Poetry Inside Out Teaching Fellow Spotlight: Danielle Surrette

Danielle Surrette is a middle and high school ESL teacher in Worcester Massachusetts and is lucky enough to teach in the same neighborhood she grew up and was educated in. She was always passionate about education and even wanted to be a teacher as early as kindergarten, but she recently found her love for teaching ESL four years ago.

I have always been interested in the humanities and how the cyclical nature of our society impacts the stories we tell, and in turn, how the stories impact society as a whole. So, I do believe I would be interested in the fellowship no matter what, but with that being said, I did not apply for this fellowship for my own interests, but because I believe it will help me teach the skill of translanguaging in a more authentic way to my students. I believe this skill is important to build in everyone, but especially in Multilingual learners who are already navigating the world in multiple languages.

Until working with Multilingual learners, I never believed I had the ability to learn another language. I struggled to retain any Spanish in high school or Italian in college, so I believed my brain wasn’t wired for it. When I started working with Multilingual learners, I found my Spanish improving through the authentic conversations I was having with my students, and now, I find myself having small conversations with others in Spanish even though my students still need to help me with grammar and pronunciation. I am interested in the interactions and practices that allow meaningful language learning for all types of learners.

I am the seventh out of ten kids. ( Two boys and eight girls—no twins.) Out of the ten of us, seven work in education in some capacity. I have a joint bachelors degree in Film & Media Culture and English & American Literature, so I love reading and watching television and films when I am not teaching. This does mean I do get into long arguments on why visual media is just as impactful as written literature and why I believe students should be taught to be active viewers in addition to active readers, but I try save that for people who will love me after my rant is over.