Passion for Teaching Future Teachers Comes From Experiences in Urban Schools
Irvine, Calif., November 1, 2009
Susan Guilfoyle is a lecturer in the Department of Education at the University of California, Irvine. She primarily teaches literacy methods courses and advises bilingual candidates in the Multiple Subject Teacher Credential Program. She also teaches undergraduate courses for the minor in Educational Studies and the new Certificate in After-school Education Program.
Ms. Guilfoyle earned her M.S. in Curriculum and Instruction and her teaching credential with a bilingual authorization in Spanish at the University of Southern California. While a graduate student at USC, her area of study was in bilingual literacy and education in urban settings. She was a USC Merit Scholar, a National Hispanic Scholar, and a graduate of the nationally-recognized Latino and Language Minority Teacher Projects, whose mission is to increase the number of Latinos and language minorities in the teaching profession. She received her B.A. in Psychology with a minor in Spanish from California State University, Fullerton. While at CSUF, she became a member of the National Honor Society in Psychology, Psi Chi.
Ms. Guilfoyle's passion for teaching future teachers comes from her direct experiences with schools in urban settings. As a bilingual educator for an elementary school in the Los Angeles area, she taught English language learners in their primary language, Spanish. She earned teacher of the year honors while teaching in a first grade bilingual program at Dolland Elementary School in Norwalk, California and later became a literacy specialist at the site. The site was one of the largest elementary schools in the district with a student population of 900 and 43 teachers. As a literacy specialist, she demonstrated and supported standards-based literacy lessons for all students in K-5 classrooms. She also
- supported teachers with curriculum and instruction in bilingual instruction, sheltered English instruction and English only classrooms;
- provided and implemented a literacy intervention program for struggling readers and an enrichment program for gifted learners in fourth and fifth grades;
- planned, implemented and supported curriculum for the school's after-school program;
- planned literacy events for the community; and
- received and managed numerous grants to support and promote success in literacy, from students receiving free Reading is Fundamental books to offering literacy workshops to parents in the evenings.
One of Ms. Guilfoyle's privileges at UCI is mentoring future bilingual teachers at the undergraduate and graduate level. As the bilingual/BCLAD (Bilingual, Cross-cultural, Language and Academic Development) coordinator, she assesses credential students' Spanish fluency in reading comprehension, listening comprehension, written expression and oral language ability. She places students at local dual-immersion schools for their student teaching placement. She also coordinates events to support bilingual students in the program throughout the year. Her bilingual students have attended professional bilingual conferences (e.g., California Association for Bilingual Education), visited various dual-immersion programs in the local area, and attended guest-speaking engagements with experts in the field of bilingual/ dual-immersion education.
Ms. Guilfoyle has two children who also are bilingual. Her 6-year-old daughter started first grade in a dual-immersion school this past fall, and her 3-year-old son is pseudo-reading in Spanish and English.
Multiple Subject Teacher Credential Candidates Analyzing Developmentally Appropriate Spelling Games in ED326
