Literacy Leadership

        My undergraduate major is Business English. Before coming to Penn, my courses were mainly finance-related, and English was considered a supplementary learning tool. There were very few courses involving literature and linguistics. During my sophomore year, I realized that I preferred working as an educator to pursuing a career in the finance industry. As a result, I began to make up for my lack of knowledge with internships in the education field. I've had a couple of tutoring experiences, and the fulfillment of preparing my own lessons and delivering knowledge to my students fascinates me. I know this is exactly what I’m looking for. Therefore, I have set my future career goal as a secondary school teacher. With this goal in mind, I began to prepare for applying to graduate school in education and hoped that what I would learn would make up for the gaps in my undergraduate program. Luckily, I was admitted to Penn GSE.

        During my first semester, I was not willing to speak in class for fear that people would not be able to understand me. However, as I talked more and more with my classmates, I became more confident. I enjoyed the funny stories my classmates shared about their daily teaching, and the discussions on how to solve the problems they encountered. Sometimes, I even dared to jump out and lead the group discussion when everyone was silent. This is a stark contrast to the old me who used to avoid my teacher's eyes. I am very shocked that I was able to make such a transformation. After two semesters of study at GSE, I feel that my knowledge of literacy has increased tremendously. I was able to design lesson plans in a more systematic way, and I had more classroom activities in my toolbox. I have also been exposed to a variety of online platforms that enrich the classroom and allow students to have fun while learning. Compared to the education I used to receive in China, the teachers at RWL gave me more freedom to explore. I am very grateful for this valuable learning opportunity.

        My perception of literacy has also changed. When I first started learning here, I thought literacy was just a tool for people to communicate with each other. However, after several excellent courses, I realized that literacy shapes a person's view of the world, allowing us to explore the world and discover what kind of person we want to be in the process of reading and writing. Literacy is also flexible and changing with the times. In addition to traditional paper-based reading and writing, digital literacy can help young people explore the world. As educators, we should continue to find ways to help students improve their literacy skills and not be limited by traditional teaching rules.