AboutErin Crissman has been an educator in Wicomico County Public Schools since August, 2009. In 2021, she transitioned from the classroom to the Coordinator of Blended Virtual Learning with the Eastern Shore of Maryland Educational Consortium (ESMEC), working to develop a Blended Virtual Program for the 2021-22 school year.
After graduating from Towson University in 2004 with a Bachelor of Arts in International Business Administration and Spanish, she entered the business world as a banker. Through BB&T Bank, she participated in a six-month intensive Leadership Development Program. Upon completion of the program, she was the Financial Center Leader of a branch in Salisbury, Maryland. While she enjoyed helping others, she didn't feel fulfilled in her work. |
Fast forward to August, 2009. Taking a huge leap of faith, Erin decides to leave the business world and enter teaching. After all, her passion was always the Spanish language and culture. What better way to bring this back into her life than to teach it. She taught Spanish I at Wicomico High School and FLEX (Foreign Language Exploratory) at Salisbury Middle School. To obtain her Maryland teaching certification, she graduated from Salisbury University in 2012 with her Master of Arts in Teaching Spanish.
Fast forward to August, 2009. Taking a huge leap of faith, Erin decides to leave the business world and enter teaching. After all, her passion was always the Spanish language and culture. What better way to bring this back into her life than to teach it. She taught Spanish I at Wicomico High School and FLEX (Foreign Language Exploratory) at Salisbury Middle School. To obtain her Maryland teaching certification, she graduated from Salisbury University in 2012 with her Master of Arts in Teaching Spanish.
Upon becoming a teacher, Erin decided that she wanted to provide her students the opportunity to travel abroad the way her teachers and professors in middle school, high school, and college did. Partnering with EF Tours, Erin led her first group of students to Spain in 2014. Continuing every other year, she led a group to Italy in 2016, and Switzerland, Italy, France and Spain in 2018. She had a 2020 trip planned to go to Costa Rica, which has been put on hold until 2021. Even though they are on the go for 12+ hours a day, walk 5-10 miles a day, and she has to count that all of the students are still there every time they turn a corner, these trips are without a doubt her favorite part of teaching. Giving students the opportunity to immerse themselves into another culture is what teaching is all about.
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In the summer of 2015, Erin attended an AP Summer Institute program through Goucher College and became a certified in teaching AP Spanish Language and Culture. In her 11 years of classroom experience, she has taught all levels of Spanish 1 through 5 (AP) and loves the different challenges and rewards that come with each level.
Not one for sitting still, Erin is always looking for new ways to get involved in her school and challenge herself both personally and professionally. In 2015, Erin became the Wicomico High School Senior Class Advisor, leading the students and administration in the planning of prom, a senior trip, and a senior project. She also served on the Graduation Committee, assisting administration with the planning and execution of the graduation ceremony. |
In 2016, she took on the role of Department Leader for the Wicomico High School Specials and World Languages departments. In this role, she participated in the Instructional Support Team, Instructional Leadership Team, and ran monthly PLC meetings with the approximately 30 staff members in the departments. She gained experience working with scheduling, room assignments, and other tasks that would enable her to better assist the guidance department and administrators with running the school.
In 2016, she took on the role of Department Leader for the Wicomico High School Specials and World Languages departments. In this role, she participated in the Instructional Support Team, Instructional Leadership Team, and ran monthly PLC meetings with the approximately 30 staff members in the departments. She gained experience working with scheduling, room assignments, and other tasks that would enable her to better assist the guidance department and administrators with running the school.
In January 2016, Erin was hired as an adjunct professor at Salisbury University where she has since taught Spanish 101 and Spanish 102 in both face-to-face, hybrid, and remote learning environments.
In 2018, Erin was the Wicomico High School Teacher of the Year, the greatest honor she has received in her teaching career to date. |
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States in the Spring of 2020, Erin quickly adapted to learn as much as possible about online instruction as she could. Over the summer she participated in numerous trainings for educational technology platforms such as Zoom, Google Classroom, GSuite (now Google Workspace), EdPuzzle, ClassDojo, Genial.ly, Nearpod, and more. Through Salisbury University, she completed the SOARING with Online Learning course which allowed her to better align her Spanish 102 curriculum with a virtual or hybrid course format and also covered technology programs including Canvas (MyClasses), Panopto, and Zoom.
While the conditions were not ideal, she really enjoyed the challenges and opportunities to learn new software programs to improve her instruction. She volunteered to lead a back-to-school professional development session on how to use Zoom for the staff at Wicomico High School which was then adapted for use by the technology trainers in Wicomico County.
In May, 2021, Erin completed her Post-Master Certificate in Educational Leadership and is participating in the 2020-2022 cohort with the Academy for Leadership in Education (ALE), both through Salisbury University.
While the conditions were not ideal, she really enjoyed the challenges and opportunities to learn new software programs to improve her instruction. She volunteered to lead a back-to-school professional development session on how to use Zoom for the staff at Wicomico High School which was then adapted for use by the technology trainers in Wicomico County.
In May, 2021, Erin completed her Post-Master Certificate in Educational Leadership and is participating in the 2020-2022 cohort with the Academy for Leadership in Education (ALE), both through Salisbury University.