection to her culture, which she wants to share with the Southern Community.

“My passion and love for sharing knowledge and culture inspired me to become a teacher,” Rowdon said. “As a native Spanish speaker, I feel prepared to share my language and experiences with my students.”

Principal James Sterner cites her resume’s world experience as a positive for Susquehannock’s students.

“Not only has she taught in other schools in different areas of the United States, but she’s actually taught outside of the United States in Colombia, which I think brings phenomenal experience and cultural opportunities to share with students in a language class where culture is such an important part,” Sterner said.

Rowdon has key learning objectives for the school year, since some students struggle when it comes to learning new languages that students don’t understand.  

“I want to incorporate technology into instruction in order to engage students in learning Spanish vocabulary, grammar and culture and to foster a classroom culture of respect and curiosity for the diverse cultures of Spanish-speaking countries,” Rowdon said.

Rowdon plans to use specific key learning modes  for her students. 

“Developing the ability to communicate in Spanish through speaking, listening, reading, and writing, I want to build a strong foundation of essential vocabulary and grammatical structures to create sentences,” Rowdon said.

 Rowdon wants her students to engage in her class, so they can learn it faster and better.

“I want students to  ask and answer questions, and describe people, places, and routines,” Rowdon said.“Exploring the diverse cultures of the Spanish-speaking world to build respect, appreciation and real-world connections. Encouraging students to take risks, build confidence and develop a positive attitude toward learning Spanish.” 

Sterner is impressed by the work Rowdon has done in her short time at Susquehannock so far. 

“I think she embodies positive energy,” Sterner said. “If you meet her… there’s just a level of excitement that is one of those things that we look for in all of our teachers… When we have teaching interviews, we look for that connection with kids. And when we did that for her interview, all the kids were like, yep, that’s the one… Again, she just glowed from the first interactions that we had with her, both in passion for the language, passion for kids.”

When reflecting on the interview process, Sterner was impressed by Rowdon’s passion for teaching Spanish.

“There’s not a lot of people in world language teaching with world language teaching certificates,” Sterner said. “We had a handful of candidates, but the difference between her and those candidates was like, the level at which Spanish was a priority. Some of the other candidates may have had other certifications, but Senora Rowdon said that Spanish is her thing. It’s where her passion is. It’s where her focus is, and that’s something that’s important.”

Freshman Skye Pollard, one of Rowdon’s Spanish I students, is excited to be taught by Rowdon

“My goal is to understand everything that she teaches and to make sure I understand the subject well and properly,” Pollard said. “One of her strategies Rowdon uses to help me understand the language more is videos; she turns them on and are in a kindergarten form, so it’s easy for us to learn and understand… more the subject more.”

Pollard looks to continue to learn and understand Spanish better, alongside developing a better understanding of Spanish culture with Rowdon at the helm.