As charming as teaching appealed to me as a child, it has deemed a challenging and enduring career.

Teaching encompasses a collage of ideas, theories, practices and views that can be perplexing to the best of them. Through my studies with the University of New England (UNE), I have rekindled the spirit of being a student. My studies, though burdensome, have been well worth the effort and turmoil experienced by myself, family and friends as my performance has improved immensely. I have become more reflective in all walks of life, I realize now that each of us teach and learn in different ways that can all be right. By discovering how I learn best and what motivate me as a student, I can think introspectively about the teacher-student and teacher-teacher relationships with a more informed view. Anderman and Anderman (2010) remind us that A student is intrinsically motivated to engage in an academic task when the student truly wants to learn about something and engages in a task for its own sake. Students who are intrinsically motivated engage in tasks voluntarily and are learning simply for the sake of learning (p.3). Recognizing my own (as well as others) strengths, weaknesses, limits and abilities have encouraged me to building relationships beyond books inside and outside the classroom. I respect our differences more now that I have studied Howard Gardners Multiple Intelligence Theory and Carol Ann Tomlinsons advice on How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed-Ability Classrooms. I respect colleagues that utilize different learning theories and instructional avenues even though I may not always agree. As an ESL teacher it is my responsibility to enhance the classroom experience for my students by aligning support through Sheltered Instruction Observational Protocol (SIOP) a research-based and validated instructional model that offers scaffolding for content language. In order to meet this expectation, I must be able to work cooperatively with content area teachers to find creative ways to communicate with sensitivity and compassion while asking them to

consider additional options for instructional delivery. This is no easy task. The courses completed over the last eighteen months have given me a pool of which I can pick to help others individualize instruction, scaffold lessons and respectfully deliver content without offense to culture. We must collaborate in order to devise lessons that improve comprehension in whatever we teach. This can happen when we know our students. We must use data to drive instruction and share the burden of a fair and equal education. Sharing with a community of learning professionals can only improve the overall school climate and experience. DuFour, DuFour and Eaker (2008, p.148) attest, The literature on organizational effectiveness typically refers to this concept as values, but we believe the term collective commitments is a more accurate description of what transpires in effective schools and districts. People make a conscious and deliberate effort to identify the specific ways they will act to improve their organizations, and then they commit to one another to act accordingly. We must seek ways to grow together with the social and technological changes prevalent in 21st century society in order to endorse the future of our nation and I have done just that. Teaching ignites my fire. It always has. I love the satisfaction of watching a child get it. After 15 years of teaching how to get it, it was time to challenge myself and see if I could get it. I pondered the masters for a long time. Can I do it? Will online learning be too stressful? Am I too old? Do I have to takes tests again? Now I am at the end of my journey and I did it. It was an enlightening experience. It was uplifting to realize that in spite of my age, I can still get it. Ultimately, technology remains to be the one vital improvement in my

experience with UNE. This old lady can Wiki, Glogster, Prezi, Smilebox, PowerPoint, Blog, Weebly and much more thanks to all the teachers and colleagues that guided me along the way. I will take with me an attitude of gratitude for this experience and remember that being a student isnt always as easy as it may appear to some.

References

Anderman, E. M., & Anderman, L. H. (2010). Classroom motivation. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson.

DuFour, R., DuFour, R, & Eaker, R. (2008). Revisiting professional learning communities at work: new insights for improving schools. Bloomington: Solution Tree.

Tomlinson, C. A., & Tomlinson, C. A. (2005). How to differentiate instruction in mixedability classrooms (2. ed.). Alexandria: Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development