My Teacher Certification Program Journey

A Final Reflection

I began finding my passion for teaching when an opportunity opened for me. It was when I graduated from a vocational school after my college.

When I came to Shanghai, I faced a significant shift in my career, from teaching adults to teaching Early Childhood and Pre-Ks of different races and cultures. It was a remarkable two-year experience. But as I always say, educators teach with passion. Bones to bones, flesh to flesh! You give everything you have. It's when I knew I had a calling for teaching.

I continued to explore my path in teaching and keep telling myself that someday I will have a certificate and eligibility that I can be prouder of myself.

It was not easy to start. It took me two years to finally enroll in a certification program. I am beyond grateful that I made the right decision. I learned tremendously from the program, the instructors we had from day one till our last day of the course, from all the cohort peers that served as inspirations to all of us throughout the course. We have been taught to take our perseverance to another level and push ourselves harder to meet requirements. During the first three months, I remember telling a colleague to endure more that this is not permanent.

Every module in the certification program helps refine the candidate's craft. It prepares you to acquire knowledge and gives you the experience of what you will become when you are on your own collaborating with your colleagues and in a professional learning network. I have witnessed nothing but excellent educators and different teaching strategies and techniques.

The clinical practice made a significant impact on my teaching pedagogy. I am grateful for the experience.

I have gained enormous knowledge and applications, including lesson planning. I want to refine my skills in continually scaffolding topics, inclusive classrooms, differentiating lessons and activities, providing accommodations to my students, providing assessments, and my self-teaching assessment.

I have improved as an educator. I am more confident now, and I know when to redirect students should there be interruptions during the lesson. I am genuinely grateful that I have taken this course. As our instructor mentioned in her email - we see that blinding light at the end of the tunnel. I feel such joy that I have accomplished something I wanted and the dream I have chased my entire life.