Wednesday, 17 July 2013 - 6:12 PM EDT

I am an English major and love to read and write, but those loves could have been satisfied if I had become a Spanish teacher, as well (I was a double major). I chose to become an English teacher because of the experience I had tutoring a girl in high school English over the course of last summer. I realized that I could explain things to her with greater depth and in a larger number of ways in order to improve her understanding of a text or writing strategy. I also got really excited about planning our lessons and the hour I spent working with her always flew by. After our last session before I returned to college, she wrote me a beautiful note saying how much she had learned and how grateful she was that I spent the time to really explain things to her that she had never understood in class. It was such a rewarding experience that I knew I was headed down the right path.

I have always loved to play with words, as well. That is a love that has only deepened with time. One quotation that defines the deep love and respect I have for words comes from an episode of the show "Doctor Who" (episode title: "The Shakespeare Code"), "Oh, yeah, but the theatre's magic, isn't it? You should know, stand on this stage, say the right words with the right emphasis at the right time ... oh, you can make men weep, or cry with joy. Change them. You can change people's minds just with words in this place." This quotation defines the power that words can have over people's emotions and decisions, a power that seems not to be heavily emphasized in recent years. With the popularity of various social networking sites skyrocketing and the free availability of blogs, etc., teenagers are able to publish their thoughts to potential millions of readers within seconds. As such, they often do not think about their choice of words or the powerful effect those words could have on their readers. Therefore I would like to instill a respect for words in future generations so that they will become thoughtful readers and writers as they enter the adult world, and being an English teacher is the best way for me to achieve that goal. 

Thursday, 18 July 2013 - 1:48 PM EDT

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I made the decision to pursue English education in my first undergrad semester at Uconn. Despite mediocre grades in my high school math and science classes I was lucky enough to get into the Uconn School of Engineering as a freshman. As it turned out, I was not engineering material: a combination of being placed in the “average” high school mathematics and science tracks, ungodly amounts of freshman year partying, and an aloof attitude towards my grades and my major in general placed me squarely within the large group of students that would be “weeded out” of engineering early on. Not to mention, the type of work that we were asked to do left me genuinely unhappy and unfulfilled. My freshman year engineering teacher asked us to write to a former high school teacher explaining how he or she had influenced us to pursue engineering—instead, I wrote to my favorite high school English teacher and explained that I would be dropping out of engineering to pursue English education.

This is all the how of my decision to become an English teacher; the why is a little more long-winded. At a young age my parents and teachers taught me how to comprehend, appreciate, and truly enjoy reading and writing for my own personal benefit and as a tool to help me achieve my personal goals in life. No other skill has added more to my enjoyment and understanding of the world than my own literacy; similarly, no tool has been more useful in achieving my goals than a proficiency in English. For example, I would not be in graduate school right now pursuing my dream career had it not been for the quality of my personal statement in my graduate application (I’m told that, alongside your grades, the personal statement is the only part of the application that matters). I want to give my students the opportunity to achieve personal fulfillment through their own literacy and provide them with the quality of language and literary proficiency necessary to further their personal goals in life. Though I realize that not all students will make use of their literacy for personal or occupational fulfillment, reaching and bettering the skills of the students who can make use of the English language (and almost all will in some small way) makes teaching English a worthwhile vocation. The development of literacy often marks the beginning of a lifelong process of awakening—let’s wake some students up. 

Thursday, 18 July 2013 - 10:01 PM EDT

In my undergraduate studies at NYU, I was on the pre-med track because I aspired to obtain my Master’s in nutrition, which required me to take many science prerequisites. In order to balance the calculus, organic chemistry, and biology, I chose a major in the humanities. It was an easy decision for me to choose English because I had always enjoyed my English classes the most and I had fantastic English teachers throughout my life who served as positive influences. From a practical perspective, I also chose English because I was good at it, and although I have always been interested in science, it doesn’t come as easily to me.

I may not be the most prolific reader or writer, but I am passionate about the process of teaching and learning. I want to share that passion with students in the same way that many of my English and Language Arts teachers did for me. I chose the subject area of English because I love learning through literature. I am most interested in the cultural and historical nature of texts. One of the most exciting things about the field of English is that we can explore it forever without running out of material. Within that wealth of information, I am confident that students will be able to find something that inspires them. This also enables me to learn from, and about, my students on a deeper level.

