{"id":1314779,"date":"2019-09-19T06:30:06","date_gmt":"2019-09-19T12:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/?p=987870"},"modified":"2019-09-19T06:30:06","modified_gmt":"2019-09-19T12:30:06","slug":"carbondale-bilingual-teacher-named-english-as-a-second-language-teacher-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/carbondale-bilingual-teacher-named-english-as-a-second-language-teacher-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Carbondale bilingual teacher named English as a Second Language Teacher of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

<\/p>

Colorado Association of Bilingual Education Teacher of the Year Grace De La Sala and Carbondale Middle School student Alexandria Gallegos Vigil, who was a CABE Student Spotlight Award recipient in 2017.<\/strong>
Provided<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Carbondale Middle School teacher Grace De La Sala attributes her career path as a bilingual educator to her own experience as a second language learner.<\/p>\n

The daughter of Colombian parents, her family moved to the United States for a chance at a better life and believed education was a way to get ahead, she said.<\/p>\n

De La Sala was just named the 2019 English as a Second Language (ESL) Teacher of the Year by the Colorado Association for Bilingual Education (CABE). <\/p>\n

\u201cAs a second language learner, I struggled with reading comprehension and writing in school, but didn\u2019t get the support I needed,\u201d De La Sala said in a press release announcing the award.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis led me towards becoming an [English language development] teacher and really focusing on the whole child,\u201d De La Sala recounted.<\/p>\n

De La Sala has been with CMS, part of the Roaring Fork School District, for 14 years as what\u2019s known in Colorado as a Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Education (CLDE) teacher. <\/p>\n

\u201cGrace is an amazing teacher and well-deserving of this honor,\u201d Roaring Fork Schools Superintendent Rob Stein said in the release.<\/p>\n

CMS Principal Jennifer Lamont also spoke to De La Sala\u2019s strengths as a CLDE teacher.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe has had success helping her students become more proficient and confident as speakers, readers and writers of the English language and within the content area,\u201d Lamont said.<\/p>\n

She noted that, in the spring assessments, De La Sala\u2019s students\u2019 growth on the state\u2019s English Language Arts test was 11% higher than the state average.<\/p>\n

\u201cSurely, Grace\u2019s relationships with the students and their families have contributed to the success of her students,\u201d Lamont said. <\/p>\n

The CABE award \u201crecognizes leaders, outstanding teachers, and advocates for bilingualism, biculturalism, and biliteracy who play active and useful roles in their communities, as well as in their schools, and have a proven ability to inspire emerging bilingual students of various backgrounds to excel.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to her CMS website biography, De La Sala taught special education in Miami, Florida for four years before coming to CMS. <\/p>\n

She utilizes a program called SpringBoard in her seventh grade classroom, which is described as a research-based curriculum that prepares students for college. She also helped create study units to incorporate those lessons for fifth grade.<\/p>\n

\u201cTeaching is her passion and being able to have meaningful relationships with students and their families is something that she prides herself with,\u201d according to the web bio. <\/p>\n

De La Sala also recently completed her Masters of Education degree in health and wellness.<\/p>\n

\u201cGrace engages her emerging bilingual students with expertise, enthusiasm, and love,\u201d CLDE Director Amy Fairbanks said in the release. \u201cShe plans and implements high-quality instruction that is literacy-based and centered on authentic literature.<\/p>\n

\u201cGrace is a phenomenal teacher and an equally amazing human being. I am so proud that she is being recognized.\u201d  <\/p>\n

De La Sala will be honored during the annual CABE Awards Gala in Thornton on Oct. 11.<\/p>\n

In 2017, another CMS teacher, Mary Hernandez, received the same award, and CMS student Alexandra Gallegos Vigil was presented with the CABE Spotlight Award.<\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Colorado Association of Bilingual Education Teacher of the Year Grace De La Sala and Carbondale Middle School student Alexandria Gallegos Vigil, who was a CABE Student Spotlight Award recipient in 2017.Provided Carbondale Middle School teacher Grace De La Sala attributes her career path as a bilingual educator to her own experience as a second language […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1314779","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-27 17:05:49","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1314779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1314779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1314779\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1314779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1314779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1314779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}