Professional Information
Here you can find documents needed for your employment consideration.
Thank you!
Sequoia Wild CV: Word 2007 Format ~ Sequoia Wild CV: PDF Format
Teaching English as a Foreign Language Portfolio
A Brief Professional Biography
In 1998, when I was 19 years old and working on my bachelor’s in mathematics at the University of California, I taught a pre-calculus course to a group of my peers who were struggling with math phobia. I am indebted to these students for what they taught me about learning and the human spirit, which became my motivation for becoming a teacher and, later, a psychologist. Since I didn’t have any experience teaching, I relied on my silly personality and ability to validate their frustrations to put them at ease- and, surprisingly, this turned out to be the most helpful part of my role. They showed me that, far more important than content mastery, a teacher provides the belief in the student’s capacity to learn by creating an environment where the student feels safe to stretch outside their comfort zone. It is this skill that I have spent the last ten years refining through a wide variety of positions and perspectives in human services.
After my positive experience with that class, I changed my major to Interdisciplinary Approaches to Mathematics Education because I believed that the comfort I was able to create with the students was mainly due to my ability to call on examples and applications from the many fields I was interested in, such as music, art history, theatre, science and technology. For this degree, I wrote an honor’s thesis that described a model of a school for the gifted that emphasized constructivist pedagogy and support for learning disabled students and other demographics that were not receiving enough focus in conventional schools.
After graduation, I taught English, math and computers at private high schools and colleges, as well as gained administrative experience as a camp director for several summers. I became interested in how subject content could be designed to promote self-efficacy and accessibility for more types of learners, and so began writing my own English and math curricula. This lead to a position as a technical editor at Pearson Education, where I adapted their math textbooks for online animated content. My experience as an expository writer allowed me to work as an essay tutor for English as a Second Language graduate students, most of who were from Asia and needed assistance adjusting to the different expectations in America.
During my growth as a teacher, I realized that I wanted to refine the interpersonal skills that allowed me to help my students, so I entered a master’s degree program in Counseling Psychology at Lesley University, the renowned teacher’s college. It was during this program that I discovered that many of the obstacles to my students’ success were due to childhood trauma. Therefore, I focused my papers on the topic of trauma recovery and empowering victims of trauma so that they are able to break free of the shame that inhibits their belief in themselves. Also during this time, I completed a three-year self-growth group that was recommended as part of Lesley’s self-as-instrument pedagogy. My year-long internship was in a residential halfway house for women recovering from substance abuse and trauma. This internship confirmed that, like my students, the main thing these women needed was someone who believed in them and could provide them with an environment where they could thrive. In May 2010, I graduated with a Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology and a certificate in Trauma Studies.
Now that I have finished my degree, I have decided to travel in a leisurely trip around the world, starting in Asia. I began this trip with a month in China studying kung fu, and now I am moving to Japan. I have always felt a special kinship with Japanese culture and look forward to living in Japan for a few years to see if it fits my personality. In preparation for this trip, I earned a certificate in Teaching English as a Foreign Language from the Boston Language Institute, a school well known for its communicative pedagogy and high training standards. My hope is that I will be able to find a teaching position working with adolescents or young adults in a casual beach town where I can feel at home when I miss California.
Thank you so much for your consideration, and I hope this short biography has shown you the passion I have for this work. Feel free to read the student quotes at the end of my resume, as well.
Additional Photos (Fun-focused!)
Birthday flowers
Out to dinner with my friends
Me and my sister at Boston Harbor
Me and my sister singing karaoke
Painting an art car with my friends!
Painting another art car!
The two art cars together!
Painted hair!
(The colored hair is mainly washed out at this point and the rest can be removed if desired, but it also shows an authentic American subculture that youth relate to, and little kids love it! It’s up to you!)