Professional Introduction

     My name is Joel Bouwers, and I received a Master of Science in Education in Curriculum and Instruction (M.S.E. Curriculum & Instruction) with a program emphasis in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) from the University of Kansas (KU).  Previously I received a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Cinema from the University of Iowa (UI), which included a minor in Spanish.  My desire for a career change began with a decision my wife and I made to volunteer internationally with our church for 1 year.  During our year volunteering, we traveled to six “strategic impact areas” of the Reformed Church in America’s (RCA) Global Mission Office to tell stories of lives transformed through RCA-supported ministries in those countries. We did this by producing videos and writing content highlighting stories about people whose lives have been impacted by a ministry. These rich, diverse experiences, along with self-reflection, helped me see that pursuing advanced studies in English language learning (ELL) instruction would allow me to provide my best to those learning English in my community, and to help them succeed.

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     I started the KU Master’s program in the fall of 2018, and received my Graduate Certificate in TESOL in the summer of 2019.  In 2018, I was hired as an ELL instructor at Kirkwood Community College in Iowa City, Iowa, and taught two classes with pre-literate and low beginning adult learners.  I also taught adult English learners (ELs) online as an ELL instructor with Education First, an international education company.  In the fall of 2019, my wife and I moved to Des Moines, Iowa with our new baby, and I began to teach a high beginning adult ELL class at the Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) as an ELL adjunct instructor.  After two 8 week sessions, the COVID-19 pandemic required all classes to be taught online over the course of one year.  In the fall of 2021, classes returned face-to-face with precautionary measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

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     During this time, I was also teaching part-time with a local social services non-profit, Lutheran Services in Iowa (LSI).  In early 2020, I began to teach a digital literacy class through the Career Pathways program at LSI, but the classes were postponed indefinitely when the COVID-19 pandemic was declared a national emergency.  The digital literacy classes resumed in the fall of 2020, but failed to continue due to lack of student recruitment.  In the spring of 2021, I began to teach two adult ELL classes online with LSI, a high beginning and a low intermediate class.  I also taught a class at a local manufacturing plant for Andersen Windows & Doors.  The class was for adult ELs, and reviewed the orientation materials of the company.  Essentially, I was doing the job of Human Resources with employees who already had five to ten years of job experience.  After two 10 week sessions, the company was not able to recruit more employees for the class, and it was postponed indefinitely.

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     In early 2022, I started full-time with LSI as a lead ELL teacher and data manager for assessments through the Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment System (CASAS).  During this time, LSI became a refugee resettlement agency to help with the large influx of Afghans.  Several of these clients are still students in our ELL classes today.  I taught several different classes during this time, including pre-literate, low beginning and high beginning classes.  In the fall of 2022, LSI began to contract classes with DMACC due to LSI’s proximity to immigrant and refugee populations, as well as a need to support pre-literate and low beginning levels.  Eventually, as a result of budget concerns, I voluntarily decreased my time and started to teach only one contracted low beginning class through DMACC in the spring of 2023.  I also started the second and final year of the KU Master’s program.  Since then, I have managed LSI's citizenship program which is funded by a grant through the U.S. Citizenship and Immigrant Services (USCIS) office, and I am still in this role today.

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     In my original personal statement to be considered for the KU program, I wrote, “I have greatly enjoyed my experience with English-language learners so far, and recognize that I will have even more to offer in those settings if I learn and develop my skills and abilities in teaching English” (Bouwers, 2018, p. 1).  Now at the end of the program, I have seen the ways my newly developed skills and abilities have benefited my students, even in the midst of programs, organizations, and institutions that are increasingly defunded and receive hostility from members of the public.  I still believe the most impactful course in this program was the Curriculum & Instruction (C&T) 807 course titled “Multicultural Education”.  An in depth critical reflection of my own identity as a white, cisgender, U.S.-born, male has helped inform my career, if not my life.  I have been blessed to work with former refugees, to listen and learn from their experiences, and to advocate for them.

     Two ideas inform my goals moving forward: responsibility and honesty.  Regarding responsibility, I am reminded of a quote from an NBA basketball player, Kyle Korver.  He wrote about the role those who have inherited privilege should take in society in the United States in light of class and race: “As white people, are we guilty of the sins of our forefathers? No, I don’t think so. But are we responsible for them? Yes, I believe we are" (Mather, 2019).  Lastly, honesty about myself and others is key in truly seeing and connecting with my learners.  As one white teacher candidate explained after considering her changing racialized identity, “moving forward from here I am learning not to push my identity away like I have been doing before but to disentangle and unveil the complexity of my identity in order to work as a critical and self-reflexive teacher" (Matias & Grosland, 2016).  In my teaching, the ideas of responsibility and honesty are an ongoing goal of mine, and are also evident through my attention to culture, race, and the use of English in the United States (e.g. language autobiography activities, student interviews, and personal research).

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Reference list:

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Bouwers, J. (2018). Personal Statement. [Unpublished manuscript]. The University of Kansas.

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Mather, V. (2019, April 9). Kyle Korver, a White Utah Jazz Player, Speaks Out on Race and White Privilege. The New York Times. 

     https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/09/sports/kyle-korver-white-privilege.html

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Matias, C. E., & Grosland, T. J. (2016). Digital storytelling as racial justice: Digital hopes for deconstructing whiteness in teacher education. 

     Journal of Teacher Education, 67(2), 152-164.