English classes require students to think about themselves and the world around them in a way that they cannot do in a math or science class. One method of producing a class discussion would be to use the Paideia seminar format. Students could look at a brief passage of text, such as the beginning of the prologue to Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales and discuss the language, setting, history, culture, and modern connections. This technique allows students to unpack a text by working through it as a class, which will help them to learn about the material while they practice their interpersonal skills. English/ Language Arts is a subject that is deeply connected to the world around us—we need the skills of reading, writing, speaking and listening in everything that we do. I am excited to teach English because I want to help my students become the best readers, writers, speakers, and listeners that they can be. 

Friday, 19 July 2013 - 2:19 AM EDT

To explain why I have chosen to teach English and not another discipline I find it appropriate to go back in time. I was always one of the few kids who couldn't wait for the first day of school. In my elementary years I spent all summer playing "school" or "teacher". I loved learning, particularly reading and writing. I began reading on my own before I entered kindergarten, and as soon as I could write I made up stories (not math equations) in various journals and diaries. From an early age English has been my academic strength.

To fast forward a bit I find myself in high school. My father was an alcoholic and my mother was diagnosed with bipolar disorder when I was in 4th grade. By now she was a drug addict and I lived with my maternal grandparents on a farm in the middle of nowhere. My grandparents are old school. They had no television and only one phone line that they didn't like to be held up for more than 20 minutes at a time in case someone, maybe the priest, called. Both deprivations were, according to my 14 year old self, sins against humanity. So what did I do? Read. Write. Read some more. Reading and writing have always been an ultimate escape for me. When lost in my own imagination the stresses of reality are unimportant. At this point I wrote a lot of poems and letters to my parents. I asked my dad to stop drinking and I told my mom, who was usually incarcerated or in the psych ward of some hospital, about my days. 

By the time I was 16 my mom managed to keep herself out of some kind of lock down situation and establish residence in a "barrio" (to reference a text we discussed in class). I continued to find my grandparents' way of life some inhumane form of incomprehensible torture and convinced them to let me stay with my mom on the weekends. Long story short: I fell into the wrong crowd, smoked a lot of weed, wrote a lot of rap songs, recorded a few tracks in a few studios (that was actually kind of cool), went to guidance and dropped myself from AP classes because I was a typical teenage know it all (I mean idiot) and graduated high school six months pregnant. What a blessing that was! Seriously, becoming a mother saved my life. Don't get me wrong though, before I found out I was pregnant I had accepted an offer from The College of New Rochelle and planned on becoming a DEA, so despite my poor choices I still had ambitions. Anyway, I couldn't dorm away with a baby so I stayed local and changed my major from pre-law to English. It was a decision I didn't even have to think about. In addition to a love of reading and writing I had an English teacher my senior year of high school who made me feel like I could still have a future even though I was a child having a child. The confidence she unknowingly helped me discover was some kind of extraordinary missing piece to my character. Immediately I knew I wanted to give that gift back to other bright but misguided teens like myself. Pursuing the life of an English teacher became my passion! Plus having a career that will fit my daughter's school schedule is a huge perk!

Literature unlocks doors to realms beyond the typical senseless thoughts of day to day life. The world is a stage and our imaginations are the greatest actors. With each peice of literature we can assume a different role and discover some kind of greatness. Similarly, writing is a zen-like technique that allows us to abandon all rules and expectations, all of the drama and quite frankly BS the world has to hurdle at us at unstoppable speeds. I have not chosen English over any other discipline. English has chosen me! 

Sunday, 21 July 2013 - 8:54 AM EDT

Wow, Cassi.  Thank you so much for the honesty and bravery that it took to share this information.  There's no doubt that between your dedication to reading and your life experiences, you will make differences in MANY lives :)

Sunday, 21 July 2013 - 8:55 AM EDT

Playing with words!  YES!  That's how we get the kids involved... deep down, everyone loves to play with words... that's what JOKES are made of!  I watched the Dr. Who episode:  very cool!  I'm trying to figure out a way to sample it to use in a lesson...  Thanks, Heather!

Sunday, 21 July 2013 - 8:58 AM EDT

Waking students up!  YES!  The right piece of literature at the right time in a student's development can make all the difference (Robert Frost!?)!  Let's get them out of their comfort zone and into the "learning zone!"

Sunday, 21 July 2013 - 9:01 AM EDT

Prologue to the Canterbury Tales!?  Now you're talking my language!  (Middle English, of course!).  I love the notion that a piece of literature can mean something different to each person who reads it...  so long as intepretation is based on the evidence within text, the possibilities and deliciously endless!

