What It Means to Be an English Teacher Today

Originally, I wanted to be an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher. I found that my personal experience of learning English later in life, and with a first language already established, was one that would connect with a lot of students. Being that UCD didn’t offer ESL as a major, I decided that ELA would be the next best thing. As it turns out, 85% of my students are English Language Learners (ELLs) so as an ELA teacher, my personal experience with ESL became extremely useful.

With a growing population of ELLs in the country, I think being an English teacher is going to increasingly mean incorporating diverse language needs for our students. An appreciation for second or third (or fourth, etc.) language learners has become and will continue to be critical.

On another note, it’s important to note that with the onslaught of AI, English classes are going to change. I foresee it being less about one's ability to write an essay and more about one’s ability to think critically, to analyze text, and provide poignant reasoning. We, as English teachers, are going to have to find different ways to assess that level of thinking than an at-home essay (although I do think it’s important for students to be able to write essays still).

Being an English teacher today means appreciating that not everyone is speaking English at home, not everyone learned English as their first language, and yet everyone can benefit from the intentional scaffolds put in place for language learners. We have to create incentives for all of our students to push their thinking and communicate their brilliance... without relying on ChatGPT. It won't be easy, but it will be necessary.