Srá Keathley

Dear Parents/Families:

            For those of you whom I have not already met in person, let me introduce myself. My name is Diana Keathley. I am beginning my 29th year teaching in Tulsa Public Schools. I taught Spanish and French at Carver Middle School for 6 years, and taught ESL, English Immersion, for 19 years to second language learners from dozens of countries around the globe. I am very excited to be starting my fourth year here at Zarrow on the other side of the immersion phenomenon, using my Spanish every day! I have a B.A. in Spanish, with a minor in Latin American Studies. I also completed 30+ graduate hours toward a Master’s in Spanish, and most recently, in 2005, I earned my M.Ed. in Bilingual Education/TESL, with honors. I am anticipating a great year working with your students, helping them to achieve their goals in language acquisition and in the content areas as well.

We will be following the Tulsa Public Schools Standard District Curriculum this year. It offers many opportunities for thematic instruction and cross-curricular links. We will be finding new ways to incorporate the PASS objectives into as many real-life experiences as possible. We will be emphasizing cooperative groups and interaction as means for learning content and for practicing language, and some of our assessment and evaluation at the classroom level will involve the use of portfolios, rubrics and other non-traditional tools. Our goal is to foster an environment that celebrates diversity, values individuality, yet challenges each child to enhance and share natural abilities for the betterment of the classroom and school communities.

Our first units in Social Studies will focus on Diversity. We will be studying the regions of the United States, their landforms, climates, natural resources, and how these things affect the people who live in the regions. Your student will be asked to survey several adults regarding these geographical data. They may ask parents, grandparents, relatives, friends, or neighbors. (Please, no knocking on strangers’ doors!) We will then compile the data to learn not only about geography, but also about graphing, and data analysis in mathematics. Later in the year we will be focusing on research in the area of Oklahoma studies.

While we continue to develop the Spanish language vocabulary and literacy skills in fourth grade, we also have an English language component which will specifically target test vocabulary and reading comprehension strategies, in order for your child to develop in both languages.

We are off to a great start already this year! I will be sending information home throughout the year regarding up-coming projects and units of study, and I thank you in advance for your involvement and participation in your child’s education. A true love of learning is not confined to the classroom, but flourishes amid the wonders of the world itself. I look forward to working with you and your student toward that end.

                                                             Sincerely,

 

                                                            Diana L. Keathley

 

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