Shifting Winds:

A Narrative Inquiry into the Transition from Social Studies to TESL

Jordan Northcott

The Pennsylvania State University

 Shifting Winds 1

If you would have told me 4 years ago that I would move from the field of Social Studies,

one that I have adored for years, into the unknown territory of Teaching English as a Second

Language (TESL) I would have not believed you. After I left Europe in high school, I

immediately began thinking about how could go back, this was my first fore way into TESL, and

it would be 5 more years before I encountered anything related to teaching English. During my

first semester of student teaching, I was allowed to sit in on my high school’s ESL classes,

observing all three of the ESL teachers. That is when any actual idea of how English was taught,

and what an ESL classroom looked like formed in my head. It was like seeing a new world, at

that moment, I finally saw English as a language.

During this paper, I will take data from my year of student teaching and my first year in a

MA TESL program. I intend to see how my thoughts about teaching English and teaching, in

general, have changed over the last two years. Using reflections from APLNG 493 (Teaching

English as a Second Language), my final project from APLNG 412 (Teaching Second Language

Writing), a transcription from an interview (post-APLNG 493) and multiple documents from my

undergraduate degree. I will try and rebuild my personal growth as an inexperienced teacher, and

a complete novice in the field of TESL through these written samples. From my collected work, I

have been able to see a growth in pedagogical understandings and reasoning behind certain

personal teaching practices. As well as a change in my orientation to the classroom, students, and

a shift in my instructional stance.

To begin, however, my personal education history needs to be known as I am cataloguing

my changes in the transition from the field of Social Studies into TESL. My interest in teaching

began when I was very young,

“…I wanted to be an art teacher. As I grew, and my art

skills did not improve, I realized I would need to find
another passion. I flitted around, from the idea of
 Shifting Winds 2

marine biology to graphic design. However, a consistent

friend was my love of History and teaching people. Then
getting a degree in Secondary Education Social Studies
felt like a natural fit, it felt right.”
(“Return” Admissions Letter, 30/03/22)

Like most children, I could never settle on just one thing, there was so much I wanted to be. But

along the way, there was always something fun and exciting about history and the idea of

teaching it was born out of selfishness. If I taught history, then I was getting paid to talk to

people about my special interest all day, every day, it was like a dream.

However, before settling on History, I was not even focused on what degree I would get

in university but on how I could go to Europe. I left at the end of my second year in high school,

and mourned the loss of my life there, wanting desperately to go back. At the time YouTube

videos kept popping up about jobs overseas teaching English as a foreign language. It was

always advertised as “no language other than English needed, see the world!” and I, a naive

teenager, was intrigued. It never occurred to me I could be paid to teach English, really, I never

saw my native tongue as a language. It was simply something I was “born” with. But any dream

of teaching English would have to be put on hold until I got a bachelor’s degree, it was required

for any of the jobs listed. Then by my final year of high school, I had decided on Social Studies

Secondary Education. If I was only using my degree as a means to an end, I might as well pick

one that was useful, and I would enjoy.

It also helped that I kept thinking back to my own experiences with teachers, the

incredible ones that made the subject seem so exciting. They also influenced the way I taught,

often with novice teachers, relying on imitation to succeed, and I did the same. It would not be

until my student teaching experience (my final year of university), did I start to move away from

mentally imitating my prior teachers. In a rationale statement, I wrote for my History Education

course, we were meant to discuss the importance of Social Studies and why it mattered:
 Shifting Winds 3

“[History] is the class students will have repeated year

after year, and it is where teachers will expect students
to memorize dates, major events, and people long since
dead. Here, unless students are independently
interested, do the “well I don’t really like history
class” comments lie. Ironically a class that talks of
the dead, is also where students interest dies. Because
the ways teachers have taught this subject over the years
has been methodical in approach, giving out dates and
timelines. While expecting proper and correct recitation
of events by the end of the semester. Or, if the class
varies some, then a paper will be given that asks for a
new perspective on an important period in time. The thing
lost along the way is the true importance history has in
a student’s educational curriculum. How it interconnects
with the other parts of social studies; you cannot talk
about one without bringing up the other. There will
always be a discussion of economics in a U.S. History
class. Like there will always be geography in Ancient
Civilizations…”
(Rationale Statement, 14/09/2021)

