Statement of Purpose

Hyejin, Yoon

Why teachers?
One beautiful day in 7th grade art class I was trying hard to draw a great work, but

feeling all fingers and thumbs. The teacher wandering the classroom stood beside me and

stared, then whispered, You are hopeless. Her hurtful words stayed with me for a long

time, stunting my creativity. This teachers insensitive remark led me to assume a hostile

attitude toward all teachers, resulting in a poor rapport between myself and teachers in my

early school life. However, during my process of self-discovery at university, I decided not

to let one teachers opinion shape my understanding of myself. Partly because of this

teacher, I became curious, then interested and finally committed to a career in education.

The reason why I want to dedicate my life to develop teachers education is that I want give a

priceless presenta good teacherto young students and also to discover and offer pathways

to beginning teachers so that they can become good and perhaps great teachers.

What is a good teacher? And how can we help prospective teachers develop their

professional life and teaching style to be a good teacher? Teachers have to be aware of the

potentially great impact they can have on students, especially younger ones. Teachers have

a great influence on students acquisition of knowledge and skills and also students emotions

and feelings of self-worth. In my opinion, to be a good teacher starts from knowing

oneself. An ideal teacher training system should enable teachers to reflect on themselves

and aided by a wide range of materials and methods; create the conditions to help them to set

their own teaching philosophy. Therefore, focusing on reflective practice for teacher

education, I would like to conduct research about curriculum reform in teacher education by
expanding teachers capacity to reflect on practice to improve their classroom practice and

students growth.

English is recognized as an essential component of a students education and the

Korean government is attempting to reform the educational system through multi-pronged

efforts. However, the drastic changes have led to a gap between the governments policy on

education and the reality that teachers encounter. Between the ideal class models dealing

with English in a communicative way and low capability driven by lack of speaking and

writing competence, English teachers are liable to lose their will to teach because they feel

inadequate. For example, while teaching English to students in secondary schools, I met

other English teachers who were confronting the dilemma and observed them having to

compromise with the governments requirement; teachers modify the curriculum by

emphasizing parts like reading and grammar, that they can teach, and skipping or minimizing

parts such as listening, speaking and writing that they cannot teach well. Moreover, a

survey conducted by a professor of education, Dr. Yang of Sungkyunkwan University

highlighted many Korean teachers frustration with their career. In the survey, the

proportion of Korean teachers who answered I feel regret for being a teacher. is the highest

with 20.1% compared to OECD member nations average of 9.5%. This phenomenon is

even more pronounced among respondents who were English teachers. Hence, I came to

believe that it is crucial that the government put teachers professional development of the

center of any educational reform.

Why GMU?

The major reason why George Mason Universitys (GMU) Teaching and Teacher
Education program looms large in my mind is its outstanding faculty. In my quest for a

proper graduate program, I am enthusiastic about learning at GMU with its excellent faculty.

I expect that faculty members interest in school reform through teachers professional

development would make my academic experience challenging and fulfilling. My current

academic interests are the theoretical foundations and applications of critical thinking in

education. I wish to focus on the English teachers metacognitive strategies in their

teaching curriculum and activities.

I also firmly believe that GMU is a school which provides an ideal climate for me to

develop my academic interests, while enabling me to meet my obligations to my young

family. Because of its location in the Washington, D.C. area, I expect that there would be a

lot of opportunities to interact with others from varied cultural backgrounds. It is through

this cosmopolitan setting that I would progress as an educational leader with an international

perspective. I am attracted by the Graduate schools various pedagogical resources, intense

intellectual atmosphere and its comprehensive curriculum.

Why me?

I am sponsored by the Korean government Study Abroad Scholarship Program

(SASP). Every year, SASP selects about 80 students who have proven their potential to

become global leaders of tomorrow. I submitted my application to SASP and later was

interviewed by five professors who evaluated my academic achievements and potential in my

field. I was honored to be chosen as one of 2015 SASPs students.

Working for publishing companies for seven years, I have participated in publishing

many books related to English education. The target audience was English learners.
During the last three years of my editing career, I led a team of seven editors and successfully

demonstrated my leadership, analytical communication and organizational skills. As a

result, my colleagues and I made high quality books that are still representative products of

the company. Strong teamwork grounded in mutual trust greatly increased work efficiency.

What I have learned through this enterprise is the true meaning of team work: Teamwork is

the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.

However, as I became more involved in my work, I became increasingly aware of a

conflict between two values in my mind; an enterprise value for making a profit and my life

value for being a useful and productive educator. The company stressed maximizing profits

from minimal capital and labor. The primary task of the employees was to produce books as

quickly and cheaply as possible. Given the publishing process, the relation between the

speed and the quality of the production is in reverse proportion. Now that I considered my

editing job a sort of educational activity, I felt my own values were at odds with the

companys policies and objectives.

Hence, I quit my job and attended graduate school majoring in English education.

At that time, I was strongly motivated to study about education that I assumed a role of a

leader in classes, discussions, and group projects. Furthermore, during three years of my

teaching career, I developed a heartfelt love for the profession. By virtue of my innovative

teaching skills and communication capability, I was recommended as an outstanding teacher

by the principal of Nanwoo middle school and my name was on the excellent instructors list

of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education from 2011 to 2012.

If I am able to accomplish my academic objectives, I want to work for the Korea

Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation (KICE) as a researcher. KICE is a government-

affiliated educational research institute. At KICE, I would like to conduct research into
quality improvement of the teaching and learning environment by supporting teachers

professional development and training. As an alternative, I may wish to stay associated with

a university, continuing my teaching study and research with other scholars.