Biography for Spanish Teacher at Greenbrier Academy for Girls

Michele is very excited to teach at Greenbrier Academy for Girls because she believes this school embraces the same passion in guiding students to develop healthy lifestyles by becoming lifelong learners. Michele has been a teacher since the young age of twenty-three, when she moved to Mexico to teach English at a bilingual high school. Since then, she has taught more than a thousand students from twenty-five different countries.
From an early age, Michele developed a strong curiosity about developing intercultural relationships. She traveled to Europe after graduating from high school and embraced her first experience with learning about new languages and cultures. She returned back to her native state of West Virginia to study foreign languages. During her last year at the university, she became a foreign exchange student in Mexico, where she successfully completed her degree.
Though she received a bachelor´s degree stating that she studied foreign languages with a specialization in Spanish, Michele knew that she must master the language in order to successfully pursue a career as a translator or other bilingual speaker. She decided to return back to Mexico to completely immerse herself in the language. She accepted a position as a bilingual high school teacher, not knowing that her life would be permanently shaped by this decision.
Teaching young adults caused Michele to understand the importance of education. Every class was an opportunity to connect with her students, to help them understand the priceless lesson of choosing a healthy lifestyle and developing their passions. It was obvious after only one school year that being a teacher was the designated career for her.
Michele continued to travel around Mexico, choosing to stay long enough to teach a school year at distinct universities and high schools. This routine was changed once she met and married her husband, Roberto. They decided to build a house in a tropical town on the Gulf coast that is famous for its class 5 whitewater and rock climbing.
Roberto and Michele were happy together in Mexico as they opened a photography business together, but Roberto wanted to experience the “American Dream”. They traveled to West Virginia, where a job at a therapeutic boarding school was waiting for Michele. She quickly incorporated their therapeutic model into her lesson plans. In addition, Michele completed a Masters in Language Education during the evenings and weekends. The three years that she taught at this school were genuinely rewarding, as Michele developed teaching strategies for a variety of learning styles, techniques to form healthy teacher-student rapport and experiential lesson plans.
In 2008, Michele and her husband returned to their house in Mexico, where her teaching career took an interesting twist. With the help of an additional Graduate certificate in Online Teaching that she acquired after completing her Master´s degree, she successfully became an online facilitator for many students throughout the world. She taught using a virtual classroom that incorporates video and audio for students to synchronously communicate with her.
When Greenbrier Academy for Girls first contacted Michele with the opportunity to teach in West Virginia at their therapeutic boarding school, she knew without any doubt that she must accept. She and Roberto are ready to call the Appalachian Mountains their home again. More importantly, Michele is motivated to collaborate with the Greenbrier Academy Teaching staff to create an award-winning learning experience for every student who attends.

Being an Online ESL teacher

Three years have passed since I first made the professional transition from being a teacher in a traditional classroom to one online. The experience that I have gained from these years is priceless, as I have learned about the pros and cons of each situation.

The PROS...
Being an online ESL teacher has provided more opportunities to reach very motivated learners. These students make great economic and personal sacrifices because they are interested in improving themselves by learning another language. These students are highly intellectual and usually provide engaging conversations. I feel priviledged to have taught students in over twenty-five different countries.

The CONS...
Many online schools are not able to pay teachers a salary that is typical for educators. At times, I was earning less than when I worked at an ice cream parlor as a waitress! For that reason, I preferred teaching independently from any schools using Skype.

That being said, I would like to congratulate the online language company called TELLMEMORE for being the most interesting place to work at while being an online ESL Teacher. My bosses trained me very well and were always available to answer questions. The students came well-prepared for our classes and were motivated to speak about each topic. Even the other online teachers that I met while training together were friendly and eager to collaborate on ideas.

Here is a small video clip where I was featured as an online ESL teacher at TELLMEMORE:
http://mcetv.fr/mon-mag/3006-tell-me-more-une-solution-pour-apprendre-une-langue-etrangere(I appear in the second video clip)

Photography Business:Yisophotography Studio

In 2009, my husband and I partnered together to form Yisophotography Studio. We are both photographers who specialize in weddings, portraits, events and extreme sports. Of course, being the passionate teacher that I am, online photography classes are also being offered to anyone interested in learning photography theory, post-production workflow and/or photo composition. Please feel free to check out our website for more detailed information about the services we offer: http://www.yisophotography.com/ In addition, we have created a photoblog that is updated daily: http://www.yisophotography.wordpress.com/

2011 Recommendation

ESL Announcement for Website

I was fortunate to be selected to promote this website. Check it out!
http://www.onlineenglishteacher.co.uk/Michele/1st_February_09/1st_February_2009.html
username: Michele
password: Italy

Masters degree from Indiana University

Transcripts from Indiana University

Curriculum Vitae

______Michele McNickle______
mmcnickle@hotmail.com
US Home Phone: 304-242-7147

Mexico Home Phone:279-832-3657

Skype: michelemcnickle

OBJECTIVE: An opportunity to teach English to students worldwide via Internet using my previous experience as an online ESL teacher and knowledge from my Certificate in Online Teaching and Masters degree in Language Education.

