From the moment I decided to connect my life with teaching and education, I set a goal for myself to obtain the highest academic degree in this sphere – PhD in Education. In this part of the e-portfolio, I highlight the three important critical incidents that have shaped my identity as an educator and through which I have developed skills that have helped me reach my goal of becoming a research student in education. More specifically, if working as a teaching assistant for the American Councils for International Education has awakened my passion for education, and the actual teaching at Nazarbayev Intellectual School in Kazakhstan has given me the opportunity to develop professionally as a teacher of English, my postgraduate studies at Nazarbayev University Graduate School of Education have laid the ground for my research aspirations in the field of teacher education and professional learning.
FLEX TEACHING ASSISTANT
My immersion to the world of education began in the second year of my undergraduate studies when I was invited by the American Councils for International Education to conduct a pre-departure orientation programme for high school students from Kazakhstan going to the USA for an academic year as the finalists of Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX) Programme. Being a FLEX alumna myself, I felt very enthusiastic about sharing my experience with others as well as seeing this FLEX Teaching Assistant position as a great opportunity to enhance my teaching, teamwork, communication and presentation skills. During two weeks, I worked with three instructors from the USA and two other FLEX alumni helping ninety-six students from various regions of Kazakhstan become familiar with American culture and set up real expectations of their exchange year abroad.
My co-teacher and I conducted four-five workshops on cultural adaptation and development of leadership potential with the duration from forty-five minutes to two hours each on a daily basis during the two weeks of the programme. As a starting point and the main teaching resource, we used the FLEX pre-departure orientation handbook with the outline of all the sessions and topics to be covered. However, we had autonomy and ownership in terms of choosing the delivery methods and designing activities for every session. Having solid theoretical background in pedagogy and teaching methodology, I took initiative and offered the team to go beyond the traditional workshop delivery method using the PowerPoint presentations and instead prepare flipcharts with creative layouts and visual materials. Having experience of working as a part of a team, I made sure that all my colleagues were positive about my suggestion and no one’s voice was left unheard. In the end, the flipcharts happened to be a good strategic decision since it turned out later that not all the session rooms were equipped with the necessary technology to conduct a PowerPoint presentation. In order to divide the roles equally and based on the personal strengths of each team member, I volunteered to prepare the flipcharts myself since I am good at drawing and design as well. The students enjoyed having flipcharts hung all over the room, which allowed them to move around freely and have the learning resources in front of their eyes throughout the entire time of the programme helping them come back to the things learned in the previous sessions and reflect on their learning experience.
The FLEX TA experience has introduced me to teaching both small and large groups of students. By collaborating with the other team members, I have developed my listening, reflecting and communication skills. The intensive nature of the pre-departure orientation programme has given me the opportunity for prioritising my workload, being flexible and working under time constrains to have successful results. As I see it, the most important thing I gained from this experience is the continuous passion for teaching and education.
My immersion to the world of education began in the second year of my undergraduate studies when I was invited by the American Councils for International Education to conduct a pre-departure orientation programme for high school students from Kazakhstan going to the USA for an academic year as the finalists of Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX) Programme. Being a FLEX alumna myself, I felt very enthusiastic about sharing my experience with others as well as seeing this FLEX Teaching Assistant position as a great opportunity to enhance my teaching, teamwork, communication and presentation skills. During two weeks, I worked with three instructors from the USA and two other FLEX alumni helping ninety-six students from various regions of Kazakhstan become familiar with American culture and set up real expectations of their exchange year abroad.
My co-teacher and I conducted four-five workshops on cultural adaptation and development of leadership potential with the duration from forty-five minutes to two hours each on a daily basis during the two weeks of the programme. As a starting point and the main teaching resource, we used the FLEX pre-departure orientation handbook with the outline of all the sessions and topics to be covered. However, we had autonomy and ownership in terms of choosing the delivery methods and designing activities for every session. Having solid theoretical background in pedagogy and teaching methodology, I took initiative and offered the team to go beyond the traditional workshop delivery method using the PowerPoint presentations and instead prepare flipcharts with creative layouts and visual materials. Having experience of working as a part of a team, I made sure that all my colleagues were positive about my suggestion and no one’s voice was left unheard. In the end, the flipcharts happened to be a good strategic decision since it turned out later that not all the session rooms were equipped with the necessary technology to conduct a PowerPoint presentation. In order to divide the roles equally and based on the personal strengths of each team member, I volunteered to prepare the flipcharts myself since I am good at drawing and design as well. The students enjoyed having flipcharts hung all over the room, which allowed them to move around freely and have the learning resources in front of their eyes throughout the entire time of the programme helping them come back to the things learned in the previous sessions and reflect on their learning experience.
