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Ricardo L. Calderon - High School World Languages Educator - Kuwait
301 Plays2 months ago
In this special National Board Conversations episode, host Edward Santiago sits down with Ricardo Calderon, an inspiring educator with a truly global perspective. Originally from Panama, Ricardo achieved National Board Certification in World Languages and has since taught in a variety of settings across the globe—from rural North Carolina to New York City, Panama, Oman, China, and currently Kuwait.
In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, Ricardo shares his journey, insights on teaching diverse student populations, and how being a National Board Certified Teacher has impacted his teaching practice in classrooms worldwide. He discusses the unique challenges and rewards of working in international schools and how his experiences have shaped his philosophy of education.
This episode is a must-listen for educators passionate about cultural diversity, global education, and the power of National Board Certification. Tune in to hear Ricardo’s story and his advice for educators who are seeking to make a lasting impact both locally and globally.
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Transcript
Introduction and Guest Background
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey, everyone. Welcome to another episode of National Board Conversations. I'm your host, Edward Santiago. In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, we're ex excited to spotlight the expertise of a remarkable Hispanic educator whose journey demonstrates the global respect for national board certification. Wherever you go, you just have to make sure that you always build relationships with your students and with your colleagues as well. And the second one would be to be able to foster what is an inclusive classroom environment.
00:00:27
Speaker
Ricardo Calderon is a National Board Certified Teacher in World Languages, has an extraordinary career spanning multiple countries and cultures, from teaching in rural North Carolina to New York City, Panama, Oman, and now Kuwait. Ricardo's story is truly inspiring. His passion for education and his contagious positivity make this conversation one you won't want to miss. Without further ado, here's my conversation with Ricardo.
00:00:53
Speaker
Ricardo, thank you for joining me on the podcast. How you doing today? I'm doing great, how about you? You're doing well, doing well. So you're coming for me from a different part of the country, from a different part of the world. Let me stop playing a different part of the world. So we're going to get into it. Can you give us a brief intro yourself and current what's your current role in your current job? Exactly, yes. I'm actually a high high school Spanish teacher. And let's see, I have like 23 years of teaching experience out of those, like 17 of those have been in international schools.
00:01:24
Speaker
um My teaching journey has taken me all the way from North Carolina to Panama to the Sultanate of Oman in the Middle East. Then back to the U.S. I was in New York City for two years and then I went off to Shanghai in China. And now I am based here in the in the state of Kuwait, also like in the Middle East, enriching my teaching practice and personal growth.
00:01:53
Speaker
man that's And that's insane. So how do you like it over there? It's completely different. it's different a ah de I mean, I have lived in the in the Middle East before, but Kuwait is in a whole different scale, in a whole different category. Weather-wise, it could be one of the hottest places on earth.
00:02:12
Speaker
and So I have ah have had to get used a little bit to the heat. But at least it's a dry heat. It's definitely not like ah no there's not that much humidity. So it makes it a little bit bearable. But beyond that, you know it's ah it's a whole different lifestyle. you know People here are very sociable. so And in regards to leisure activities, there are not that many. But any time there comes a little holiday, then I usually take off to go and explore the world.
Cultural Influences and Inspirational Media
00:02:42
Speaker
nice nice nice so what are your three favorite foods o so let's see the number one uh i would say that it is heral yeahha It's a traditional Panamanian dish. But for those of you who are not familiar with Panamanian food, I think the closest to it would be ah to be the one from Cuba. Cuba also, they also made a lot of ropa rieja, which is just like shrimp, beef, and this like nice tomato sauce. It's just delicious. It just brings me very vibrant. With all the ingredients, it just always reminds me of home.
00:03:19
Speaker
The second one I would say is not especially a dish It's just perhaps a side dish but has to do with lentils So anything when made with lentils just like I love lentils whether it's like a starter with lentil soup There's some supermarkets you can go to and find like lentils that have been baked and seasoned especially like in the Indian section um but I love lentils in all its forms and ways and the third one is I would say, like especially being a Spanish teacher, I would from time to time take my students to a restaurant. the most likely will always be The opportunities I have are for Mexican restaurants, and that's usually where I go and mean meet friends as well, but anytime I have the opportunity, I will always go for tacos al pastor.
