Valerie Crosby
Bio
Valerie Crosby is originally from Ketchikan, Alaska. They received their bachelor's degree in English literature from Oregon State University in 2001, graduating Magna Cum Laude. Then, they received their second bachelor's degree from Portland State University in Spanish 2015, graduating as part of the Phi Sigma Iota International Foreign Language Honor Society. Finally, they received their master's degree in education from Portland State University in 2018, where they graduated as part of the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society. They are currently the Spanish Immersion teacher at West Sylvan Middle School, a position they have held since 2016. They teach Language Arts and Social Sciences in Spanish to scholars who are 11 and 12 years old. They have supervised and collaborated with Spanish-speaking interns from Spain and Colombia and have also worked as part of a committee to plot out the priority and supporting Social Sciences standards for Portland Public Schools' Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum. They became a teacher because they were inspired by one of their middle school teachers who helped them see the connection between learning and the world beyond school. They enjoy connecting with individual students and hope to inspire others to learn and have now been teaching for 7 years. They are the mentor teacher to Ola Sofi from Faiyum, Egypt.