Educational Platform of Three Year Journey

Three years ago, I began the start of an incredible and rewarding career in Deer Park.
Over the course of this time, I feel so fortunate to have gained an exorbitant amount of
experience, knowledge, and resources from my students, colleagues, and administrators. I am
proud to critically reflect upon my time in the district and see the tremendous growth Ive made
professionally.
In September of 2013, after a year teaching ESL to first graders in Brooklyn, I
nervously walked into May Moore to begin my career. I felt confident, as my experiences
teaching in the city familiarized me with the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project. I
was well-versed in modifying the curriculum to be appropriate for English Language Learners.
Like any new teacher, I was eager to begin teaching content to my new first grade students.
As I pulled students from their classrooms that first year, my current educational
philosophy began to take form. Many of the students with whom I worked needed more than just
reading and writing. Colleagues would ask, Could you please review Fundations? or Im not
sure why he hasnt made any progress in reading. Some students needed explicit vocabulary
instruction. Others needed speaking and listening practice. Mid-year, my head spun at the vast
amount of curriculum I wanted to cover with my students. How could I fit reading, writing, word
work, vocabulary, speaking and listening, and NYSESLAT prep all into forty minutes a day?
It was then that I decided to further grow professionally; I began my Masters degree at
St. Josephs College in Literacy and Cognition. After work, I would drive to the college, trying
to make sense of how literacy and language were connected, and how I could best teach them to
my students. In my Masters program, I learned further about the nuances of language and how
English Language Leaners acquired both language and literacy. I used this knowledge, in
addition to the numerous resources the district offered me, to put together a concrete plan for my
students.
By the end of my first year, I had a clear idea as to what content and skills needed to be
covered and how to go about it. I was very proud of my growth just within that first year. My

students had learned a lot, many of them testing up a level on their state assessments. It was with
confidence that I went into my second year teaching ESL in Deer Park.
My second year, with a clear plan ahead of me, I began my year truly focused on the
individual needs of my students. It occurred to me that any school has students with different
needs and abilities. This holds particularly true in our district, however; in my second year I had
students in two grade levels, with various language proficiency levels, speaking seven different
languages. Surely, a Beginner student who natively speaks Turkish had vastly different needs
than an Advanced student who natively speaks Bengali.
I used what I had learned in my first year to cover as many different language modality
and literacy skills for my students. What I needed now was a content or theme to unify them. My
students all learned different things and learned them at different paces. What brought them all
together? I began to think of my students as global citizens. These were children who spoke
more than one language, many coming from other countries, each with distinct customs they
practiced at home. I began to change my curriculum to include more multicultural content, so
that students felt connected to one another and to the world. It became increasingly important to
me to make my students aware of the world around them and to be tolerant of all people, no
matter the language they speak. Once again, I found myself beaming with pride at the end of that
year; my students had done so well.
As I entered my third year at May Moore, I now had a clear curriculum which included
language skills, a myriad of literacy skills, and multicultural content for my English Language
Learners. It was in my third year, however, that everything changed. Suddenly, ESL was no
more. Now, I taught ENL. The state mandated my curriculum to be integrated. This challenge
came at a perfect time in my career.
I felt confident in my own pedagogy; however, now that ELLs were to be serviced in an
integrated setting I would have to rely on the pedagogy of my colleagues more than I ever had.
In the past, I worked with colleagues often, discussing what students needed and how to achieve
it. Now, I would be in their classrooms, teaching alongside them with one goal in mind. I made a
true effort to get to know my co-teachers. I attended professional development regarding coteaching ELLs. My third year brought many new perspectives to my own philosophy. I learned
that educating a child is a collaborative effort; all teachers have something to bring to a childs

education. I was able to bring my ENL expertise, along with my multiculturalism to a classroom
whose teacher had expertise in other areas of literacy. It benefitted my students greatly and I feel
fortunate to have been able to experience co-teaching in such a meaningful way.
When I first began my career at Deer Park, I came in eager and willing to learn. Over the
course of the last three years, Ive done just that. When I started in 2013, my educational
philosophy was to take my students and teach them English. Three years later I have amazing
experiences, a Masters Degree, and the utmost confidence that I will continue to flourish in the
district. Those three years brought growing, changing, learning, and relearning and, with these,
has come a new, more meaningful mission for my students. My current philosophy dictates that
the purpose of educating English Language Learners is to prepare them, through a myriad of
curricula, to be hard-working and thoughtful individuals, ready to experience both scholastic and
work worlds with an authentic global awareness and dignified tolerance for all.