Day 1

So, today marks my first day back at LNGC. I worked in Communications at LNGC in 2010 and 2011, before returning to become the Adult Literacy Services Associate Instructor.

Today, I arrived to the classroom, and watched some of the videos of the lessons I will be teaching to our students. The ABRP classes will start in August and will be conducted twice a week for two hours each session. The classes will go on for 5 1/2 months, and we hope the majority of our students will graduate. I will be teaching the level 1 ABRP class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and I am projected to have around 21 students. While sitting and watching the ABRP videos, I was thinking about all the adults in our country and in the world who are illiterate or struggle with basic literacy skills. It amazes me that people can be passed through school when they obviously are not reading at grade level. I am very excited to start this pedagogical journey and learn from my students.

After watching some of the lessons and familiarizing myself with them I sat in on a tutoring session. The tutoring session was very eye-opening. The program coordinator of ABRP worked with a woman from Somalia on the alphabet. It is so eye-opening to realize that many people in our country do not even know simple things such as the alphabet, and how it is even more of a struggle for people from other countries to learn our English language. Having the opportunity to meet her and spend an hour of my day with her was so gratifying. We got to talk about her life, her job, her family, and her children. It's so great to interact with and learn about different kinds of people and to really get the interpersonal communication going on. I think if we all just tried to be a bit more empathetic, or tried to "walk in someone else's shoes" maybe the world would be a better place. It's just very wonderful knowing that just maybe what I am doing twice a week is and will impact someone else's life in a positive manner. I think this is an important aspect of life people forget about a lot of the time while trying to function, live, and just "make it" in our fast-paced society. I look forward to many more experiences and learning more not only about teaching, and my students, but also about myself.

"The true aim of every one who aspires to be a teacher should be, not to impart his own opinions, but to kindle minds." - F. W. Robertson