Monday, 22 July 2013 - 4:58 PM EDT

I come from a home where both my parents dropped out of high school and had to work so much to support my brother and me that I would barely see them. My grandmother was left to take care of my brother, who was born with Congenital Central Hypoventilation Syndrome, and me. Although both my parents were American-born English speakers, I was raised speaking Albanian because it was the norm in my grandparents’ house. My grandmother barely spoke English, so it was the only way to communicate with her as a kid. When I entered school, I reflected on the little English I knew from communicating with my parents. I guess it is really cool knowing another language, but to this day I have trouble pronouncing certain words.

 Since I was young, my father has always stressed the importance of education. No one on both sides of my family even graduated high school, so it was difficult to find a role model besides my father, As far back as I could remember, he always worked hard. He told me that school was the only way to break the chain. He never wanted me to work the way that he does.

 Growing up Waterbury, I experienced so much at the hands of the urban public school system. I was reading above the level of most of my peers, and I always felt that I was not getting the attention I needed in the overcrowded classrooms I was placed in. I had always dealt with social difficulties, such as bullies and anxiety. I have always shown a particular interest in writing. I remember keeping diaries with a lock and key on them when I was in elementary school. I wish that those were still around, but sadly I cannot find them. I picked up on descriptive and intense journal writing when I was in the seventh grade. As with any kid, middle school was the toughest time for me. I went to North End Middle School, the school in which I will be student teaching. When I was there, I picked up writing as an escape from bullies at school and a tough home life. At this point, I felt alone in the world and no one understood me. I found journal writing to be very therapeutic, as if I was actually talking to someone and they were listening. It wasn’t until high school that I began to show a strong interest in poetry. When I first started writing poetry, I would only write once in a while. However, it wasn’t until my sophomore year when I started to write about two or more a day. In high school, I wrote both journal entries and poetry just for fun. This routine developed way into college, and now graduate school.

 When I transitioned into high school, I had an English teacher that immediately took an interest in me. He noticed how I liked to sit by myself, either with a book or pen and journal in hand. My ears were always busy with the tunes from my MP3 player. He would always be interested in what I was reading or writing and listening to. Eventually, he would be the only person that I would talk to. He shared his interests with me and even introduced me to various authors that no one else in my school would even consider picking up. He always praised my writing skills, and later in my junior year I discovered that he had shown my work to my English teacher. My junior year English teacher would always show my work to struggling students and recommended me to help them when they needed it. I always was traumatized over the idea of being such a “good” English student that I had to help others. At this point, I was too nervous to help anyone. I never had even spoken to those students, and I always thought that they would tease me. My teachers quickly caught this, and they convinced me that I could do it. They gave me so many reasons why I was such a perfect example of a teacher. They said that my passion for English was innate, and they wanted me to break out of my shell and show it to others.

 So why do I want to be an English teacher? When I first had this question thrown at me at the University of Connecticut Neag School of Education interview, it was easy to reflect on my past. It wasn’t because I had nothing else to do with an English degree and had to be a teacher. It wasn’t because my parents wanted me to.

 For one, I want to do it for myself. I want to grow out of the fear that I will never break myself out of the cage I’ve built myself in. I want to show those who have doubted me that I can do something that I am proud of. Of course, I want to do it for my future students. I want to be that one good thing in their lives that tells them every day that they are worth something, just as those two teachers did for me in high school.

Literature serves as a platform to help others. Reading allows us to take on roles of others and escape into their worlds. It also forces us to face reality, since many authors reflect on their own experiences. Writing is an art form of words. I know that I can get students excited about reading and writing by connecting them to literature, as I have done for myself.

Monday, 22 July 2013 - 10:53 PM EDT

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I personally love the English language, and reading was my primary means of escape.  Then as I got older I realized that language wasn’t meant to be solely consumed.  I could create with language.  I could write stories, have written conversations with books or articles I had read, and most importantly I could keep records of my emotions and what once felt like monumental events that would make me cringe later in life. I realized how much richer my life was through my ability to engage with and manipulate it, and for a long time it was my personal passion.   I was very selective with what aspects of it I dedicated my time to.

