Susan W. Rood
I nominate Susan Rood to be inducted in the Branford Education Hall of Fame.
I had the pleasure of working with Susan Rood at Francis Walsh Intermediate School in Branford, Connecticut from August 1993, until her retirement in 2013. During that time Susan taught primarily 5th and 6th grade French and Spanish to all the students on 7 to 8 teams, and later taught 7th and 8th grade French and Spanish. She also worked on the Branford World Language Curriculum Revision Committee, the COLT Poetry Contest Committee, and was invaluable in helping students prepare as contestants for the CT COLT Poetry contest.
Susan Rood came to Branford as a highly qualified and experienced World Language teacher and continued as an excellent teacher at Walsh Intermediate. It was a pleasure to work with her as her colleague and later as her immediate supervisor as World Language department leader. She worked arduously to collaborate with the staff as well as with the many team teachers whose paths she crossed each year.
Her class instruction clearly demonstrated knowledge of the curriculum and learning standards as defined by the Connecticut State Department of Education and of the school district. She incorporated activities that addressed the five skill areas in World Languages. She was very attentive to planning her lessons to include a variety of multi-modality activities to address the different learning styles of all students and fine tuned her lessons to address their educational and emotional needs. She tried to encourage and challenge students to communicate primarily in French or Spanish during class, including cumulative oral assessments in the target language. She showed the students respect and kindness, interacted with them appropriately and provided a positive learning environment.
Susan implemented a variety of resources including technology, music, videos, games, CD programs, educational web sites and other media to engage students in learning the culture as well as the language. She always expressed an interest to work with activities that would broaden her spectrum of possible learning, and was eager to invest the time to try something that indicated a new challenge. She worked with students after school to provide them extra help and worked with students to prepare them for the CT COLT Poetry Recitation Contest each year, and accompanied them to the event held at the school sponsoring it.. This endeavor was a task to which she devoted many hours of her time. Her students also participated in the CT COLT Poster statewide contest and two of her students won first place in their category.
Susan went above and beyond the call of duty by willingly volunteering to change her teaching assignment for an entire year, more than one time, to allow a new incoming teacher the time to become certified to teach both languages.
She was diligent about professional development. She attended the Connecticut Organization of Language Teachers (COLT) Fall Conference, The COLT technology Conference, participated in after school workshops, and traveled to places where she could practice French or Spanish.
She rose to every challenge, showed initiative to learn things, did her job with the greatest degree of enthusiasm. She was a valued and respected member of our teaching staff and worked well with her students and her colleagues.
I nominate Susan Rood for the Branford Education Hall of Fame class of 2020 for her outstanding work and dedication as a Branford school educator.
I had the pleasure of working with Susan Rood at Francis Walsh Intermediate School in Branford, Connecticut from August 1993, until her retirement in 2013. During that time Susan taught primarily 5th and 6th grade French and Spanish to all the students on 7 to 8 teams, and later taught 7th and 8th grade French and Spanish. She also worked on the Branford World Language Curriculum Revision Committee, the COLT Poetry Contest Committee, and was invaluable in helping students prepare as contestants for the CT COLT Poetry contest.
Susan Rood came to Branford as a highly qualified and experienced World Language teacher and continued as an excellent teacher at Walsh Intermediate. It was a pleasure to work with her as her colleague and later as her immediate supervisor as World Language department leader. She worked arduously to collaborate with the staff as well as with the many team teachers whose paths she crossed each year.
Her class instruction clearly demonstrated knowledge of the curriculum and learning standards as defined by the Connecticut State Department of Education and of the school district. She incorporated activities that addressed the five skill areas in World Languages. She was very attentive to planning her lessons to include a variety of multi-modality activities to address the different learning styles of all students and fine tuned her lessons to address their educational and emotional needs. She tried to encourage and challenge students to communicate primarily in French or Spanish during class, including cumulative oral assessments in the target language. She showed the students respect and kindness, interacted with them appropriately and provided a positive learning environment.
Susan implemented a variety of resources including technology, music, videos, games, CD programs, educational web sites and other media to engage students in learning the culture as well as the language. She always expressed an interest to work with activities that would broaden her spectrum of possible learning, and was eager to invest the time to try something that indicated a new challenge. She worked with students after school to provide them extra help and worked with students to prepare them for the CT COLT Poetry Recitation Contest each year, and accompanied them to the event held at the school sponsoring it.. This endeavor was a task to which she devoted many hours of her time. Her students also participated in the CT COLT Poster statewide contest and two of her students won first place in their category.
Susan went above and beyond the call of duty by willingly volunteering to change her teaching assignment for an entire year, more than one time, to allow a new incoming teacher the time to become certified to teach both languages.
She was diligent about professional development. She attended the Connecticut Organization of Language Teachers (COLT) Fall Conference, The COLT technology Conference, participated in after school workshops, and traveled to places where she could practice French or Spanish.
She rose to every challenge, showed initiative to learn things, did her job with the greatest degree of enthusiasm. She was a valued and respected member of our teaching staff and worked well with her students and her colleagues.
I nominate Susan Rood for the Branford Education Hall of Fame class of 2020 for her outstanding work and dedication as a Branford school educator.