During this past school year, I served as a graduate student intern at Oakton High School through the Fairfax Transition to Teach program at George Washington University. It is a challenge to showcase all my growth and successes on a website, but here it is to the best of my ability.

In the fall I began student teaching a B2 ESOL class for two weeks. I led 17 non-native speakers in a short poetry unit introducing Haikus. Together we practiced recognizing figurative language, shared poems from our home countries and read poems aloud.  We also worked on prepositions, a weakness I found from their writing samples. I used internet grammar quizzes to assess their progress. This also helped increase their exposure to computers as learning tools. The purpose of the unit was to help them prepare for their mainstream English classes in addition to enjoying poetry.

In the winter I taught a total of 105 students in two preparations for five weeks: two classes of English 9 and two classes of English AP 11. I taught Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet to ninth graders and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to the AP juniors. I was able to see my students make progress over a longer period of time. I used discussion, lecture, and various forms of assessment to inform and monitor their learning. I was also able to form relationships with my students and realize just how much I enjoy teaching. 

During my teaching, I met regularly with my University Supervisor and Cooperating Teacher to receive feedback. Our sessions allowed me to critically reflect upon my lessons in order to improve my teaching in the future. In addition, I had my students complete evaluations. This was in efforts to know how I can continue to make progress as a teacher.

I completed my student teaching with two more weeks in the spring teaching Romeo and Juliet with the same ESOL B2 class. This gave me a chance to see the modifications needed when teaching the same lesson to ESOL students. I was also able to see how much I had grown as a teacher (as did a few of my students!). At the end of the unit, students performed Tableau Viviants, or living pictures to demonstrate their understanding of the scenes we studied. For many, this was their first exposure to Shakespeare. Their final performances were very impressive and I am proud to be a part of their tremendous progress as learners.

By working with seasoned teachers and leading my own classes, I feel well prepared and eager for the year ahead.