When I was younger, I had the privilege of being surrounded by people who encouraged me to read and share what I have learned. First my parents, and then my teachers at school, who saw how much joy I got out of talking about both fiction and nonfiction. I wish to share this privilege with others, as helping others find the joy in reading and writing is an immensely fulfilling process.
当我长大了,我意识到这了爱of learning led to my being informed, and the pleasure of having my ideas and opinions challenged by what I read. I believe adolescence is the critical time in which we build life-long readers. While my passion for reading began with novels and aesthetics, as time progressed my focus expanded at Boston College while completing a bachelor's in English, to encompass the education methods behind reading and writing. My Master's dissertation in Comparative Literature led me to the works of some of the oldest education theorists, and I found comparison of their historical methods and our own modern techniques to be helpful in deciding how we present information to students. Similarly, the process of formulating an essay reinforces a set of problem-solving skills and everyday logic that makes decisions in daily life easier. Informally, I think of this as "learning how to learn": being invested in the stories we read is important, though communicating to students why those stories are important is even more critical.
I co-host a monthly bilingual book club with a friend from university. Together, we pick a selection of readings for which we then provide a background presentation. Following that, we lead discussions on the author, text, and literature theory behind it. This began as a passion project which I have since gained much experience from, in formulating a sort of lesson plan, pitching desired outcomes from the sessions, and encouraging participation from even the quietest members. Leaning heavily on my university research and personal reading, I draw upon this experience to communicate what are sometimes complex ideas. This practice of working with non-native English speakers has helped me to refine my teaching style and methods. I want to stress how satisfying this process is: I can think of no situation outside of a typical classroom in which one can unpack dense textbook theory and make it palatable for people of varying interests and reading skills. I feel that breaking down literary concepts in this manner is fulfilling to myself and likewise beneficial to others.
Prior to my Master's degree at King's College London, I worked in retail and gained formative teaching experience in the manner of leading on-the-job training sessions. I was known to have an approachable personality, and my understanding of the company's inventory and pricing software was regarded as among the best in the store. While I enjoyed technology-based solutions for daily tasks, nothing surpassed in effectiveness the ability to condense potentially complex information into digestible instructions, often in a handful of variations to account for different learning styles.