My interest in teaching

Both my parents were musicians who taught for a living. I always wanted to be a writer, and I thought it might be a good idea to teach writing for a living. It started with tutoring at the Writing Center while I was in undergrad. After college, I worked for a literacy program in Milpitas. I just answered phones, but the organization was focused on bringing adult learners up to an 8th grade reading proficiency.

Then I went to grad school and for four years got to work as a GTA, teaching two classes per semester. Often it was Freshman Comp, but I also got to teach creative writing, poetry workshops and American Lit. It turned out I loved teaching.

There were things about teaching I didn't love. I'm introverted and even shy, so having the confidence to stand in front of 30 students for an hour or two was pretty unnerving at first, and I'm always exhausted after teaching. But I also enjoy it. I love the students and seeing them grow, I love the feeling when a lesson goes well, and I even rather like grading.

After grad school, I was an instructional assistant for a few years at American River College in Sacramento. I tutored and developed curriculum for their Writing Lab AND Reading Lab. This is where I first learned that there was such a thing as "reading departments" and "writing departments." It seemed silly. My students needed each for success as students.

Now I teach writing (basic skills and developmental mostly) as an adjunct at San Jose City College and there's an even bigger disconnect between Writing and Reading at this community college--they even hold separate department meetings, so Reading teachers and Writing teachers are rarely in the same room discussing the discipline of ENGLISH together. My students often comment that they're doing similar work in their Reading and Writing classes and ask my why they're listed separately at all. I have no good answer.

So that's how I came to teaching, and how I specifically came to loathe the idea of separated reading and writing curricula. My hope is that learning more about IRW and getting these two certificates will help me work toward their integration at my own college or move into a department that has already merged the two. It's better for teachers and students alike.