00:04:10
Speaker
you know Definitely, yeah, yeah, just encapsulate that essence of Mexican cuisine, and but it's just my favorite, my favorite. So those would be my favorite foods. So what are three songs that shaped you? Who? ah For me, the first one would be the song, Patria, which means like, it's about patriotism and actually comes from this Panamanian singer, Ruben Blades.
00:04:39
Speaker
um He now lives in New York City, but it brings that essence of what you know what country means to you, you know like especially when you travel abroad, and you know especially at times when you you might have like Panama playing, whether it's ah at a football match or any other thing, any other activities, and you just hear that song, it just definitely takes you back to what exactly you know memories from from your country and things that you miss.
00:05:06
Speaker
and all of that. A great memory that I have from this one is is going to the World Cup when they had it in in Russia and Panama was playing against England and you know it's just like you just feel you're filled with emotions. so so proud that pride Yes exactly your country pride and all of that.
00:05:26
Speaker
um Beyond that, I also like Bonito. It's actually from Harada de Paulo, the Spanish rock band. And the song goes like, you know, Bonito, Todo Me Paris, Bonito, which he just says like, ah you know, beautiful, everything everything seems to me beautiful. And it's a great way, I usually started listening to it like in my morning. It's like in my little prep prep talk song.
00:05:54
Speaker
between a good move gets you in the right mindset. Exactly. Exactly. You know, because, you know, the I think the main message within this song is that despite of the absurdities of life itself, you know, you can always find good and beautiful things in what life brings you along. That's right.
00:06:13
Speaker
And then the other one also, you know, living in North Carolina for so long. I was especially in Northeastern North Carolina in a small county called Gates County. Shout out to my friends out there. um So we used to hang out from the the weekends. We would end up at somebody's farm.
00:06:35
Speaker
having some full port or you know just a gathering or XYZ reason and of course I got a lot into country music and this one also connects with my song from Provenblades Patria but this one is from Kenny Chesney and the song is like I go back um you know it's like because every time I hear that song I go back it brings the essence of you know of pride and, you know, memories from childhood and everything, everything all in between. Those are my three songs that had shaped continue to shape my life nowadays. That's pretty cool. It's pretty cool. All right. The one sports team that has your heart. And if you're not a sports man, one movie you can recite line for line, although you went to the World Cup. So I know they got a little bit of sports love in there. Exactly. Definitely. Definitely. Although, you know, I was there supporting
00:07:32
Speaker
my country and everything. Overall, I'm not that particularly devoted to any sports team percentage. But so I'll go with movies. Okay. And the one movie that definitely like, resonates with me is that that the pursuit of happiness, again, that inspiring movie that has that theme of perseverance and resilience. And I like that because, you know, when you get to travel,
00:08:02
Speaker
whether it's for tourism or you're moving abroad, you always reset that button. and You start all over again and you might you might face like in the new country you go to you might face that things are completely different from what you're used to it totally chatters your norm and So well, you know, it just gives you that idea that as long as you have a goal also in life You always go ahead with it. You just have to stick with it and you know first severe and keep going and That's right
Educational Journey and Teaching Philosophy
00:08:37
Speaker
All right, so we're gonna get into your career a little bit. So can you share why you became an educator and remained in education? Yes, yes, yes. I think like the my passion for educational perhaps I would say what actually got me into education was that um I have a younger brother that back when he was in elementary school, he was a little bit of a troublesome kid. you know he He was very famous for getting in trouble with other students or even the teacher itself.
00:09:05
Speaker
And as ah the older brother, I ended up helping him or assisting him in and different things, whether it was their homework or you know talking to him and so on and so forth. um So because of that and the experiences I had with him you know definitely shaped me and got me into pursuing a career in as an educator. Why specifically like a language educator? Like I started somewhat at like an international school where English was the ah language of instruction, but of course of course I spoke Spanish at home. And this just opened my passion for languages overall, you know, because I was able to meet teachers that came from different countries to our school.
00:09:54
Speaker
And per se, just being a language teacher has has ah allowed me to connect to other people. um And in regards to education, it just brings a lot of passion. I have that passion to share.
00:10:10
Speaker
the products, perspectives Spanish speaking world. And I have been able to remain in this field because I truly believe that it is a profession that is very transformative and it definitely have a positive impact on student life. you know I do stick to that saying that you know like ah education is the one profession that creates other professions. Yes. like No other profession is ah wholesome without going through learning something right and being taught how to do certain skills and learn certain things. So yeah, that's absolutely true. So you talked about a little bit. You would take care you were very you would take care of your brother and very ah supportive of him through school. Were you the same way as a student? And how did that influence your teaching style? Yeah. In this case, no. i
00:11:08
Speaker
I was like the middle child the middle child, so I think I had an older brother who was also trolls now. So I guess it would be the second and the second in line. you know You would see what he ended up going through.
