¡Hola y bienvenidos! I'm Katherine Lupton, and this little website is home to a collection of my favorite teaching ideas and resources. I have spent the past few years teaching Spanish by day and writing by night, loving both jobs and hoping to never have to give one up! Before moving to Oregon to teach at Portland State University, I taught with the International Baccalaureate program at public school in Baltimore while completing the Master of Science in Education degree at Johns Hopkins University. I love to teach, and while living in Baltimore I was named as one of three Baltimore finalists for the national Sue Lehmann Teaching Award. But even before my big move to Maryland, I was teaching! I taught English at a public school in Madrid, Spain for two years, perfecting my Spanish and integrating myself into the local culture. I've been a language instructor for quite awhile now, and I love every minute of it.
As a student of public schools myself, I am an advocate for quality education in all public schools and work to assure that all of my students have access to opportunities to succeed. As a high school and college-level Spanish teacher, I integrate comprehensible input instruction into my classroom daily. While teaching in Baltimore, I involved my students with the Advocacy Project, a project I created that partnered students with community groups in Baltimore City. We worked together at volunteer events that promoted the Latino community in Baltimore, while also improving my student's Spanish proficiency. In June 2015, I took a group of students from Baltimore to Havana, and we became one of the few high school groups in the state of Maryland to travel to Cuba. In 2017, I was named as a Semi-Finalist for the Kennedy Leadership Award for Teaching Excellence. I also currently serve as an International Baccalaureate Examiner for the IBO.
Another great passion of mine is music, and I integrate this element into each and every lesson I teach. My musical inspiration comes from my background as a musician; I am a professional violinist who has studied the violin for over 20 years. I teach violin lessons, helping to immerse my students in the language of music, and I also perform at events throughout the state of Oregon. Check out my website PDX Violinist (hosted through The Immersive Classroom) at www.pdxviolinist.com.
Thank you for visiting The Immersive Classroom! This website represents a collection of my favorite lesson plans, service learning projects, and travel stories. I hope that the website will serve as a resource for Spanish teachers around the world.