The FLEX TA experience has introduced me to teaching both small and large groups of students. By collaborating with the other team members, I have developed my listening, reflecting and communication skills. The intensive nature of the pre-departure orientation programme has given me the opportunity for prioritising my workload, being flexible and working under time constrains to have successful results. As I see it, the most important thing I gained from this experience is the continuous passion for teaching and education.
DEVELOPING IELTS PREPARATION COURSE PROGRAMME
Having obtained my undergraduate degree in Education with specialization in teaching English as a second language, I succeeded in going through a rigorous selection process and received my first full-time job position as a teacher of English for 9th, 11th and 12th grade students in one of the most prestigious schools in Kazakhstan, Nazarbayev Intellectual School of Physics and Mathematics (NIS), which was opened as a part of the educational reform in Kazakhstan with the mission to become a test-bed for innovation comprising the best national and international educational practices with learner-centred teaching approaches. Apart from teaching Academic English, I was also responsible for conducting IELTS preparation course for the senior students. My duties involved not only delivering the course material, but also structuring and designing the course programme, in terms of which I had a full autonomy.
Being new to the school, I used my excellent communication skills to approach the Head of the English Teachers Department in order to become familiar with the IELTS course aims and the expected outcomes. Having set the course aims, I prepared a detailed outline of the course focusing on the development of English language skills for academic purposes in four dimensions: reading, listening, writing and speaking. Reflecting on my own experience of preparing for the IELTS exam, I chose the learning resources with the focus on both classroom study and self-study. Due to the limited number of contact hours during the week, I had to cut off the number of topics to be covered in the course prioritising the quality of the learning material rather than its quantity. Through collaboration with other colleagues, I was able to receive in-depth constructive feedback on the course programme I have developed and by implementing this feedback I have improved the programme and made it relevant to meet the needs of the students.
While working on the IELTS course programme development, I have gained professional experience in course programme design, teaching methodology, student-centred active learning approaches and assessment techniques. On a personal level, by approaching my colleagues I have grown to be an excellent listener and collaborator as well as a reflective learner. As a result, by teaching with the course programme developed by myself, on average, my students passed the IELTS exam obtaining the overall band score of 6.0 and upper out of possible 9.0, with three students having achieved the overall band of 7.5 and having 8.5 and 9.0 in listening and reading sections of the test respectively.
Having obtained my undergraduate degree in Education with specialization in teaching English as a second language, I succeeded in going through a rigorous selection process and received my first full-time job position as a teacher of English for 9th, 11th and 12th grade students in one of the most prestigious schools in Kazakhstan, Nazarbayev Intellectual School of Physics and Mathematics (NIS), which was opened as a part of the educational reform in Kazakhstan with the mission to become a test-bed for innovation comprising the best national and international educational practices with learner-centred teaching approaches. Apart from teaching Academic English, I was also responsible for conducting IELTS preparation course for the senior students. My duties involved not only delivering the course material, but also structuring and designing the course programme, in terms of which I had a full autonomy.
Being new to the school, I used my excellent communication skills to approach the Head of the English Teachers Department in order to become familiar with the IELTS course aims and the expected outcomes. Having set the course aims, I prepared a detailed outline of the course focusing on the development of English language skills for academic purposes in four dimensions: reading, listening, writing and speaking. Reflecting on my own experience of preparing for the IELTS exam, I chose the learning resources with the focus on both classroom study and self-study. Due to the limited number of contact hours during the week, I had to cut off the number of topics to be covered in the course prioritising the quality of the learning material rather than its quantity. Through collaboration with other colleagues, I was able to receive in-depth constructive feedback on the course programme I have developed and by implementing this feedback I have improved the programme and made it relevant to meet the needs of the students.
