Home Professional Portfolio Travel Library Will's Journal

Professional Portfolio

Hello! Thank you for visiting my portfolio! My name is Will. I am a leader, teacher, and lifelong learner. I made this portfolio to showcase my skill set and work history.

Employment History

  • Spanish Teacher, Baldwin High School, 2016 - present
  • Soccer Coach/Manager, Steel City FC, Boys' Youth Development Phase, 2015-2023
  • Reporter, Technology Publishing Company, Paint BidTracker, 2013-2015
  • Youth League Director, Open Field, 2013

Project Management

As a teacher, each year I manage a five-course load of 100-150 students annually. As a soccer coach, I have managed age groups, each of which consists of two teams and roughly 30 players total, within a club. I have a management-style skill set that has helped me succeed in these roles.

Multi-tasking in fast-paced environment

Planning events

Leading teams of people

Presenting educational sessions

Communicating clearly with others

Maintaining accurate records

Differentiating performance opportunities for others

Here is a sample of work from one of my favorite projects. I spent four months in Kumba, Cameroon helping a sport-for-development NGO implement their inaugural Youth Football League, a program for local youth clubs that combined football (soccer) with life skills education. I wrote this manual, which summarizes our plan, schedule, curriculum, rules and procedures, and reflections, among other things.

Concept Organization & Curriculum Writing

These are some work samples that show my ability to conceive and prepare a detailed project.

Team Leadership

The most rewarding experiences involve helping others grow and be their best selves.

  • I help non-native Spanish speakers achieve intermediate and advanced level proficiencies in the language.
  • My high school students have earned scores of 5/5 on the AP Spanish Language & Culture Exam, the rigor of which equals a 300-level university course.
  • I mentor student-teachers (2021-22 and 2023-24 school years).
  • I retained 80% of players on my teams at Steel City FC (2017-2022).
  • I grew by 13% the 2005 birth year player pool at Steel City FC (2017-2020).
  • Roughly 30% of my B-team players were promoted to their age group's A-team (2017-2020).

Below is a work sample that shows how I use surveys, assessments, data, and personalized feedback to get the best out of others on my team.

Data Analysis

I collect and use data to help myself get to know the people around me, learn about their strengths, and areas for improvement, and help us all succeed as a team.

Versatile Teacher

In (8) years as a high school teacher, I have taught (9) unique courses, ranging from levels 1-5 and using various styles of instruction, from traditional approaches based on memorization of vocabulary and grammar to more modern, immersive skill-based methods. I also accommodate students with a variety of personal stories and learning preferences: Students with individualized education plans, English language learners, and native Spanish speakers.

Click here to access my entire portfolio of lesson plans.

Below are some samples from that page:

Lessons to get kids speaking

Teachers Pay Teachers •

"El Tiempo: ¿Regular o Irregular?" -- Spanish Convo Activity about Weather

This info-gap activity provides a great way to get your level 1 Spanish students conversing with each other about the weather. It includes a geographical component, too (cities from around the Spanish speaking world).

The idea is that we pretend (or not pretend nowadays...) that there is a mixture of normal and abnormal weather patterns in cities around the world. Students will work in pairs. Student A will know the weather in cities #1-10, but not #11-20. Student B will know the weather in cit

Reading to write: An inductive grammar approach

TPT •

Ansiedad de cambio climático: "Reading to write" in subjunctive w/ emotion verbs

In this lesson, students will strengthen their understanding of and ability to express "verbs of emotion + subjunctive" in Spanish (es triste que... + subjunctive, siento que + subjunctive, etc.) by reading, analyzing, and writing about a story called "climate change anxiety," during which two characters talk about their concerns about the environment.

This lesson uses my "reading-to-write approach," which is influenced by inductive grammar instruction, a method of discovery-based grammar instr

Lessons rooted in video

Content-based instruction

Teachers Pay Teachers •

Do Math with M&M's in Spanish!

This is a great activity to get your level 1 Spanish students sorting M&M's by color, counting, graphing, and performing other types of mathematic challenges in Spanish.

The most important file of this post is the Word Document. This is the file that you will print and hand out to your students. It contains the charts, graphs, and equations that students will complete during the class period. The PowerPoint presentation just contains screenshots of the worksheet in case you want to use it to mo

Progressive writing instruction

Teachers Pay Teachers •

Gustar + Classes + Justifications -- Spanish Writing Activity

Use these files to get your level 1 Spanish students writing at the paragraph level about classes they like and dislike at school using the verb gustar, as well as justifying their feelings using "ser + adjectives."

The writing activity is based around a Microsoft Word document that includes graphic organizers, writing guides, and rough and final draft templates. There is a PowerPoint presentation included in the zip file with slides that will enhance the lesson and help you as a teacher unders

Projects

Teachers Pay Teachers •

Seven-Day "Día de Muertos" Spanish Class "Ofrenda" Presentation Project

Use these files to lead your Spanish class in a 7-day project that culminates in students presenting ofrendas (altars with offerings) that they have created to honor a deceased person in the target language to celebrate the Day of the Dead.

The following files are included in my zip file:
• (1) weekly plan that will give you a timeline of my project and help you conceptualize how you may implement it
• (1) student worksheet packet that students will use to complete various tasks and exercises t

Integrated performance assessments

Cool ideas for traditional concepts

Teachers Pay Teachers •

Play Chutes & Ladders to Practice Conjugating -AR Verbs in Spanish

Use these files to play the classic board game Chutes & Ladders as a fun way of memorizing and practicing conjugating -AR verbs verbs (e:ie, e:i, o:ue) in Spanish!

You can use this game to practice conjugating verbs in almost any tense of Spanish (present, preterite, imperfect, future, etc.)

First, teach your students the -AR verbs and the conjugation pattern that you want them to learn. I recommend that you have them "log" this info (a list of the verbs in English and Spanish plus a few examp

Lessons rooted in music

Reading comprehension & analysis

Teachers Pay Teachers •

Spanish Conversation Analysis: Vacation + DOP's

This zip file contains (4) files that you can use for two activities to help students learn about DOP's (direct object pronouns) in Spanish by listening to, reading, and analyzing the language of conversations related to vacationing at the beach.
• (1) PDF with conversation scripts and important notes to aid comprehension

I recommend breaking this lesson into two parts:
• Read and listen to the conversations.
• Read and listen to the conversations again.
• Take the language analysis survey by r

Lifelong Learner

These are some of my degrees, licenses, and certificates of continuing education:

  • Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT), University of Pittsburgh
  • BA International Relations, Duquesne University
  • US Soccer National C Coaching License
  • AP Summer Institute Spanish Language & Culture Certificate
  • Certificate in Spanish language coursework, Universidad de Salamanca
  • US Futsal State Level 1 License
  • NSCAA Goalkeeper Level 2 License

And here are clips from my journal that show some of my personal research projects: