Siara Espejo started her teaching career in 2017 at Coleman Middle School and made the transition over to Robinson in 2019. Since then, she has taught a different variety of levels of Spanish classes, from Spanish Honors to Advanced Placement (AP). Recently, she made the transition over to International Baccalaureate (IB) Spanish with over 200 kids, a drastic increase compared to the previous year.
“My favorite thing about teaching, I would say, is just learning more about my students and helping them achieve what they want to achieve. Not necessarily always having to do with Spanish, but how my class can bridge opportunities for them to be more successful with whatever they plan on doing in their future,” Espejo said.
Even though Espejo was teaching a different course, she wasn’t supposed to be moving classrooms. Nevertheless, when she came back from break, she found her newly set up classroom packed into boxes.
“I don’t know why all my stuff was packed up, I came in and they told me that they had to pack all my things into boxes after the fact that I had just set up my classroom,” Espejo said.
Although Espejo’s transition wasn’t the smoothest, she expressed that it has not been stressful for her as she has kept the same curriculum and teaching style. Espejo emphasized how teaching IB has not been much different from teaching traditional classes; the only challenge has been teaching such a large number of kids.
“To me, IB is not necessarily harder than traditional for Spanish because I don’t think it’s really about a certain level or program, it is more about just learning a new language,” Espejo said.
Students have emphasized that Espejo has been a great teacher. Throughout the years, not only has she helped students achieve their academic goals but also have always been there for her students outside of the classroom. She wishes to help them grow and learn as an individual.
“She makes Spanish fun because she actually teaches us and does fun activities with us, and she really does want to help us,” Camille Rose (’26) said.