But at that moment, those were empty words, I still enjoyed long lectures and was not sure how a

history test could be more than recalling dates and important events. However, my mentor

teacher was not fond of long lectures, but instead group work and articles. She liked giving tests

every Friday, using material from that week, and having students apply their knowledge in new

ways. Not just reordering events and selecting the correct list of what happened during the

French Revolution (for example). This meant that all I had seen before would not work in her

classroom, I needed to try something different. But once again, I relied on imitation, starting to

move away from long lectures and focus more on student-centered activities (like what my

mentor did). This would be the first shift in my instructional stance.

During the spring of my student teaching, I was allowed primary control of the World

History course my mentor taught. It was every day, for three periods in a row and contained

third-year high school students. I developed a total of 8 units, ranging from “Why We Study

History” to “The Silk Road”. Although I was still imitating my mentor, I managed to slip in long
 Shifting Winds 4

PowerPoints broken up throughout a unit. Still grasping what I had seen in my schooling. The

longest my lectures would go was for 30 minutes, about half of the class time. I would get

remarks from my mentor and supervising teacher educator to lessen my “talk time” and allow for

the students to work together more. But I felt pressured, since there was so much, I wanted to

cover and saw as important aspects of each unit. Even my personal lecture notes were extensive,

the longest set I wrote was 12 pages. This excerpt below is from one of those long-prepared

notes, this one is from the Middle Ages unit:

Rome has fallen/

Revert/
Characteristics of the Early Middle Ages

The Middle Ages began in the 6th century after the

fall of the Roman Empire in 476 CE. After the empire
fell apart, there was no longer a centralized government
which meant simple things like the disruption of trade,
a decline in learning, loss of common language and a
general lack of progress everything slowed down. People
had moved to the country and started living in smaller
more rural areas. Which meant that they needed to focus
first on their basic necessities before they can make
progress in another way. Another thing about this period
is the appearance of Christianity as the prominent
religion in Europe. This opening part of the Middle Ages
is often referred to as the Dark Ages, this all relates
to the decline in certain advancements…
(“Lesson Notes” April 27, 2022)

I channeled my anxiety and push for instructional control into my notes and planning. The set of

notes this quote was pulled from detailed events, figures, and literature from the start of the

Middle Ages until the end. All the notes I would write were done like a speech, so that I could if

needed, glance at them directly during the lecture and not mess up my spoken flow. My thought

was if everything was over-planned, then I would be ready for any unexpected questions. I knew

I could not predict what the students might ask, but I could control the material they might ask

from.
 Shifting Winds 5

This method, as I have learned, does not apply to teaching English. The “material”, so to

speak, is the medium in which the class is taught. It is not possible for me to completely control

the instructional dialect; it is shared with the students. Nor can I over prepare, my PowerPoint

might be good, and my personal lecture notes may help me remember the important parts, but it

is seemingly impossible to over-plan. In an ESL/or EFL class I may be an “expert” in English,

but I cannot control the narrative, there is no narrative to control. English is not like History, my

students never asked me why Alexander was known as “the Great” not “Alexander the Good”.

They simply agreed that it was the title for certain historical figures and moved on. An L2 learner

on the other hand might not move on, because they are trying to make sense of the language and

the person. Why “great” and not “good”, what’s the difference between the two? During the

extended team-teaching project, for APLNG 493, I had that moment of realization when a

student asked me, “‘what does rhetorical mean?’, my mind went blank. It was a great question,

and I feel as if I missed a good teaching moment by asking the professor for help” (“Extended

Team Teaching Reflection Paper”, 22/11/22). My identity as a teacher was suddenly superseded

by my identity as a native English speaker. As mentioned in the introduction, it was not until my

first observation in an ESL classroom that I saw English as a language. That it can be taught and

learned in the ways I had studied other languages, like German and Bosnian, as foolish as that

might seem. That lesson in APLNG 493 opened my eyes to the real changes between History

and teaching English, that my approaches to teaching would not work in the same way they had

before. Suddenly I was explaining English idioms like, “tug at my heart's strings”, whereas I

would have never done that in student teaching. I felt almost self-conscious of my language use,

afraid I would say something wrong and need to stumble my way through a new explanation.
 Shifting Winds 6

