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Shadowing Mrs. Tracie’s High Intermediate Class

By Kalyn Wright

November 15, 2020

For the past month, I’ve been working as a volunteer at Reading Connections, a literacy

program. I’ve had the pleasure of shadowing Tracie Altabet’s intermediate class and I’ve

enjoyed every moment. From my observations, the students really enjoy learning from Mrs.

Tracie. The class meets every Monday and Wednesday and it consists of no more than 10

women from around the world. All of the students are very bright and are fast learners. Mrs.

Tracie does an excellent job making sure they understand the material while also getting them

involved in the lesson. Considering this is a 2-hour class in the morning, she manages her time

well and keeps the attention of her students throughout the entire class. Although I was only

meant to shadow the class, Mrs. Tracie gave me many opportunities to participate with the class.

I found her lessons to be exceedingly insightful and entertaining.

Mrs. Tracie has been a literacy teacher at Reading Connections for 14 months now. After

observing her teaching methods, it’s clear that Mrs. Tracie enjoys working with her students and

loves teaching. When I asked her why she became a teacher, she said, “I enjoy working with

people and hearing their unique stories.” Nonetheless, Mrs. Tracie has experienced some

challenges as well. For most of her teaching career at Reading Connections, the pandemic has

been going on. Therefore, I asked Mrs. Tracie how she has been dealing with the transition from

in person classes to online. “Some days I feel well adjusted and some days I feel defeated by it.
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However, this pandemic has pushed me to be able to present ideas that are engaging to the

students as well as being able to forge virtual relationships.” It is my belief that she handled my

question, as well as, her class with absolute grace. Mrs. Tracie is truly a remarkable teacher with

brilliant students and I appreciate being a part of her class.