00:11:23
Speaker
And you like you you you definitely learn your lesson from that. And that also helped me. like you know I want my younger brother to go through more or less the same experiences. um so And he was more open and receptive ah to that. But as as a student myself, you know i was I would say that I was like the normal student. I was like a B student. I had my the subjects I liked.
00:11:51
Speaker
that I did excel in, which was like languages, history. I definitely had, like for example, math perhaps was not one of my most my most like the best the best subject I did well in but definitely I was there with chemistry, biology, I love biology but you know but all of this comes to you know the teachers I had the teachers that have them did play a big influence on on how I end up learning I can definitely name like one of my math teachers there was one year that I had this uh this math teacher who you know math was not my forte
00:12:36
Speaker
But somehow, that one year that I had this math teacher, Mr. Sanchez, he made it all make sense. You know, the way he would, you know, explain to us, scaffold like every part of the problems and everything. He just made everything so...
00:12:56
Speaker
so amazing you know I was like oh my god everything makes sense I could make the connection to every single thing and that was a year that I fully excelled like compared to my previous years taking math it was the one year that I did like very very very well but I don't know if I can say like you just made everything make sense that I can do this I know what the what are the steps that I need to follow and so it's But overall, I'm just an average student, ups and downs. I didn't get in trouble at all. But again, as I said, because I learned a lot from all the things that my older brother was doing. I love it, love it, love it. So now you're an educator, you're a classroom educator. What do you enjoy most about being an educator?
00:13:42
Speaker
um definitely definitely beyond those aha moments uh as a language as a language facilitator as a you know what we call like i would like actually call myself like a language strategist uh in my field what brings me definitely uh joy or what i find rewarding is uh the connections i get to make uh with the students in class because i try to make like you know Of course, at some point, we have heard the comment, like, when i will when will I ever use this in real life? So so I just bring, like, you know like imagine yourself. I always make it like a situation where they actually have to use the language. And it just brings that it just brings you know like but how they might start asking questions, and they're involved, and they participate. And you know all questions are good questions. And that definitely helped me. That has helped me.
00:14:39
Speaker
provide to them the opportunity to see that you know but education itself is not just ah confined to you know the four walls or the brick and mortar setting that most schools have, but you definitely have to you know take it beyond the classroom, beyond the school setting. And when when I make that happen, especially you through PBL, I get to see the but reward and how confident my students definitely feel when they when I have been able to scaffold their language acquisition to the point that they so they they have built confidence in themselves, that they feel that they can you know say what they need to say and complete that task in a successful way. Love it. And so now you're National the Board Certified.
National Board Certification Experience
00:15:32
Speaker
We're certified as well.
00:15:37
Speaker
What pushed you to pursue and what was your journey like? Did you achieve on your first attempt? Yes, yes, yes. So I was a high school Spanish teacher in the Northeast and North Carolina. And at that point, you know, like for my students, I was perhaps like the only reference they have like for Hispanic.
00:15:57
Speaker
or Latino outside of them you know at times working or seeing migrant workers around. um And beyond that, you know there were there like the students definitely related a love a lot with me and I was able to build connections with them. And I saw that many of them like were in need of you know that both role models. And I started seeing how is it that I can come and become a better educator, a you know a better person for them.
00:16:26
Speaker
And a group of teachers of us, we decided to pursue a national board at the same time. There were like five of us. It was myself, a biology teacher, we had two math teachers as well, and an English teacher. And we would travel all the way from Northeastern North Carolina all the way to Raleigh to yeah to to go for all this national board for North Carolina was offering special sessions to help teachers complete their national board.
00:16:56
Speaker
And but anyway, it got me into that. And yes, like through all the help that I received and the support from my team members and my communities as well, I was able to achieve on my first try. So that also later on, yes, I achieved in 2008. And then back in 2018, I was in New York City.
