At the beginning of the school year in 1979, I was a new teacher in the Fort Worth (Texas) Independent School District, having taught Spanish for eleven years in other districts. Annette Lowry, our district foreign language coordinator, always provided excellent in-service training for the Fort Worth foreign language teachers. This was a new experience for me, since I had always been the only Spanish teacher in my district and had never attended in-service training specifically for language teachers.

Our consultant that day was Connie Knop from Wisconsin. I remember her dynamic presentation with great affection because it was something she said during that workshop that changed the way I taught Spanish forever. One phrase stuck in my mind: "Use ANYTHING you can to get the meaning across to the students, actions, shapes, colors..."
At that moment, I began drawing little figures and charting out an idea.

What if…

• I made simple line drawings to represent subject pronouns and color-coded them by person and number?
• I made the verb endings in the same color?

I thought and sketched all afternoon, went home that night and made the first rough version of the Color Code for subject pronouns and present tense endings. The handmade black and white figures were framed in the appropriate color. In order to get the verb endings in the correct color, I cut out EACH LETTER by hand and glued it to a poster board. (Remember this is during the "Dark Ages," 1979, PRE-computer days.) In those days, we did not even have access to laminating, so I preserved my charts with clear contact paper. By the time school started that year, I had the first primitive Pronoun Color Code and Present Tense ready.

During the course of that school year, in which I was teaching only 7th and 8th grade, I saw more and more uses for color-coding. I realized that I could make the reflexive pronouns in the same color, thus making concepts like

me llamo
te llamas
se llama

more memorable for the students.

Then came the rest of the pronoun cases, such as direct and indirect objects and possessives.

During the school year of 1980-81, Mary Lou Patterson, the mother of one of the students was so impressed with my simple system that she encouraged me to print it and sell it. I made a major financial investment and had 1000 copies made. We envisioned the KAATZ SPANISH COLOR CODE sweeping the nation, one in every classroom, like the Periodic Table of Elements was in every chemistry class. It took me YEARS to finally sell them all, but I didn't blame Mary Lou for my financial loss, and we did remain close friends.

In order to sell the kits, I had to have a sales tax number and a bank account, etc. Thus was born the company Color Connection, whose name is logical, given the purpose of this first published kit. (Over the years I added more and more teaching materials not based on teaching by color, but the name was already established.)

During the 1981-82 school year I was blessed with an outstandingly gifted 8th grade group. They breezed through all the required lessons on the present tense. My curriculum did not call for going beyond that level, but I felt we could finish the year "playing around" with other tenses, thus preparing them for the high school teacher who was famous for being a strict grammarian. Again, cutting all the letters out by hand, gluing them on poster board, I created the "Other Tenses."

About this time, I got brave enough to share my Color Coded system with other teachers at a conference. I had no idea that I was so "ahead of the times" in teaching attitudes. I will never forget standing in front of 70+ teachers who obviously thought I was a total nut-case. I could tell by the total silence and the expressions on their faces what they were thinking:
"You can't teach several tenses at one time!"
"You can't teach -AR, -ER and -IR verbs together!"
"Students can't figure out pronoun usage on their own!"

Nevertheless, I knew that these strategies were working for me and my students!

I was easily burned, because for the next TEN YEARS, I only shared my Color Coded Verbs with teachers whom I knew well and trusted not to think I was totally crazy. I began to have a small "cult" following and decided to publish the "Other Tenses" and later went on to include the subjunctives, imperatives, perfects and progressives.

Thus was born the original SPANISH VERB WALL.

Keep in mind that all this was happening during the "Middle Ages" of computer accessibility, most people did not have home computers. By using the computers at the local junior college, I was able to get the raw form of all the verb charts. I had to take them to a print shop and have them enlarged. Then I cut and laid out the masters BY HAND. This is the version of the Verb Wall that many teachers across the US are currently using. This version was printed in black and white to save money.

By the year 1992, I got up the nerve to present my entire SPANISH VERB WALL at the Texas Foreign Language Association annual conference in El Paso. I was VERY VERY nervous, but I KNEW how effective the Verb Wall had been for my own students and for the students of several other weird teachers who agreed with my RADICALLY HERETICAL method.

Apparently, language teaching attitudes had finally caught up with mine, because I was completely surprised by the reaction of the group. About 50 people squeezed into a room designed for 20. They were standing in the back and in the doorway, sitting on the floor so close to the wall that we could not move around to point out areas on the display. I remember one woman who had come from Chihuahua to attend the TFLA conference saying to me after the workshop, "Para decirte la verdad, yo me preguntaba antes de la presentación ¿Cómo se atreve una americana tratar de explicarme mi idioma? pero chica, ¡me has dejado con la boca abierta!"