While working on the IELTS course programme development, I have gained professional experience in course programme design, teaching methodology, student-centred active learning approaches and assessment techniques. On a personal level, by approaching my colleagues I have grown to be an excellent listener and collaborator as well as a reflective learner. As a result, by teaching with the course programme developed by myself, on average, my students passed the IELTS exam obtaining the overall band score of 6.0 and upper out of possible 9.0, with three students having achieved the overall band of 7.5 and having 8.5 and 9.0 in listening and reading sections of the test respectively.
WRITING A RESEARCH PROJECT ON TEACHER MENTORING
In my second year of teaching at school, I received a scholarship to study MSc in Educational Leadership course at Nazarbayev University Graduate School of Education (NUGSE). I decided not to take a break from teaching, but rather to combine it with studying in a blended learning environment, which helped me reflect on my professional experience as a teacher in the educational courses I was taking and put the theories I was learning in these courses into practice in the classroom with my students. My excellent time-management, planning, task-prioritisation and self-discipline skills served me well in this educational journey and helped me in the process of writing my dissertation, which focused on mentorship experience of beginning teachers and their mentors in secondary schools in Kazakhstan.
As a starting point, I have done a thorough literature search on the topic of mentoring in in-service teacher education, building on which I was able to choose the relevant theory and conceptual framework for my study. Being aware of the fact that teachers are overloaded with work during term time from my own experience as a teacher, I decided to plan and organize data collection for my dissertation in the winter break time, having made sure that it was convenient for every participant of the study. Using my excellent communication and interpersonal skills, I was able to find individual approach to each teacher in my study group and collect rich data about their mentoring experiences, which helped me analyse the advantages and disadvantages of the existing mentoring practices. Furthermore, I was able to draw upon the components and activities of successful mentoring practices as well as create recommendations for the improvement of mentorship experiences of both beginning teachers and mentors in Kazakhstani secondary schools, which demonstrated my highly developed analytical and critical thinking skills.
By working on my research project I have deepened my knowledge in the area of mentoring as well as enhanced my expertise in the field of teacher education overall. Throughout my studies, I managed to combine teaching full-time at an innovative school as well as maintain high academic results (straight As) and graduate with honours among the top 5 percent of students in my cohort. My research project and my studies at NUGSE have laid ground for my research interests and were a stepping stone in my decision to pursue a doctoral degree in Education, specializing in teacher professional learning and development.
In my second year of teaching at school, I received a scholarship to study MSc in Educational Leadership course at Nazarbayev University Graduate School of Education (NUGSE). I decided not to take a break from teaching, but rather to combine it with studying in a blended learning environment, which helped me reflect on my professional experience as a teacher in the educational courses I was taking and put the theories I was learning in these courses into practice in the classroom with my students. My excellent time-management, planning, task-prioritisation and self-discipline skills served me well in this educational journey and helped me in the process of writing my dissertation, which focused on mentorship experience of beginning teachers and their mentors in secondary schools in Kazakhstan.
As a starting point, I have done a thorough literature search on the topic of mentoring in in-service teacher education, building on which I was able to choose the relevant theory and conceptual framework for my study. Being aware of the fact that teachers are overloaded with work during term time from my own experience as a teacher, I decided to plan and organize data collection for my dissertation in the winter break time, having made sure that it was convenient for every participant of the study. Using my excellent communication and interpersonal skills, I was able to find individual approach to each teacher in my study group and collect rich data about their mentoring experiences, which helped me analyse the advantages and disadvantages of the existing mentoring practices. Furthermore, I was able to draw upon the components and activities of successful mentoring practices as well as create recommendations for the improvement of mentorship experiences of both beginning teachers and mentors in Kazakhstani secondary schools, which demonstrated my highly developed analytical and critical thinking skills.
By working on my research project I have deepened my knowledge in the area of mentoring as well as enhanced my expertise in the field of teacher education overall. Throughout my studies, I managed to combine teaching full-time at an innovative school as well as maintain high academic results (straight As) and graduate with honours among the top 5 percent of students in my cohort. My research project and my studies at NUGSE have laid ground for my research interests and were a stepping stone in my decision to pursue a doctoral degree in Education, specializing in teacher professional learning and development.