Jess Crawford
d49 Spanish Teacher
Falcon, CO
Jessica Crawford Nelson is a graduate of Bemidji High School in Bemidji, Minnesota (home of the acclaimed Concordia Language Villages). While attending high school, Crawford had her first study abroad experience and lived with a host family in Madrid, Spain. She received her Bachelor's degree from North Dakota State University (Fargo, ND) in Spanish Education. While an undergraduate, she completed her study abroad experience living with a host family while attending the prestigious Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (Tec de Monterrey, Campus Cuernavaca).
After graduating, Crawford accepted her first teaching job in Bullhead City, Arizona where she also coached the dance team and intramural basketball team. She returned to her hometown of Fargo, North Dakota to teach grades 9-12 Spanish before another move to Las Vegas, Nevada. While in Nevada, Crawford was the recipient of the Rave Review Awards while pioneering the Middle School Spanish Immersion Program for the fifth largest school district in the United States. Crawford was an invited guest to the Vanessa Melendez radio show, was selected to the Clark County Foreign Language Curriculum Revision Task Force and was recognized for creating the 2012 Southwest Conference on Language Teachers (SWCOLT) National Conference slogan: "Viva Las Languages".
In 2012 Crawford accepted a position at the nationally recognized, Grammy Award Winning Las Vegas Academy of the Arts where she was honored as a Teacher of Distinction, selected as an Energize Student's Best Decorated Classroom Teacher Contest finalist and selected to accept the Schools of Distinction Award, presented at the Magnet Schools of America Conference in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In addition to teaching, Crawford worked as an analytical linguist for the largest provider of translation, transcription and interpretation services to various government agencies and private corporations nationwide. Although not a native speaker, Crawford was required to pass several rounds of progressive testing which deemed her proficient to interpret and translate professionally for this position.
Crawford relocated with her family to Colorado Springs in 2014 where she accepted her first position at an International Baccalaureate school. Crawford served as an elected board member of the Colorado Congress of Foreign Language Teachers and was chosen by colleagues, students and administrators as the Horizon Middle School Teacher of the Year. With over 40,000 educators, she was one of the 30 from the state of Colorado to be nominated as 2017 Colorado Teacher of the Year. Most recently, Crawford was nominated for the National Conference on Digital Convergence Personalized Learning Classroom of the Year Award and is the recipient of the Falcon Education Grant.
Outside of school, Crawford enjoys spending time with her husband and three sons, camping, snowboarding, playing piano, hiking, swimming and art.
https://sites.google.com/d49.org/crawford-spanish/home?scrlybrkr=a3cdd6f0