The participants left so enthusiastic about the Verb Wall that we were asked to repeat the entire presentation that afternoon. I have repeated the workshop at almost every TFLA conference since then.

I had already been doing the "Building Artificial Realities" workshops for several years at local districts, state, regional and national conferences. Now, due to that successful experience in El Paso, I began presenting the Spanish Verb Wall workshop also.

Curriculum Vitae

The Verb Wall began growing in popularity. The main complaint I had from the teachers was that they had to color-code it by hand, but I could not afford the investment of color printing. In order to have enough copies made to bring the unit cost down to an accessible price, I would have to have at least 1000 copies made. There simply was not room for storage, since my office is in my home. Nor did I have the money to make such a large investment. The teachers who spent their precious time color-coding agreed that the final product and the results in the classroom made it worth the trouble. The problem is we have to pay either in time (doing your own color-coding) or in money (paying for the color printing).

Meanwhile in the world of technology, computers had become a household necessity. In 1997, I FINALLY discovered the entrance ramp to the so-called "information highway" and got hooked up to be able to use e-mail (DUH!)

(A humorous note here: I told my husband that all I wanted for Christmas was to get "on-line." To me, that meant purchasing a computer, etc. We lived in an area that had been in the country when we bought, and we still had a septic tank. Recently the city had extended sewer service to our area. I came home one day to find the yard being torn up and the septic tank being removed. When I asked what was going on, my husband answered, "You said you wanted to get on-line for your Christmas present." Ever the romantic!)

Finally by convincing him I was speaking of the OTHER "on-line," I got my computer and in January of 1998, I discovered a wonderful listerv for foreign language teachers, FLTEACH.

When someone posted a note about my Verb Wall on FLTEACH, the interest began to grow exponentially. (I believe it was Linda Heathington, a teacher from Slaton, TX, who had attended one of my TFLA workshops who made the first comment about the Spanish Verb Wall.) I began receiving many more inquiries and requests for workshops.

In 2000, I realized that the Verb Wall needed to be updated on the new computers that were now available--and at the same time needed to be printed in color. I saw no need to print the old version in color, but the new fonts and graphics used to express what the tenses mean would be part of the comprehension and communication process. These could NOT be printed in the less expensive black and white. I began checking with printers and discovered that a revolution had taken place in their industry also. It was no longer necessary to order 1000 copies to get an accessible price. I would be able to order 100-200 at a time at the same price per unit.

During the next year I was always too busy to give much direct thought to how I would redo the Verb Wall, but it was just always in the back of my mind. (I was very involved with organizing Justo Lamas Concerts and didn't have any free time in which I was not exhausted from traveling.)

Then at 3:00 AM on August 20, 2001, the idea hit me. Afraid that I would forget it if I went back to sleep, I got out of bed, went to my computer and created a rough draft of a new version of the Verb Wall that uses graphics as well color to communicate the meanings of the endings. I woke up my poor husband and made him show me that he could pick out which ending meant which tense. He knows no Spanish, but is always willing to be a part of my crazy teaching ideas. I briefly described the five basic indicative tenses, and he was able to pick out the appropriate ending! He then mumbled something like "You really have something there!" and promptly went back to sleep, leaving me to continue agonizing alone until morning.

I worked day and night for nearly two weeks, sometime getting only 2-4 hours sleep, neglecting my family and friends, totally focused on this one project. Once I sat at the computer for 8 straight hours without even getting up to eat or drink. I was on such a "high," pressuring myself to get this new version finished, that I believe the word "obsessed" is an understated description of my condition. My family started referring to me as "the thing in the attic" because I did not come down to eat or drink anything, and they had to bring me what I needed to survive. It was truly like an "out of body experience."

The NEW Spanish Verb Wall is NOT just the Old Verb Wall now printed in color, but rather a total re-creation and enhancement of a wonderful idea.

The price will have to be higher, of course, because color printing is more expensive and new components have been added. But at least I can afford the investment for printing 100 at a time, and I can afford to sell it at an accessible price.

I remember reading when I was much, much younger that Miguel Cervantes did not have major success as an author until publishing DON QUIJOTE at the age of 58. I remember thinking, "That is SO OLD. I know that I will create something wonderful in my life long before I am 58!" Nevertheless, I almost missed my deadline. The new Verb Wall was finished and ready to be picked up at the printers on October 31, 2001.

I turned 58 the following November 7.

I sincerely believe that I have created

LA OBRA MAESTRA DE MI VIDA: