Meet the Faculty: Spanish Instructor Cesiah Mireya Boryczka

Position: Spanish Instructor for levels 2, 3, 4 AP Language and Culture, and 5 AP Literature and Culture

Education: B.A and M.A. in Spanish from The University of Texas at San Antonio

Before coming to keystone:  I taught 30 years in the Public School system

Why do you like teaching here: I enjoy my students here because they are active participants in class, they engage with the material, collaborate with each other, and learn to apply the language to real-world situations.

Hobbies: Walking, hiking, gardening, traveling

Something I am proud of:

• Professional: 2007 Northside ISD High School Educator of the Year; 2007-2008 Region 20 Secondary teacher of the Year; HumanitiesTexas 2007-2008 Outstanding teaching of the Humanities Award- Secondary; 2007 Excellence in teaching Award for the Southwest Conference on Language Teaching (SWCOLT)
• Personal: Walked/backpacked across Spain about 535 miles from Roncesvalles to Finisterre (east to west)  “El camino a Santiago de Compostela”. I use this experience in small projects with my students.

Favorite Books: Carlos Ruiz Zafón, Spanish author- “The Shadow of the Wind” and “The Labyrinth of Spirits”

Favorite quotes: I have two that are lengthy and I share with my students, they are wonderful:

On Teaching: “Then said a teacher, speak to us of Teaching. And he said: No man can reveal to you aught but that which already lies half asleep in the dawning of your knowledge. The teacher who walks in the shadow of the temple, among his followers, gives not of his wisdom but rather of his faith and his lovingness. If he is indeed wise he does not bid you enter the house of his wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind. The astronomer may speak to you of his understanding of space, but he cannot give you his understanding. The musician may sing to you of the rhythm which is in all space, but he cannot give you the ear which arrests the rhythm nor the voice that echoes it. And he who is versed in the science of numbers can tell of the regions of weight and measure, but he cannot conduct you thither. For the vision of one man lends not its wings to another man….so must each one of you be alone in his knowledge…and in his understanding…”    Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

On Students: “I have come to a frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It’s my personal approach that creates the climate. It’s my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I posses a tremendous power to make a person’s life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a person humanized or dehumanized.”     Haim Ginott