teacher spotlight - Ann Fisher

​Ann Fisher’s educational background began at the California State University, San Marcos where she earned her BA in Psychology and her California Single Subject English Teaching Credential with a Cross-Cultural Language and Academic Development (CLAD) certification. She taught as an English teacher at the high school level in Oceanside for several years prior to coming to Poway Adult School (PAS) as an ESL Teacher. Her experience helped her to understand the important connections between the K-12 and Adult Education Systems, while at the same time acknowledging the unique needs of adult learners.

Ann notes that her greatest accomplishments in teaching and their impact on adult learners are: 
“Helping immigrant adults in the Poway community to learn English so that they may help their children in school, be able to attain employment, and to function in US society is a daily accomplishment that brings me incredible job satisfaction. Additionally, I am a Teacher-Advisor who advises new students on their educational plans, helps them to set goals and find resources they may need to be successful at school or work. Getting to know students personally and understanding their goals for the future is what drives my instruction. My hope is to have students learn the language and at the same time reach their long-term goals."

Ann also makes a great impact on adult education by being the coordinator for Poway Adult School’s Student Advisory Council. This group of adult students, from all AE programs (ESL, Diploma, Basic Skills, CTE,) has organized to make multiple improvements to our campus, including picnic areas for students, a student lending library, monthly bake sales, and a paper recycling campaign. We volunteered to collect food to distribute to local families in need during the Thanksgiving break in partnership with Poway’s Friends & Family Community Connection and collected women's clothing in conjunction with the Boots to Heels program for returning military-women vets entering the workforce. As a teacher-trainer, she is also the PAS facilitator for our monthly Professional Learning Community (PLC) at our school site. These PLCs provide teachers from multiple disciplines the opportunity to learn from each other and to ultimately improve our curriculum and teaching. She has worked to design curriculum for Integrated Education Training (IET) courses for English language learners who are seeking future employment in the fields of Information Communication Technologies (ICT) and the Southwest Airlines Customer Service certification. As a teacher for students who are learning English as a Second Language (ESL,) she has developed and implemented strategies to engage busy adults. Ann has collaborated to design, and implement, a blended classroom model so that our students have access to course materials both in the classroom and online at home through CANVAS. Additionally, she has integrated technology into student projects and applications to use on their smartphones so that they are able to continue their learning from anywhere.

Finally, Ann is a member of the California Council for Adult Education (CCAE,) and has both attended and presented at State, Section, and local conferences as well as multiple OTAN/CALPRO training programs to grow as a teacher of adult students. Her last presentation was well received at the CCAE 2019 Southern Section conference and was titled “Working Smarter: Using 21st Century Skill to Facilitate EL Civics Curriculum.”  This was a timely presentation as going into the soon to follow COVID Pandemic, these skills and the curriculum built upon them helped PAS to continue ESL with full EL Civic participation in a virtual format.