At the Core of My Teaching Beliefs

• I believe language is our attempt to give voice to intellect, to put sound to soul
• I believe humans connect through story 
• I believe ESL teachers must help learners express their thoughts in meaningful and useful ways
• I believe becoming literate in a new country is key to accessing opportunities
• I believe ESL teachers should serve as advocates of social justice for English Language Learners (ELLs)
• I believer story provides the best teaching and learning tool (using literature, poetry, music, creative writing, video, audio, etc.)
• I believe a teacher of adults must consider funds of knowledge, social context, and motivation
• I believe students must be active participants in learning (through process, creating)

I had trouble reducing my list to three core beliefs and so I settled on four (the highlighted lines)!

In thinking about my final project and speaking with Professor Bogad, I decided that since story is at the core of my teaching philosophy, that I should tell the story of how I came to be in the position of creating a professional website as an ESL teacher.  This is a second career for me and the winding roads that converged to put me at this junction are interesting.

I began by thinking about the childhood roots of my long career in journalism, how that branched from news to documentary and into international production.  I dwell on the international work in the presentation because that was the life-changing period that most directly connects to my current vocation to teach adult immigrants and refugees.

How?

a)  I am passionate about equal access to opportunity for all.  In my international work, I bore witness to so much inequity, obvious and subtle.  Usually because of gender, race, poverty, physical and/or mental ability.  My stories were focused on issues of social justice.  As a woman who grew up very modestly, I am also keenly and personally aware of gender and economic inequities here in the U.S.

b) I am emotionally and intellectually invigorated working within multicultural and multilingual environments.  I like to look at the world through others' lens.

c)  I have dedicated my professional life to illuminating, examining, and recording life, challenging perceptions, advocating for change, and sharing that process as well as the information gained.  In other words, teaching through the medium of TV, through the field production process, and in classrooms.  My 'Second Act'  of instructing adult ELLs is a more literal interpretation of teaching, but to me it is part of a continuum that may not be obvious to others.

Therefore, this project aligns with my core beliefs by connecting my experiences through story and then using story to take action, increase understanding, or make change. The need for my website is not in and of itself interesting, but the story of how I find myself struggling with that new digital experience is unusual and hopefully, compelling.  Changing my professional website www.maryksteele.com so that it serves not just me but also students and colleagues is part of my growth as a teacher and a lifelong learner.

My challenge is time.  I would like to explore and choose  at least three features to add to my website that serve students and three that are resources for colleagues.  I hope I have the time to finish adding those features so that I can speak about them in my presentation but it may be that I will have to write about my plans and show what I have implemented thus far.  Right now, I need to get back to it!  I hope you had a wonderful Fourth.