My name is Aly Bernhisel. I'm from Cowley, Wy, which is a 500-person town about 90 miles south of Billings, Mt. I love trail running, writing, traveling, and peanut butter. This is my 8th semester at USU, where I'm studying English Teaching. I hope to teach in a high school someday.
Being an English teacher, I think, comes with a lot of responsibility. While the traditional things we think of as being part of a high school English curriculum, such as grammar, punctuation, vocabulary, etc. are important, I feel like my main purpose as an English teacher needs to be teaching my students how to communicate effectively: with people, texts, society and, MOST importantly, with themselves. Reading and writing aren't the "end" of instruction; rather, they are the means English teachers can use to help students learn about interpretation and communication for use in their own individual lives.
I guess several things influenced my decision to become an English teacher. One is that teaching is sort of a tradition in my family: both of my parents, as well as all four of my grandparents, are/were at one point teachers. Carrying on the tradition wasn't so much the motivator, though, as was the fact that all of them love teaching, have enjoyed the opportunity it gives for one to continue learning themselves, and have been able to make a real difference in many of their students' lives over the years. These are what I hope to experience as I teach also. On a less sentimental note, the ideas of having summers "off" (although, I learned from watching my parents, "off" maybe isn't the most accurate word...) and may even being able to coach are also definite bonuses.
Really, I feel like one of the "lucky" ones in this class, in that I think the material we will be covering might benefit me more than it might other majors. Or, rather, will be easier to apply to my major. Along with that, us English majors may also be a bit more naturally interested in this stuff (ie discussing literacy) than, perhaps, someone planning on teaching health. I do feel like this stuff is applicable and important for teachers in every discipline, though, so hopefully we can all find that out a bit this semester.
I thought it was very insightful that you said the purpose of writing is for people to communicate, not only with the world, but with themselves. In my opinion, English is one of the most perfect places to accomplish this goal because students can choose what they write about (their families, etc.) and they can discuss characters' choices and connect them with their own lives. I had many students share personal experiences--for example, when we read a story about bullying, they shared about times they had been bullied; when we read a book about a dad who was in jail (Freak the Mighty), a student shared about his dad being in jail, and so forth. English is a really special space where you are able to discuss those sorts of things, to reflect on the human experience in characters' lives and how that relates to our own lives. I think it's much harder to accomplish the same goal in other disciplines. Thanks for a great posting, and I look forward to reading your thoughts on literacy in English as the semester progresses!
ReplyDeleteI think it is interesting how so many people who are children of teachers become teachers. PGantt says that teachers breed teachers :).
ReplyDeleteI totally agree that we are lucky to see how learning about literacy can help us in our content area!
My mom is a kindergarten teacher, and my grandpa was a Sociology professor at Weber, so I guess teaching is also in my genes!
ReplyDeleteI completely agree about having the summers 'off,' plus all major holidays-it's nice to know that I will never be asked to work on Thanksgiving or Christmas (unlike other jobs I have had in the past!).