Then about five years ago I went to Japan to teach English, and that experience created the foundation for my desire to become an English teacher.  First, it undid a lot of my negative associations with the teaching profession that stemmed from my personal experiences as a student.   However, it wasn’t specifically teaching that made me want to be a teacher. While living in a foreign country, my primary access to English was the Internet.  I would watch videos and read articles in English, and the part of that process I loved and hated the most was reading the comments sections of whatever content I was consuming.  

In a comment section, I loved that I could sense the rhythm of normal conversations and people’s thoughts.  However, as much as I enjoyed their unfiltered nature I hated the rampant ignorance on display especially when a person was asked to defend their point.  I would read and cringe at the thought of what it would be like to encounter that person in the flesh, and as much as I felt uncomfortable at that prospect I felt sad for that individual.  It was clear that whatever education they had experienced had failed them or was failing them as some of the commenters were obviously teenagers.  This really got me thinking about the importance of English teachers.

 Up until then I hadn’t really thought about teaching in America because the conversation had primarily been focused on increasing math and science teachers.  However, to me based not only on the comment sections I read but also a lot of the so-called professional outputs of information called “news” there was a language crisis that wasn’t being addressed and in need of attention.

So while I love language, literature and the various things it gives me access to, I want to be an English teacher so I can enable my students to be competent consumers and producers of language.   I don’t care if my students love literature the way I do, but language should be a tool they can use with confidence.  They should also have the humility to understand their limitations with language as not to defeat themselves with it or allow others to defeat them with it.  The short answer is I want to become an English teacher to stop at least one person from posting or putting something ignorant that they can’t respectfully and intelligently defend on the Internet and into the world.

Monday, 22 July 2013 - 11:23 PM EDT

Thanks, Mirelinda, for sharing some of your story!  It sounds like you've already decimated the cage!  And, what a great personal experience you'll have to bring to your students with your ELL background!  How lucky they are!

Monday, 22 July 2013 - 11:26 PM EDT

Sheena, that is such an interesting perspective!  With the anonymity of the internet and the apparent widespread disregard to what one puts out there, I would agree that there is a voluminous amount of drivel.  I am particularly interested by your "consumers and producers of language" concept.  What an empowering concept to think that we not only use language, but we have CONTROL over it! 

Tuesday, 23 July 2013 - 3:46 PM EDT

I chose to teach English because I want to afford students with an opportunity to see the world aesthetically.  I truly believe that diverse reading can be an exercise in opening the mind.  I feel that viewing the world through the point of view of another is enlightening and wonderful.  Through writing, students can discover their identity in a palpable way, which can help them find their own voice.  I chose to teach English to be able to help students discover the value of their voices and the benefit of being open to the voice of another.

Tuesday, 23 July 2013 - 10:30 PM EDT

Coming to "settle" on this profession came with quite a few twists and turns before reaching this point.  Growing up I was constantly reading as my mom always impressed its importance on me (and otherwise I wouldn't be allowed to play Super Nintendo, probably the true catalyst).  As I continued to read I found I enjoyed free reading far more than any actual schoolwork; my genre of choice fittingly being YA.

As my passion for this genre increased so did my interest in creative writing.  However, it wasn't until high school that actually found two teachers that truly admired/respected, both being English teachers.  One of the two was a first year teacher my freshman year and I had him for 3 of my 4 years making it an interesting development and bonding process for the both of us.  Senior year when I quite honestly cared very little for school at all and was close to dropping out was a defining moment.  My friend managed to convince my creative writing teacher to allow me to write our first assigment (write any story we want) for the entire semester.  Since the teacher knew me well enough that I'd otherwise refuse to do an ounce of work he eventually agreed.  That semester of writing was one of the most fun and enlightening experiences I had.

I went to CCSU freshman year wanting to be a Psychology major for other reasons, specifically Sports Psych.  After a year of hard work I got accepted into UCONN Storrs and switched to Pre-Kinesiology.  Although I was on the right track working with grad students etc, I was told I wouldn't know if I would be accepted into the Strength & Conditioning program until two years later.  For me, it as that major or bust and spending that time and money was a risk I couldn't take.  I'd been a camp counselor for years and had often been told that I'd be a great teacher, because I work well with kids.  After weighing the options (pretty much do I want to have money or not) I decided that reading/writing have always been a passion of mine and money won't be what makes me truly happy in the end.

As I picked up a Theatre Studies Minor to improve my creative writing a gained more and more of a respect for all aspects of literature and saw that if someone as unininterested in the seemingly mundane can be shone in a new light to me, then I should take the responsibility to do the same for others.

