Linda Thomson, a Spanish teacher at Shortridge High School, this month was named one of IPS’ two teachers of the year.Â
A leader of Shortridge world languages department, Thomson represents the district’s secondary teacher designation. (The other is eighth grade teacher Ashley Hogan.)Â
The Broad Ripple resident has been teaching for seven years and owned and operated a dance studio before joining Shortridge faculty. Thomson, 35, is Latina and bilingual, and said she is proud of what the accomplishment represents for her family and students.
Thomson joined Mirror Indy for a Q&A discussing her experiences in education. Responses have been edited for brevity and clarity.
Students motivate her to ‘keep going’
Question: Tell me about what you teach.
Answer: I teach high school Spanish. That’s the easy answer. The more complicated answer would be I teach diploma program Spanish, years one and two. Shortridge is an all IB school so we follow the International Baccalaureate curriculum which we still teach regular Spanish content, but it’s more with a global lens.
Q: What inspires you to keep teaching?
A: Definitely it would be the students. Every year I think, ‘Wow, this was a great group of students. I can’t wait to see where they go in the future.’ And then the next year comes along and I’m like, ‘Wow, this is a great group of students.’
Every year, just seeing how resilient these students are and how we’ve gone through so much change, especially these last four years with the pandemic and everything, and these students just continue on. They just move on. They’re like, ‘Alright. This is something else that’s on our plate.’
So, I would definitely say the students are what motivates me the most. If they can keep going, so can I. But also, I would have to say like my colleagues, the people I work with. I learned so much from them every day and so I’m always like, ‘You know what? They’re showing up every day with a smile on their face. I’m gonna show up every day with a smile on my face.’
Background in owning a business
Q: Before joining Shortridge, you owned and operated a dance studio. Are there similarities between dance and education?
A: Being a business owner and having a lot of students of various ages and learning styles and having different techniques that helped me be able to adapt in my classroom … the business owner aspect — like all the paperwork and the business-y, the boring stuff — that I think helped me be much more organized in my teaching.
I know I can set time aside. ‘I’m gonna focus on this part of the class’ or ‘Oh, no, I need to check my emails.’ It does help me stay organized. Sometimes I think people get annoyed because I’m like, ‘OK, what’s the plan for like three or four weeks from now,’ but that’s just because I need to know, and I think the business side is what transferred over to this.
Why it’s important to learn a language
Q: There’s been a lot of talk this spring about high school education — what it should look like, what students need to know to graduate and what they need to know to earn a diploma. What experiences do you think are most important to a high schooler’s education?
A: I guess I’m gonna be selfish and say that I think world language is absolutely a key component of a student’s education.
A lot of people might say, ‘Well, they don’t need to know Spanish’ or ‘They don’t need to know Mandarin. They don’t need to know French.’ But it’s more than just knowing the language. That’s not all we’re teaching them. We are teaching these students to be accepting and be open and be risk takers, wanting to step out of their comfort zone.
They’re in this classroom, surrounded by this language that they don’t know and it might make them feel a little uncomfortable to have to speak up for themselves, but we’re trying to build that environment.
And, those skills are going to transfer all across the board. It’s not just a skill that you need for your world language class. That skill of stepping out of your comfort zone, of being open minded, all of that transfers to all content. That’s what makes us better humans, better citizens.
Advice for prospective teachers: ‘Just be yourself’
Q: We’ve only just begun to understand the impact the pandemic has had on students. What do kids need most today?
A: Obviously they need support, but they also need someone that is going to remind them that it’s going to work out. Things are going to be OK. That positive person.
I feel like that’s also one of the reasons why I’ve stuck around. I know a lot of people have quit teaching, especially with the pandemic because it was really hard and it still is really hard. This job is hard. But one of the reasons why I stay is because I know that the students need that constant. They need that person that you can count on them, that you know they’re going to be there, be that support.
Q: What advice do you have for current teachers or people thinking about going into education?
A: As I said, this is not an easy gig. It’s not one of those things where you’re just gonna wake up one day and decide, ‘OK, I’m gonna go be in charge of a bunch of high schoolers’ or ‘OK, I’m gonna go teach elementary school.’
It’s hard. But work is supposed to be hard in a way. Life is a little bit hard sometimes, and that’s kind of what makes it enjoyable. I know that might sound bad. But also, for new teachers and prospective teachers, I want to make sure that they know that it is OK to be yourself.
You don’t have to change who you are. You don’t have to hide. You don’t have to put yourself into this mold of ‘Oh, well, this is what all the teachers look like on Instagram, or on social media. This is what my classroom has to look like, but oh my gosh, I don’t make a lot of money. I can’t do that.’
Just be yourself. The students want the honesty that your colleagues want. They want the real you. It’s OK to just be you.
A correction was made on June 3, 2024:Â An earlier version misspelled teacher Linda Thomson’s name.
Mirror Indy reporter Carley Lanich covers early childhood and K-12 education. Contact her at carley.lanich@mirrorindy.org or follow her on X @carleylanich.
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