Introduction

Welcome to my English Teaching Portfolio! This portfolio is an overview of my education and career plans.

Since elementary school I have loved to read! When I started high school I took additional literature and research classes and fell in love with writing. I know I have a knack for writing and putting my own spin on things, but I want to do more than write book after book and just hope that I'm influencing someone's life. I saw firsthand how influential a great teacher can be and I want to become a teacher like that.

Boise State’s English Department offers five emphases: English Teaching, Linguistics, Literature, Technical Communication, and Writing. I think English Teaching incorporates all of the other emphases to some degree. Obviously English Teaching is more closely related to the Literature and Writing Emphases because the majority of English classes are made up of reading and writing. I think Technical Writing is used to a point in an English classroom. The instructions for a paper or a test are more Technical than Creative. The syntactic part of Linguistics is used quite a bit in high school English but it goes unnoticed because it is almost second nature to native English speakers.

I hope that by the end of my degree I’ll be on the path to a fun, creative and respected high school English teacher. I think I have some skills that will help me to obtain a job. I’m a great team player and I’m very good at communication (both oral and written). I think I am really good at organizing and multitasking and I reason fairly well. As of now my use of a second language is poor but I am planning on taking a foreign language course before I graduate. I think I am fairly well rounded now and my skills can only improve between now and graduation. I’m confident that I’ll be a capable and successful teacher.