What do I Believe as a Teacher?
Earlier this semester I was asked to reflect on the experiences throughout my life that brought me to studying English Teaching at BYU, as well as some of my beliefs about being a teacher. I talked about the amazing teachers I had throughout middle and high school that taught me and loved me as an individual. They taught me English for sure, but they were models for the kind of teacher I wanted to be, long before I realized how much I truly love English. For me, even from elementary school, I wanted to be a teacher and I wanted to help students, way before I figured out I wanted to teach English. I wanted to "teach students, not English" as Professor Brown has drilled into me throughout my time in the major. Even though a love of teaching–and a love of teachers –came before the love of English, studying in this program has nurtured that passion as well. English is a subject that is naturally more student focused than other subjects. We are a...