EDUCATION:
M.S. Language Education, Indiana University 06/06-08/07
Overall GPA: 3.71

Graduate Certificate in Online Teaching, Capella University 09/04-03/06
Overall GPA: 4.00

Bachelor of Arts in Foreign Language, West Virginia University 08/04-12/00

Study Abroad Program in Guanajuato, Mexico


WORK EXPERIENCE:

Yisophotography Studio 12/08-present

http://www.yisophotography.com/

Co-owner and photographer

Talkbean E-learning 05/08-present

Online ESL Tutor

Alldredge Academy 08/04-10/07
Spanish Teacher, Art Instructor

La Universidad de Xalapa 01/03-06/04
ESL Professor

El Colegio del Bosque 08/01-07/02
Bilingual High School Teacher

English Unlimited 03/01-08/01
ESL Teacher

COMPUTER SKILLS:
Facebook, Wordpress, Windows Vista, Youtube, animoto, WEBct, MOODLE, Oncourse, Skype, MSN Messenger,Yahoo Geocities websites, Excel, del.cio.us, Adobe 8.1, Audacity, Paypal, blogger, Hotmail, Flash 5, Powerpoint, Word, Webquests, Flickr, Photoshop CS3, Lightroom 2

LANGUAGES: Native English Speaker, Fluent in Spanish

RECOMMENDATIONS ARE POSTED ON MY E-PORTFOLIO:

http://www.michele-mcnickle.blogspot.com/

2008 Recommendation

2007 Recommendation

Certificate in Online Teaching

Capella University transcripts ... G.P.A.= 4.0

My OnlineTeaching Philosophy

At this point in my career as an online facilitator, my goal is to take the knowledge that I have acquired and use it to mold my English as a Second Language classes to best suit my future online learners. I have been a foreign language teacher in a traditional setting for the past six years, and while I am excited to transfer my expertise on the subject to an online setting, I understand that the differences in the instructor's involvement, methodology, and pedagogy in both online and f2f environments must be recognized and that I provide the proper accommodations. The advantages of being a facilitator in an online class, in my opinion, are that the students can take classes that meet their specific academic needs and that I, as a facilitator, am empowering the students to take control of their academic experience.

I recognize that the technology I include must fit the course so that both the students and I are not overwhelmed. I feel, as the language teacher, I must be able to integrate a variety of communicative/interactive activities in my online classes that focus on the five basic foreign language skills: speaking, reading, writing, listening and culture. While gaining experience as an online teacher, I hope to continuously introduce more effective methods for establishing myself not as a faceless entity but as a real person that is motivated in keeping her students involved. One of the most important adjustments for teaching online is making all expectations available at the beginning of the class in a syllabus. Online students must be able to understand exactly what they need to do, the reasons why, and the importance of doing it.

Enthusiasm, creativity, and being an active role model are the best characteristics that define me as a language teacher. Learning should be fun, dynamic, and always connected to students' lives, expectations, and their previous experiences.

My goal is that students learn not only about English, but also about their own language and culture, and about themselves. If students see an instructor who demonstrates a passion for the subject she is teaching, inevitably, they will be affected by this energy and will engage themselves actively in the learning process.

From the beginning of each course, I invite the students to get to know each other and myself by including an introduction forum. By finding out early on what students' particular interests are, I generally am able to bring examples of how those interests transfer into an an English-speaking culture. During the class, I actively participate in each thread by writing prompt feedback, modeling the behavior required in class, guiding misdirected conversations, holding my students accountable, and observing the collaboration that takes place amongst my students. I strive to create a learner-learner classroom in which peer responses promote deeper critical thinking and place the students in an active role of learning by collaborating in discussions. I encourage an open-minded attitude by explaining that everybody in the classroom is treated with respect and that no one is discriminated or treated differently baced on race, gender, sexual preserences, religion, national/ethnic origin, disability, or age. I make an effort to use a variety of teaching methods that include different learning styles in my classroom to target all students toward a functional use of the language. My students know that I am committed to their satisfaction of my class by accepting suggestions that they write throughout the class and using them to make improvements.

My ultimate objective is to serve as a guide for my students and to provide them with the tools they need to communicate effectively in English as they prepare for the global community. I view foreign languages as an opportunity to include multicultural enrichment in academia. It is my responsibility to provide this knowledge in a comfortable and effective online learning environment to not turn them off from technology and other virtual classes. After all, distance learning has the potential to unify the world by providing education to anyone, anywhere, anytime.

Recommendation in 2006

Recommendation in 2003

Recommendation in 2001