Reflective Overview

Classroom-Based Experience

After teaching for about a year in an ESL classroom, I finally understand why it is so important to be teaching while attending classes in the Master’s program. I am very grateful for my advisor, Dr. Byrd, for pushing me in my second semester to find any teaching opportunity available. There is so much you can share with your classmates and professors about your own teaching experiences, whether they are the difficulties that arises or the moment when something successfully works in the classroom.

I have seen myself slowly grow as a teacher. Instead of being timid in front of my students when I first started, I have a lot more confidence in myself and have become more comfortable in teaching. Although the methods and strategies I use are constantly changing, I am familiar with what sort of things go on before, during, or after a lesson. I carefully plan all my lessons before class, analyze what happens in the classroom, and evaluate my students afterwards.

Professional Development

I have really enjoyed going to professional development activities because there is so much to choose from and you never know what you will learn from it. From my previous and current experience as being an ESL teaching at a small college, there is little time for teachers to talk to each other. Teachers go to class to teach and then leave right away since some teachers have other teaching jobs. Therefore, there are a lot of lost opportunities to share with one another of teaching in the classroom. But by going to these professional development sessions, I am able to constantly get ideas to use in my classroom. I hope that in the future, I will be able to lead a professional development session as well.

Master’s Paper

My master’s paper allowed me to combine two things of interest to me: the newspaper and grammar. I have incorporated both theory and practice about newspaper writing concerning the appositive noun phrase, past tense verbs, and circumstance adverbials. In theory, I have listed the explanations and examples of each item. In practice, I have listed the difficulties of teaching and learning each item. This paper also gave me the opportunity to create my own activities, which I realized is not a simple task.

The Master’s Program

Because of the classroom-based experience, professional developments, and the Master’s paper, my knowledge of second language learning and teaching has slowly grown. I came into the program not knowing exactly what this profession would involve and how I would like it, but just after two years, I have found a tremendous admiration and interest in teaching English to second language learners. I have met wonderful teachers and students who have encouraged me to become a better teacher everyday. I think I am extremely lucky to finally find a career that is reward yet challenging at the same time.