{"id":11749,"date":"2024-01-22T11:51:42","date_gmt":"2024-01-22T16:51:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/?p=11749"},"modified":"2024-01-22T13:03:45","modified_gmt":"2024-01-22T18:03:45","slug":"citywide-teacher-of-the-year-paula-hernandez-a-local-pioneer-in-dual-language-immersion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/citywide-teacher-of-the-year-paula-hernandez-a-local-pioneer-in-dual-language-immersion\/","title":{"rendered":"Citywide Teacher of the Year Paula Hernandez: A local pioneer in dual language immersion"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Cooke Elementary School kindergarten teacher Paula Hernandez is a the Virginia Beach City Public Schools citywide Teacher of the Year.<\/p>\n

Hernandez has 14 years of teaching experience, including six at Virginia Beach City Public Schools. Before her work as a dual language immersion (DLI) kindergarten teacher at W.T. Cooke Elementary, she taught at the Adult Learning Center and at Langley Elementary School in Hampton.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>As a dual language immersion teacher, Hernandez spends 80 percent of her instructional day teaching in Spanish. About half of her students are native Spanish speakers. She meets with their families over the summer and makes teaching choices to support language development.<\/p>\n

She established the two-way Spanish dual immersion program at Cooke Elementary to close academic gaps among English language learners and instill a deeper appreciate for diverse cultures. She is a mentor and the city-wide team lead for dual language immersion as well as a member of the Cooke\u2019s family and community engagement team.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe has worked with the division to write curriculum and determine resources to use in other DLI programs,\u201d said Dr. Kelly Padilla, Cooke\u2019s principal. \u201cShe helps new DLI teachers get adjusted to VBCPS expectations. She is also a mentor to DLI teachers in other elementary schools across the division.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hernandez visits students\u2019 homes, churches and community events to connect with families and ensure their voices are heard, said Casey Conger, VBCPS coordinator of health and physical education.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer dedication to providing equitable access to high-quality instruction and opportunities for all students is truly commendable,\u201d Conger said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Hernandez took her students to pick strawberries this past spring.<\/p>\n

“I know that two families in our classroom had experience with farming and growing crops, so I chose them as our chaperones,\u201d Hernandez said. \u201cThese parents were able to help students and teach students about farming practices.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally from Columbia, Hernandez\u2019s family migrated to the United States during her childhood, seeking better living conditions and work opportunities. She\u2019s taught her students how to cook Colombian \u201carepas\u201d while applying lessons in culture, math, writing and science.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter each student makes their own arepa, parent volunteers cook them in the back of the classroom,\u201d Hernandez said. \u201cThis is a great opportunity for families to create relationships, even if they do not speak the same language.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hernandez said she teachers because every child deserves a quality education.<\/p>\n

\u201cI aim to make a positive impact and advocate for all, irrespective of diverse needs,\u201d she said. \u201cI address social, emotional, and educational challenges, fostering connections between families and community resources.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cooke Elementary School kindergarten teacher Paula Hernandez is a the Virginia Beach City Public Schools citywide Teacher of the Year. Hernandez has 14 years of teaching experience, including six at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":11751,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,213,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-staff-stories","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11749"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11749\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11767,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11749\/revisions\/11767"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}