English Educator Autobiography

         I would like to be an English teacher because I believe in the power of words. As cliché as it sounds, words have been very powerful in my development as an adult woman and I think it is one of the greatest tools used in our society, intentionally or unintentionally. I also see a lot of room for change in our society and have this undying belief that change starts with the youth. Thus, my goal is to use words in all of their glory to inspire our youth to change something about the way they think, their lives, somebody else’s, or even better, something about our society.

Sometimes the most powerful words are hidden and the most vulnerable people are robbed of ideas, histories, truths, and hope. This is very personal for me because I am a part of arguably the most vulnerable group in our society. Black, female, poor. I have been working to change that one aspect of my vulnerability that is changeable through education and building my self worth by learning about my past and myself through these hidden words and I hope to do the same for any young person that crosses my path.

I am not merely guessing that words are powerful; I’ve experienced it myself. At the end of my junior year at the University of Florida I decided to intern at a non-profit organization for “underprivileged” teenagers. The director gave me the freedom to do whatever I wanted with them, and so I introduced them to all the poetry and books written by minority women and men that had been influential to me up to that point. Their response was striking and this is where I discovered my interest in not only English but English education.

Like them, as a child I was also greatly touched by words. A series of regrettable circumstances led me to books, poems, and short stories by Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, Zora Neale Hurston, and Maya Angelou. For reasons I can feel more than I can articulate, those words meant so much to me and even more when I was reintroduced to Black writers while working on my undergraduate degree. There I fell in love with Richard Wright, Richard B. Nugent, Countee Cullen, and many more. My point is that these authors and pieces of literature have had a tremendous impact on how I see myself and the world, literature has led me to who I am, and that is powerful.

As for what role English education should play, I can’t say that I have a definitive answer. At this stage, I am not even completely sure what my classroom curriculum would look like. I am still learning.

However, I think English education should be meaningful. The name of the subject should change completely, because I think it is misleading. I like Language Arts so much better (or maybe Language Studies), because that’s some of what I think we should do, study and critique language. With language comes people, societies, ideas, conflicts, beliefs, culture, all of which should be analyzed and critiqued in the English classroom.

            I know that I want my class to be colorful and loud. And when the year is over, I want my students to be different than when they walked in. I want them to have a position about something, I want them to appreciate different cultures, I want them to love themselves, and I want them to be empowered. I don’t know how I’ll do that just yet, but I’m working on it.