What shapes me as a teacher?

There is a myriad of believes, ideas and values that define who I am as a teacher. To list all the nuances of who I am professionally, would be an arduous and likely banal task. Instead I have some core beliefs under which, all the sub-categories can be neatly catalogued. 

I think that the experience of being an immigrant and coming to this country from a completely different culture, and through primarily schooling, being inaugurated and transitioning into US culture was my first experience of understanding the impact of education on an individual. When I came to US, I barely spoken any English, and it was a great struggle for me to understand this new culture without being able to connect with it through language. I went to CPS and was enrolled into bilingual classes. I think it was during that time that I began to master the language, and ultimately master living in the new culture. As an educator, I always remind myself about the importance of literacy in the society. If I haven't been able to become literate in English, I would still struggle accessing the information that led me to self-efficacy and autonomy. In one way literacy for me equaled to independence. 

As an educator, I think that being a part of CPS and having a lot of experience living and working in urban settings have also shaped my educational choices. We are, after all, to a certain extent, a product of our environment. In the same vein of environment, I also come from a family that had a long line of working in the field of justice, education and politics. I think where I came from and the legacy of my family have also had an impact on me choosing to teach in an urban setting. I believe in the values of democracy, and adhere to Dewey's concept of democratic education. In college, I have followed works of such writers as Noam Chomsky, John Dewey, Freire and Kozol that have shaped my beliefs into what I thought should be the goals of public education. And while these are solely ideological and theoretical foundations, when they were coupled with experience of being a cultural minority, especially one with limited English proficiency, and going through an urban system, these ideals have only strengthened with time. 

As I've mentioned before as an educator, I believe in the goals of the public education, to provide high quality education to all students at no cost regardless of their race, economic status or class. I chose my program carefully because I believed that It matched my own goals, visions of public education and aspirations.