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2017 EDUCATION MAGAZINE
LINCOLN DAILY NEWS MARCH 1, 2017
Stoyak says, “Not surprisingly,
the biggest change has been
the use of technology in the
classroom. Social media and
the Internet have made it so
easy to find resources to teach
languages, and that was not
always the case. I remember
when I first started teaching
in the mid-1980’s and having
to create virtually everything
because we just didn’t have
the world at our fingertips like
we do now. Now, I have the
opposite problem of having more
resources than I could possibly
ever use. While technology has
made teaching much easier, it is
a challenge to keep up with it.”
Stoyak says, “Another change
that has taken place is increased
requirements on young people
entering the teaching profession.
While I support high standards
for all teachers, I also know that
there has been a severe reduction
of young people choosing
education for a profession, which
has made it hard on small school
districts to find candidates to fill
positions for language teachers. “
Stoyak says, “It’s no secret
that schools are not receiving
funding that they should from
the state. At LCHS, although
we have been able to avoid the
severe cuts that other school
districts have experienced, these
cuts still impact students and
teachers through things like
increased class size and fewer
opportunities for professional
development for teachers. “
Stoyak feels “surprised and
frustrated” that “the public
does not seem to be aware of
how close some districts are to
having to close their doors” and
says, “I think until schools and
universities have to actually
close their doors, people will not
truly understand the severity of
the situation and put pressure
on our lawmakers to create a
balanced budget.”
As she rounds out her teaching
career, Stoyak has many fond
memories.
Stoyak says, my all time
favorite moment in teaching
has been to see the effect of
participating in an exchange with
LEBLA , a school in La Fortuna,
Costa Rica. The greatest thing
about it has been to see how
the exchange affected not only
the students involved in the
exchange, but also their families
and other students at LCHS.”
She says, “Since the exchange
last year, five students have
traveled to Costa Rica and spent
time with families there. In the
case of three of the students (one
of them a 2016 LCHS graduate),
they traveled with members of
their families and the other two
students traveled on their on over
winter break. Their enthusiasm
has spread to other students who
are so curious about the language
and culture. It’s a very exciting
and rewarding thing to see and I
feel very fortunate to have been
a part of it!”
Stoyak works with two other
teachers in the department at this
time and says both have been
huge assets to the department by
sharing their love for the Spanish
language and culture. Marsha
Plumier, a retired LCHS teacher,
came back to teach three Spanish
1 classes the last few years and
will be completely retiring at
the end of this year. The other
teacher is LeeAnn Gilbert,
who came to us from Casey,
Illinois. This is her second year
teaching at LCHS. She teaches
Spanish 1, 2 and 3, as well as co-
sponsoring Spanish Club.
Kathy Stoyak will undoubtedly
be missed at LCHS when she
retires at the end of next school
year (2018), but her legacy there
is sure to live on.