Grad's guide to graduate admissions essays - Colleen Reding 2015
Columbia university - Teachers college
General graduate studies
My Road to the Classroom
On the last day of eighth grade, a gangly and self-conscious girl clings desperately to her English teacher sobbing. That’s me. Fresh off the heels of our adventures in To Kill a Mockingbird and The Little Prince, I could not bear to leave the teacher whose passion for literature inspired my love of reading, discussing, and learning. His class was a safe place for ideas and questions to glide freely through the room. My sense of belonging in the English classroom only deepened when rigorous high school teachers sliced at my verbosity and expanded my vocabulary, and again in college when passionate professors listened to me warmly and guided ideological debates effortlessly. I managed to leave Mr. Goad’s side on that last day of middle school, but my fond memories of his teaching and the line of English teachers that succeeded him never faded. I now set my sights on an Initial Certification in the Teaching of English because I hope to inspire in students a lifelong love of reading, writing, and critical thinking as my beloved teachers did for me.
I explored this interest in education during college with volunteer work that revolved almost exclusively around tutoring low-income students in Washington, DC. With the DC Schools project, I was challenged to prepare engaging and creative Language Arts lessons for a struggling ESL eighth grader, where I used music, games, and humorous PowerPoint presentations as writing prompts. As an Operations Intern for Horton’s Kids, an educational nonprofit serving students from Anacostia, I provided individual homework help to students grades K—12. Working with such a wide range of ages, I discovered my preference for working with older students and particularly on writing projects. In all of my experience working with children, I felt excited and challenged by the task of communicating ideas and helping them succeed in their work. I gained direct classroom experience as the lead teacher for a second grade Sunday school class and again when I took an Elementary Education course at Georgetown, which allowed me to work as a fourth-grade teacher’s assistant at an urban public school one day per week. These challenging but valuable experiences taught me a great deal about classroom management and discipline. They also left me longing for the higher level thinking, writing, and critical discussion in high school and college classes.
After college, I took a detour on my path toward teaching to explore my passion for cooking. Weighing the option to attend culinary school, I worked at a chef-driven restaurant and bakery during its first year of operations and ultimately decided that my personality is not a good match with the highly stressful, pressurized life of a chef.
After researching several nearby education programs, Columbia’s Teachers College stands alone in programs to prepare superior English teachers. Firstly, the specificity of the coursework—from Teaching of Poetry to Teaching of Shakespeare—offers an opportunity to acquire unequaled expertise managing the unique arena of the English classroom. TC is also unique in offering courses in both pedagogy and literary content. I hope to be a teacher with a sophisticated understanding of literature because I believe it is crucial to help students get the most out of each book they read and inspire higher level thinking. I am excited to take a course or two, if possible, in the renowned English department at Columbia. The structure and support of the fieldwork program is also exciting. For a person like me with vast tutoring experience but less practice in high school classrooms, the easing from assistant teaching during Phase One into lead-teaching two full periods during Phase Two is highly appealing. Furthermore, I plan to live and work in the New York metro region, and I believe TC is by far the best school in the region to prepare educators with NY state credentials.
Looking back on my tutoring and volunteer experience, I realize that I possess many of the natural qualities needed to be a great English teacher. I have patience and compassion for everyone I work with, particularly in times when they struggle. I am an engaged and empathetic listener, and I enjoy listening to many different interpretations, opinions, and thoughts. I am naturally encouraging of students’ work. Mostly, I love great writing and the lively discussions it can inspire. I believe Columbia’s Teachers College is the best place to hone these natural skills and become the type of English teacher I respected and admired throughout my educational journey.
