Reflection 1 - Noelle Reardon

Reflection 1 My passion to educate students stems from being aware of what I have been blessed with and wanting to give back to those who have not been as blessed as I have been. I am a member of the Urban Educators Cohort Program (UECP). UECP main focuses is educating future teachers to teach in urban areas. In urban areas there are a large number of Hispanic students who will either speak English as second language or are English language learners. After learning more about the student population I realized how critical it is that I educate myself about issues that may arise or misconceptions I may have about my students. This is when I became interested in pursuing a minor in TESOL. I believe the classes that are directed toward my TESOL minor will better prepare me to be an effective educator for teaching a wide variety of language learners. Since research is available in regards to language learners I believe that it is my job to take full advantage in learning that information. The information that I learn will hopefully better able me to make learning a little less stressful for my learners. I think that a lack of knowledge about the background of my students plays a major role in what resources I provide my students with. A piece of information that I have learned in a previous class language learning class is how many times English language learners are looked at as having a learning disability because they may not communicate as clear or are slower to respond to questions that they are asked. If I did not learn this information I may disadvantage one of my students because of my lack of knowledge. If I assume that my students have a learning disability, I obviously am not going to provide them with the same resources as I would if I thought they were struggling due to a language barrier. We live in an unfair society and I would hate to disadvantage any of my students more than they already are for something they can’t control. Two summers ago I went to South Africa for a study abroad trip. During my time in South Africa I visited an all deaf school. Being deaf in South Africa is a huge disadvantage. Those who are deaf are viewed as not being intelligent. They are not given the same resources as the kids that are not hearing impaired. The only fighting chance they have in society is if they are born into a wealthy family. It is absolutely unbelievable to me that just because of a language barrier that an individual would be drastically disadvantage. It is hard to imagine living in a world where unfair treatment occurs every day and there is very little that is done about it. That is why I am going into education to hopefully help bridge the gap between language barriers.