That would be one of the biggest changes between the two fields, my sudden, almost

crippling, lack of confidence. With History I knew how to present the information to my

students, it is an unravelling story with lessons and morals, that as the teacher I must identify and

pick out. That the “truths” they learn are defined by wider structures (the institution, the

government…), and there is meaning and purpose to everything taught. It is not all dates and

battles, but richer interpretations are hidden underneath that. For students to properly learn the

material they must interact with it, through articles, videos, group discussions or written works. It

would not be enough to sit and lesson to a lecture for the content to be absorbed. My focus would

have to shift and find ways to allow students to create meaning with the past and give them an

opportunity to see the benefits of history. That those events and figures were picked for a

specific reason. I would try, and struggle with this over the course of my student teaching, still

developing ways to get my students to think deeper on the subject. Inserted in my PowerPoints I

would leave slides dedicated to questions, with the hope I would provoke them into a thoughtful

discussion; questions like: “why do you think the gods of Mesopotamia were anthropomorphic?”

or “why is it important to learn about early African civilizations?”. They were not the most

stimulating questions, I was – and still am- a novice in teaching after all. But I intended to have

students try to delve deeper, to get past what was presented on the slides and think about the

reasoning behind choosing those specific events.

When switching to TESL, I thought that the skills I had gained in my student teaching

would be mostly interchangeable. All the things I listed above, could be transferable skills

however the way I approach them, and my reasoning will change. While sitting in classes like

APLNG 493 or APLNG 484, I realized that there was so much more to teaching language than I

previously thought, it was not just grammar and translation. My only solace was that certain
 Shifting Winds 7

traits I already possessed (or had done accidentally) were helpful. In an interview post-APLNG

493 with the graduate assistant for the course, who was writing a portion of their dissertation on

research from that class, did this idea come to light:

Jacob Rieker 25:59

…So, when you're thinking about this idea of educational
or instructional paraphrasing, is this something that
you also did in your history, student teaching? Or is
this something that became more salient to you in ESL
teaching? Or like, what do you think the connections
might be? In terms of the use of this strategy? In these
two different contexts?

Jordan N 26:54
I think I definitely used it in my student teaching. I
just don't think I had a word for it until this program.
It was just as I mentioned, it was kind of an uncommon
habit of I had a student who would say something, so I
would reiterate for the whole or I would just reiterate
in general with trying to paraphrase- paraphrase their
answer and kind of elaborate on their answer at times,
because I would have students, especially because it's
history who would get one part of the fact correct, and
then they would be kind of missing another part of the
fact and I would use the paraphrase thing to just add on
or to make sure the other students were paying attention…
(“Jordan’s Interview” Transcript, January 10, 2023)

Here, we were discussing my use of educational paraphrasing during the practice teach before

the lesson I co-taught in ESL15. The realization that occurred was not, “oh I did educational

paraphrasing?” but instead it was having finally been given a word to describe something I had

done before. The first semester felt more like I had been given the keys to see a new world, while

also being helped to reflect on my old one. English and History are not the same, but I needed to

realize that for myself to be able to move on.

Now with teaching English, language could also be construed as a story. Words and

grammar - a basis for communication between interlocutors - are the hidden aspects which a

teacher must find and pull out. That the “verb” or “modal” is the lesson to be learned, that they
 Shifting Winds 8

are the objective or goal of that specific sentence or paragraph. Like with History, it is better to

present the information or “story” to the students in new and meaningful ways. Lectures can

help, but they should not be the central focus of a lesson, students need to be able to work with

language themselves.