00:17:22
Speaker
And I went ahead. like you know i would like I definitely want to continue. I truly believe in the process of how enriching it is. And I decided to renew my certification. And it got approved again. So I was like, yes. So how did having that support system really help with your achievement? Oh, greatly, greatly. Because for example, these sessions that we ended up attending in Raleigh, North Carolina,
00:17:51
Speaker
um they They were basically like for coaching. they They coach us through all the different components and we actually met. They they had like a sort of a mentor mentee session so we could go to and we we had mentors that were former.
00:18:08
Speaker
national board certified teachers or current certified teachers who came and they discussed the components in each of our own areas and fields so we would also talk to each other look for ideas and I mean I'm definitely there definitely definitely like 100% plus plus thankful to all that support that was definitely available And that that North Carolina make it available to those teachers wanting to pursue an national board certification. So how is achieving opened up new opportunities for leadership or mentorship within your schools or districts wherever you work? Definitely, yes. Being national board certified and especially has ah has had a big impact.
00:18:59
Speaker
something that my administrators have been able to notice because of course they will see that on your resume when you interview with them and I've been lucky enough like for example when once I got certified um I went to, I had gone abroad to Oman, to the Sultan of Oman, to a school, at actually international schools, a many international schools, American international schools, recognized national board certification. And they definitely want teachers who are national board certified. And for example, my administrators, they put me in and a role.
00:19:33
Speaker
that they would listen to what I have to say. like I was in the language program where with I worked with teachers, French teachers and Arabic teachers. And I came in with my experiences and they would listen to me. um However, like in that one, we didn't truly have like a department head, but I was somewhat like the department head, although we didn't believe in having a department head because we all thought of ah of collaborating and working Later on in New York City, like I became a team leader for the 10th grade. So I was working there with a project that had to do more with the homeroom and helping students develop like stuff skills. And then at a different other school, I was also chosen to pursue, ah this was at an ID school.
00:20:32
Speaker
And at this ID school, I was also a little bit on middle management to the point that um I was working with their extended essay for those that are, that have any knowledge in the ID world. And so definitely, yeah, so those are the, like I made it definitely into middle management. I have, I'm still thinking about, like I had like one former principal tell me going into the dark side of being an administrator.
00:21:00
Speaker
But um that that is still that's still in the works. But that's that that might be my my next big step.
Teaching Across Borders and Curriculum Challenges
00:21:06
Speaker
We like it. We hope you continue to be National Award certified as an administrator if you decide to take that route. For sure. Your experience ranges from AP Spanish to you touched on the IB students. How do you balance the demands of a rigorous curriculum while making language learning meaningful and engaging?
00:21:24
Speaker
Well, the good thing is that um both the AP, the framework ah for AP and ID are somewhat connected and very, very more or less similar because you work with topics and like a thematic units and the concept, you know, this conceptual learning where you actually go into.
00:21:43
Speaker
um So I've been able to use that knowledge I have had to actually make it all connected to PBLL. So it's project-based language learning, something that I was trained in by the National Foreign Language Resource Center at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. A shout out to them. know They were able to, like a group of us, of language teachers, we took first like an online course And then we we went offline to Institute in Hawaii. And where we learned how to work with PBL. But in this case, it was a project-based language learning, PBLL. And what does that that does is actually brings you know real-world problems out there to the classroom where you can actually work more on like you know how can we help or how can we support
00:22:38
Speaker
ah Let's see, we were we were one. I work in a project with students. ah Like we were looking at how to create some, what was it, reading material, reading materials for elementary school, like in less fortunate areas of Costa Rica at that point. And students were able, we we did like literacy workshops with some of the elementary teachers elementary school teachers at help. So you use somewhat work
00:23:09
Speaker
with is interdisciplinary teaching because you create units with all other teachers. So it's very broad, you know, you get to see, students get to see that a class itself is not just an island.
00:23:27
Speaker
know you'd get to collaborate with teachers from other fields and you get to see that everything is connected, not just like math is by itself, biology is by itself, language is by itself. no Everything is connected. You can use everything everything connected to perhaps help solve a problem or look for solutions to any problems that are out there. That's really, really cool. So your teaching career has quite literally taken you all over the world.
00:23:56
Speaker
Yes, you're you're in the Middle East now. You've done work in Panama and here in the States, too. How do the different teaching environments remain constant across different countries?
00:24:11
Speaker
a Yes, in regards to that, I can say that the teaching environments definitely you do differ significantly significantly across different regions, especially in terms of resources, student demographics, and cultural expectations. But perhaps the two things, the two elements that are very universal is that wherever you go, you just have to make sure that you always deal relationship with your students and with your colleagues as well.
