Graduated an inter-departmental degree
in Government and Spanish. I graduated from Binghamton University in 1997 with
a Masters degree in Secondary Education and Spanish. I currently live in suburban
Baltimore, Maryland with my wife and daughter. I have been a foreign language
teacher at Centennial High School since August, 1997. Currently, I teach both
Spanish and French. I am proud to be the Spanish AP teacher at CHS and have
developed an incredible AP program. To date, the program has an excellent success
rate. Out of 31 who have taken the test, 27 of those students have earned a
3 or higher.
With the foreign language education I received at Skidmore, I have been able
to bring my own foreign language students to a new height in both language study
and cultural understanding. The high standards set by my professors at Skidmore,
enable me years later to promote critical thinking, hone various problem-solving
skills, and give students the confidence to function in authentic real-world
settings using Spanish. Many ex-students of mine who are now at the post-secondary
level, have called, written letters of thanks, and come back to Centennial,
to let me know that they are now majoring in Spanish, studying abroad, and using
their Spanish abilities to springboard into the study of other languages. Ironically,
these students were the ones who were only taking Spanish "for the credit".
Now they have realized just how valuable they really are in today's ever-shrinking
world. Now they not only study it to further their own careers, but for the
joy of truly knowing another culture.
In addition to teaching, I tutor and have a translation service for local businesses.
During the summer, I work with other foreign language teachers in Howard County
Public Schools to develop and implement new and exciting foreign language curriculum.
Stephen_Doff@hcpss.org