When situating yourself in a classroom, you cannot simply think about what lesson you

are presenting but also who you are presenting it to. The students all come from different

backgrounds, cultures, educational systems and hold varying levels of motivation. They all have

their own perezhivanie, a term from Vygotsky, meaning how one has interpreted their past

experiences and uses that to react to new situations (Johnson & Golombek, 2016, p. 42). This

means no two students, no matter how identical their histories may seem, will behave the same

way towards learning English. A goal for a teacher should be figuring out why a student acted in

a specific way, or even better have the student explain. The examples given earlier were

instances of my own perezhivanie, how those moments have affected and will affect my later

thinking. This is the second shift in my instructional stance.

However, the biggest shift has occurred slowly, as I have gotten to know the field of

TESL, the way I have thought about it has changed. I am still nervous, often riddled with self-

doubt and plagued by questions of “am I good enough?”. At times, I hope that when I begin to

teach L2 learners my institution will hand me a required textbook. Then at least I would have

structure and information to go from, not relying simply on my own creative prowess. But on the

other hand, I have found that now, at the end of my first year, I no longer think about how the

pedagogies and theories I learn in class could have applied to my student teaching, I have

stopped looking back. My intentions are set on the future, how I can take what I have learned and

apply it to hypothetical and upcoming ELS/or EFL classrooms. In part, this is due to the course
 Shifting Winds 9

development project I did for APLNG 493 and lesson development for APLNG 412. With the

course development project, I was still holding on to History, it was comforting and familiar. My

APLNG 493 project was on English through World Literature, and I focused on the “historical

genre” unit:

“The presentation will not be very long, explaining the

different types of genres found in historical
literature. There will also be excerpts from these
different genres.
At the end of the presentation, there will also be an
introduction to the book Zlata’s Diary, as well as given
a copy of the book. This is the main reading for this
unit and will have the students focus on using the
historical present and crafting narratives. Each student
will also be given a “reading tracker”, which will give
them both a schedule to follow and a way to keep them
aware of their progress. On the whiteboard, there will
also be a hand-drawn tracker, meant to be filled in each
time a reading check is done.”
(“Lesson 1: Introduction to Historical Literature”,
December 13, 2022)

In this unit students were focusing on a central theme of the narrative, using the book Zlata’s

Diary as the backbone. My love of history still showed through, even though I had shifted away

from what I had done before, changing the way I planned to fit the new instructional context and

using reasoning to explain every choice I still had not gone far. But, for the final project in

APLNG 412, I moved completely away from History and wrote and developed lessons on the

genre of Cover Letters.

“This is the final portion of this paper, which is

focused on the development of three lessons related to
the genre of cover letters. Here, I will lay out the
basic schedule, description, lessons, and materials
required to teach this class. After each lesson, the
related materials will be listed, so that it is easier
to follow. Before that, I would like to discuss the
reasoning behind choosing to “teach” this genre…”
(“Unfamiliar Genre: Cover Letters”, April 30, 2023)
 Shifting Winds 10

Since the purpose of the project was to choose an unknown genre, I decided to go wildly out of

my comfort zone and write on one that I had zero experience in. Before working on this project,

I had not even read a cover letter before. However, as time went on, I did not feel the need to

stick to genres or material that I was familiar with. My new intention, as mentioned, was on

developing my skills, knowledge, and understanding in the field of TESL.

When I think of teaching now, 2 years after I began my true educational genre in that

world, I examine how I can and will use language to mediate my future classrooms. No longer

am I stuck in the past, wondering how knowing about sociocultural theory would have benefited

my in-World History, but on how I can use the works of Vygotsky or other linguistic writers to

benefit my own practices. My identity as a teacher is now wrapped up with my identity as a

native English speaker and they will stay intertwined as long as I teach English. As well as the

fact that I can no longer control the material of my future classroom in the same ways I did in

history, the instructional dialect is now shared with my students. It will change and modify

depending on their needs, and the needs of the context. As I continue my journey in the MA

TESL program, I hope to see more change in my instructional stance and overall understanding

of the field.
 Shifting Winds 11

References

Johnson, K.E., & Golombek, P.R. (2016). Mindful L2 Teacher Education: A Sociocultural
Perspective on Cultivating Teachers' Professional Development (1st ed.). Routledge.
https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315641447