00:24:40
Speaker
And the the second one would be to be able to foster what is an inclusive classroom environment. And especially nowadays, I'm noticing that you know students are they're definitely looking to making connections with the teacher. um It's quite interesting you know like how they end up liking a subject mostly is because how the teacher is able to manage the environment in the classroom and the learning expectations but as as well as the learning opportunities. ah So yeah, so those are the two main constants. Beyond that, wherever you get to travel, like for example being in the Middle East,
00:25:24
Speaker
You have to make sure that you are culturally sensitive to the local culture, know whether it has to be the way you dress, the topics that are somewhat taboo or some things you might not have to mention. Perhaps here in the Middle East or even in China. When I was in China, you know there were some topics you cannot Mentioned or they prefer, you would not mention at all. a But it helps you grow because I truly believe that, you know especially being a language educator,
00:25:58
Speaker
educator um we do have to invest in what is integra intercultural reality. in the sense that we should focus more on seeing how we are all similar in different ways, in the ways we eat, we act, the things we see, the way we look at things, rather than looking at differences, what makes this us difference. Because I believe that you know once we start looking at that way of what makes us different,
00:26:27
Speaker
it brings you more or less into that power dynamic of like, you know, A is better than B, or that B is better than A, and so on and so forth. So I truly believe that we do have to concentrate and look forward to seeing the world as, you know, what makes us unique, but also what makes us be together. How are we similar in many things? because Little by little, you know, you get to find out that Perhaps you might have a dish in your own country that there's a another variety or so somewhat similar in a different culture. Or a practice, perhaps the way that people look at the elder or the way they strongly support children or women. It varies. And you say all of them are somewhat the same. That's very strong words.
Promoting Education as a Career
00:27:22
Speaker
All right, we're going to get into the teacher recruitment part of the podcast now. We're wrapping up soon. So if you had to sell the education profession to someone looking to jump into it in one to two minutes, what would you use as your elevator pitch? My two minute elevator pitch? If you're looking for a career that makes a profound impact on individuals and communities and that will allow you to grow both personally and professionally every day. Every day, definitely consider becoming an educator. Because you definitely get to inspire all these future generations. And you know going back to what I said, it's definitely the profession that creates other professions. You'd be that person, foster critical thinking and be part of something that is truly, truly transformative.
00:28:19
Speaker
alright All right. All right. And now, Ricardo, it's time for you to shoulder tap a colleague and let them know they're ready to become National Board Certified. Oh, here you're going to give them a quick shout out and let them know it's your time. So Ricardo, who are you shoulder tapping today? OK. So I would like to shoulder tap my colleague, Colin Baxter. He's actually a history teacher. He's like fully dedicated. He's doing what it takes. This is sectional dedication to making the best of his students, of his class, of his curriculum. And, you know, he's definitely always working to improve his skills and take them to the next next level. So Colleen, I truly believe that you're ready to go ahead and pursue National Award Certification. You definitely have what it takes. So we definitely go for it.
00:29:09
Speaker
And if I can add somebody else, you know, I definitely will go also with the Pendleys. It's a traveling also a couple from Chicago, wanted a math middle school teacher. And his wife is a math teacher who she actually went from being ah coming. She came out of the teaching profession, but she's not a teacher. She loves it. Both of them also well dedicated and, you know,
00:29:34
Speaker
They're also in school, they're part of learning communities, and they're all always offering opportunities for people to grow. So, also I'll give them a shout out there, you know, come and talk to me. who I will actually approach them to personally tell them, you should go and pursue National Board of Education. Yes, we'll give you informational facts and everything. All right, y'all, you up next. Time to get National the Board certified. Ricardo, thank you for joining me on the podcast.
00:30:03
Speaker
emily Thank you. Thank you for this opportunity.
Episode Conclusion
00:30:07
Speaker
Thank you for tuning in into this episode of National Board Conversations. I hope you found Ricardo's journey as inspiring as I did. This story is a powerful reminder of how education transcends borders and how National Board Certified Teachers' impact reaches classrooms worldwide. If you enjoyed this conversation, don't forget to describe and share it with your colleagues and friends. Let's continue celebrating the incredible work of educators like Ricardo and keep the conversation going. Until next time,
00:30:32
Speaker
stay inspired, keep striving for excellence in education. Thank you for listening and see you in the next episode.