It is my Individual Student Profile. I present my philosophy of teaching.

1. Running head: INDIVIDUAL STUDENT PROFILE 1
Individual Student Profile
Kamil Veli
American College of Education
EBL5091 – Capstone Experience for ESL and Bilingual Education
Dr. Katrina Landa

2. INDIVIDUAL STUDENT PROFILE 2
I’m a foreign language teacher in California and working in the LAUSD school district. I
have completed my bachelor degree in teaching a foreign language. My first teaching experience
was in Poland. I worked for 3 years and then moved to the US. I thought I could go to some
other places to explore more different cultures, traditions and meet people who have a different
background than me. I’ve started to work in California about 8 years ago. I have taught middle
school kids and adults who are from different countries in California. When I moved to Los
Angeles, our school principal said that teacher certification policy is a long path which I needed
to work a lot, and it takes about four years to have a clear credential. By the way, California
Teaching Credentialing department is careful, and they want teachers to complete the procedure
step by step.
First of all, the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) gives you
temporary teaching credential, and you can only teach one year. Also, during that time you have
to pass CBEST (California Basic Educational Skills Test). It is about basic reading, writing, and
mathematics skills in the English language. And then I completed CLAD Through CTEL
program which is Cross-Cultural Language and Academic Development Certificate Program at
UC San Diego. And the third step was BTSA which is LAUSD supports teacher with “Beginning
Teacher Support and Assessment Program,” and it takes about 2 years. In the end, I was able to
take CSET (The California Subject Examinations for Teachers), and I got my clear credential. It
was long term study for me to survive myself and able to teach in California. It was difficult for
me to keep working and complete all these steps, but I should say that every course I had to take
was very beneficial for me and I learned a lot of information about diverse students and
strategies that I am using in my class right now.

3. INDIVIDUAL STUDENT PROFILE 3
Finally, after my clear credential, I was able to start to think about the master program in
education. I chose TESOL (Teaching English as an Other Language) and bilingual education
program because I’m a language instructor and my profession is teaching a foreign language.
Especially, in this country even you are not a language teacher, you should know methods and
strategies about teaching language because a lot of students are ELL (English language learners).
One of my goals is to bring more technology into my classroom to increase my students’
learning motivation. Every class has internet access and students’ email account that they can use
Chromebooks. So I can design my curriculum unit plans with all technology support and use
more activities to improve my student's skills. We know that collaborative classes are very
helpful to improve EL students’language proficiency. Thus, creating a curriculum that includes
technology let them enjoy learning, and when students enjoy it, they will be successful. Also, we
need to connect teaching goals and style to make our curriculum better by using technology.
Nowadays, teachers should find a way of filling technology into instruction to help ELLs acquire
a second language. Lacina (2004) states that using technology type of learning is more effective
and supporting our students, but also increases motivation and confidence. By using technology,
we try to facilitate the academic achievement of students.
My second goal is to make home visits and get to know my school environment and our
families. My goal is on making home visits for 30% of my students this year. Even the home
visit is unusual in this country, it is the way my school parents are feeling better, and they are
happy to see their child’s teachers take care of them. Most of the time our parents, mom, and dad
both work outside and come back home late, or they just come to school to pick up their kids
quickly and go back home. Some parents don’t even ask about school or homework at home. So
there is a huge miss communication between students, parents, and teachers. This effects to my

4. INDIVIDUAL STUDENT PROFILE 4
school/class environment, class management, showing respect, students’ work, etc. On the other
hand, we suppose to go home visit with one another colleague. It is a kind of mini professional
learning community (PLC). Thus, it’s going to be helpful for us to do team building. We bring
notes from the home visit to the grade group meeting that helps every teacher in their class and
give them ideas about students.
My final goal is improving myself about diverse learners to help more to our school EL
students. Thus, I want to use all methods and strategies which I have learned from the TESOL
program and effectively use them in my class. Also, I am helping my colleagues to get to know
our EL students and try to explain to them what they need from us. Immediately, I started to
think about this new school year what I can do for my kids, how I can communicate with my
parents and work on their kids together, what we can add new things on parent orientation, back
to school night or meeting by using all these researches which I have learned from my master
program. A career in education is a huge milestone in our life. As we try to improve students
skills, teachers should improve themselves every day. This improvement will affect our teaching
strategies and methods that will make changes in our classes too.

5. INDIVIDUAL STUDENT PROFILE 5
References
Lacina, J. (Winter 2004). Promoting language acquisitions: Technology and English language
learners. Childhood Education, 81(2), 113-115.