While my true passion is still creative writing and I've been busy with its final revisions and finding a publishing agent that will take me up I'm reasonable that solely depending on that is not exactly the smartest of decisions.  So for now I plan on passing the knowledge, inspiration, and experience I've received over the years to appreciate this art on to others who deserve to have to opportunity that I've had.

Wednesday, 24 July 2013 - 1:37 AM EDT

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When I was fourteen years old, I had freshman English class with a man named Mr. Flowers. It was my first class of my high school career and I was absolutely horrified to be in a new school for the first time, especially since I had gone to such a small elementary/middle school. I made friends with the student sitting next to me, Joe, almost immediately. This was a friendship that lasted well beyond high school, all the way up to present day. Through Mr. Flowers’ eccentric methods and attitude, he quickly became my favorite teacher. The first time that I actually thought about become an English teacher was my senior year of high school and he was my teacher again. I wanted to be like him: hilarious and sarcastic, yet sincere and heartfelt when it came to student learning.

When it came time to go to college and declare a major, I picked English with a minor in education. Joe went to a different university, but we both wanted to be teachers because of the impact Flowers had on us in high school. As my college career progressed, I decided to abandon the idea of teaching and pick up a second major. It was not until after  I graduated that I looked back on the idea of being at the front of the classroom.

Joe passed away very suddenly this past November. In the haze of everything, I remember standing at his funeral and it hit me like a ton of bricks: I had to teach. He never finished his degree at Southern and it was something that he wanted to do – something that WE wanted to do growing up. I thought that the best way to live for the two of us (something that I think everyone there was saying to the point where it got borderline tiresome) was to go back and finish what he had started. So that is exactly what I did, submitting my application to the program as soon as possible.

Though this is my main reason for becoming a teacher, smaller reasons have emerged since my enrollment in the program. I think the idea of teaching to a multitude of different cultures within one classroom is awesome. The fact that we are reading An Island Like You is great for this reason. It will allow Latin American students to connect and relate to the text. Another reason that I want to teach is because I believe that, even as adults, we do not ever stop learning. I thought the idea of a guided seminar, kind of like the one we held in class, is a great way to get students to not only actively engage in the class work, but to field their opinions and arguments. I have to imagine that even in that first class you learned at least a little about us and our opinions. 

Wednesday, 24 July 2013 - 7:51 AM EDT

Since deciding to enter this program I have been asked this very question by lots of people, and one would think that by now I would have a pretty well rehearsed response. The thing is, there is no one reason why I want to become an English teacher. Sure there is the fact that I've always loved reading and writing, that it was my favorite subject in school, and that I studied literature in college. These are all factors, but like you said in the prompt, that isn't enough. I'm not becoming a teacher to be surrounded by the books I love, I'm not naive enough to think thats what teaching is. If I wanted that experience I would become a librabrian.

Its also not simply because I've have worked in and out of schools since graduating in 2009 and have found that I'm very comfortable there. I think for many people entering teaching, one of their greatest fears is being around the kids. They know the curriculum and the books, but are nervous about interacting with the kids. I love this part, but again, its not why I want to teach.

I want to teach English because it is in English class that we learn the most valuable skill, and that is how to think. It is not "stand and deliver" information like history, it is not equations like math, and it is not scientific vocabulary drilling like science. English is reading, and writing, and thinking critically, analyzing new information, molding it in your mind, and building your own understanding of it. These are eternally important skills and they need to be taught. It is in the English classroom that they are. In English we learn to communicate, written and orally, with ourselves and our peers. It is through excercises like we used in the first class, the Paideia seminar, that students are challenged to think about the information as well as how it relates to the world around them. Then they are asked to share that information. The sharing aspect, the discussion format of English classrooms asks students to not only pay attention to the material but interact with it in a way that allows them to construct their own understandings of that information. Through constructivist activities, I think the English classroom can be the most formative experience for every student. Though there are nuts and bolts aspects of English class, (grammar, etc) the reason that I want to teach is to help students grow their minds, and access new areas of themselves, areas that can only be accessed with the aid of a good English teacher. 

Wednesday, 24 July 2013 - 11:53 AM EDT

Marc,  Thanks for sharing, and I'm sorry for your loss.  What a wonderful tribute to your friend to carry this torch.  

Wednesday, 24 July 2013 - 12:02 PM EDT

Peter,  Thanks for sharing!  Very valid--I particularly am inspired by your distaste for the stand and deliver archaic strategy :)