Wow - hard to believe I haven't posted since the end of the spring semester back in May. I will try and give some brief updates with what I have been up to since then. I shall start with the summer.
During summer break, I worked as a Spanish tutor for the student-athletes at ISU, as well as working as an ESL tutor for adults at Heartland Community College. A smaller job that I developed an interest in was being a Research Assistant for one of my professors at ISU. She is conducting a study about Korean learners of English, and I helped my professor conduct the experiments on the U of I campus. This job proved to be valuable because I am interested in pursuing a graduate degree, and any research experience will help on my applications! Luckily this job also focuses on the area I am interested in - applied linguistics. These jobs were such a fun opportunity, and a great way to get my foot in the door for future networking. It was a nice preview to what I may be dealing with as a future educator :). I loved every minute of it!
With my ESL job, I worked with adults who have immigrated from all over the world, such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guatemala, Mexico, Egypt, Pakistan, India, among others. I loved learning about all of my students' backgrounds, cultures, languages, and lifestyles while being able to help them learn English. At the end of the summer term, we had a good-bye party for all of the ESL classes and the theme was "We Are Family". Our class focused on wedding customs, which was interesting to hear about the traditions from a variety of cultures and how that compares to typical American customs. I learn just as much (if not more) from my students than what I teach to them, which is one of the main reasons why my passion is to become an educator.
Working with the student-athletes was also an interesting experience. This was the first time that I have actually "professionally" tutored students in Spanish. I mostly worked with the football players since they were on campus prepping for the upcoming season. It was challenging at times, trying to find different ways to teach the material to the students - as we know, every student learns differently! It is all about adapting the material to the students' needs to help them learn and retain the information. At the conclusion of the summer term, I was asked to return to tutor for the fall semester, which I was ecstatic about! I was looking forward to continuing to work with the student-athletes on campus.
Aside from working three jobs this summer, I relaxed with my family and friends. One of my best friends recently moved to Colorado, and I had the opportunity to visit her in July. I had such a blast! We went hiking and sight-seeing together, although my body was not used to running in such a high altitude! I also went to the Illinois State Fair with some of my best friends, which was a great way to end the summer break.
While working with my professor this summer, we had the opportunity to apply for an Undergraduate Research Fellowship scholarship. We created a proposal which consisted of making our own research design and implementations to follow through with it. We were awarded the fellowship, and I would start my research project at the beginning of the fall semester! Our research study deals with teacher candidates and their perceptions of ESL writing.
By the end of summer, I was looking forward to getting back to school in Normal. Little did I know that this fall semester would be the most difficult yet rewarding thus far of my collegiate career. On top of managing 15 credit hours of classes, I was tutoring the student-athletes 4 hours a week and investing 5-10 hours a week on my research project. However, it is all about time management - and it paid off! I think I was able to maintain my responsibilities as a student while still creating the time to hang out with my friends and family - maybe a little too much party, but that never hurt anyone, right?
This semester was so fun - I was back to living in the house with my two roommates, and we had a blast together. There were definitely some nights where we de-stressed with a few glasses of wine. The course load of this semester was overwhelming at times - many of my classes required service/activity hours on top of teaching/clinical hours to meet our major requirements. This included going to the local Boys & Girls club to teach Spanish once a week, volunteering extra days each week, and going to a local high school to help in the ESL classroom. Each experience was rewarding, and helped me to become a more well-rounded educator. I grew in my strengths and weaknesses, as well as discovered more qualities to improve upon. My classmates and I were stressed out each week, which resorted to us going to the local Mexican restaurant to enjoy half-price margaritas almost every Thursday.
Aside from all of the classroom commitments, I kept my position as the Public Relations/Webmaster coordinator for ISU's Spanish Honor Society. This semester, we participated in a variety of service activities. We helped create a día de los muertos event at the local children's museum, which proved to be a grand success. We also had the opportunity to visit the local children's hospital and pass out teddy bears to the patients. This was a very sad yet humbling experience, and it was so fun being able to interact with the patients and their families before the holidays.
One of my favorite personal events that occurred throughout the semester was attending my cousin's wedding in Aurora in November. I had a great time hanging out with all of my family and sharing the happiness and love that will continue to grow in the years to come for Mikey and Lyndi! Another more hilarious experience was being nominated for ISU's Homecoming Royalty. I guess it was a pretty big deal because I made it to the interview round, and only 24 people out of over 250 applicants received an interview. For a second, I was convinced that I may actually become royalty. Until I royally messed up the interview! As soon as I walked into that room, I just knew that royalty was not my cup of tea. The other candidates were too good at sucking up and telling the interviewers what they wanted to hear - I guess I was just a little too "real" for their liking. Haha! It was a great experience though, and I came out with a lot of laughs and a couple new friends.
I also applied to become a Fulbright Scholar as an English Teaching Assistant in South Korea in 2014-2015. This proved to be the most grueling process I have ever endured, but it was worth it. Most of you know that I push myself to my limits, and beyond. This program is quite prestigious, which is why it was so attractive to me. I went through five different applications, and rewrote essay after essay. At times it felt a lot like the Homecoming process - am I writing these essays merely to impress the judges, or am I really writing them because I like them? I realized that I shouldn't just write things simply because I think that is what the judges are looking for - so I started from scratch after my Fulbright interview and went with my gut. Here's to hoping it works out! I will find out at the end of January.
After Thanksgiving break, it was really time to buckle down and get to work on those final projects, papers, and final exams. I only had two final exams, but had to complete three final projects and write two final papers. My most difficult and time-consuming project consisted of writing 45 lesson plans and include supporting materials, along with a reflection paper. This was a draining process, but hoping it will come in handy when I am student teaching at Morton High School next semester!
The semester ended and I was happy with the grades I earned. I can finally relax for a month until I return to ISU on January 13th. I am still pursuing my research project with my professor, and we have gathered data and plan to gather even more throughout next semester and start the analyzing process. I will be student teaching at Morton High School, teaching Spanish I and Spanish II. I begin on February 17th, but plan to be helping out in the classroom before then and familiarizing myself with the environment ant students. My Cooperating Teacher seems very fun and outgoing, and is especially helpful and comforting about guiding me through this process. Even though I thought this semester was long and difficult, I am sure my student teaching experience will have its moments of trials and tribulations. Overall, it is a learning experience and I am looking forward to analyzing my strengths and weaknesses, implementing innovative activities, and putting my training to practice! I am SO ready to student teach and graduate!!!
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