Hello to everyone,

I am an ESL Instructor at Tulsa Community College. I earned my Masters
degree in teaching ESL from Oral Roberts University, here in Tulsa, after
retiring from the Army. Several things have drawn me to this particular
list. 

The first reason is personal. Our student population includes local high
school graduates, recent immigrants and established members of the
community. Because of this any new ideas or techniques that I can learn of,
use and pass on to my peers will increase our effectiveness in the
classroom.

The next reason I have is that I have a reputation for being creative in the
classroom and a wizard with technology. This is an area that I feel I can
interact and contribute in with other list members.

My third reason is personal weakness. I was almost promoted to the position
of department coordinator, I was one of the last three candidates, and I
need to enhance my understanding and abilities in professional development
so that if the opportunity comes again, I will be better prepared. I have
found it is easier to learn from other people's successes and failures then
to go blindly ahead trying to figure it out alone.

Finally, I am considering some options for pursuing my doctorate and I chose
this list and a few others to help me refine and solidify my choices. One of
my choices is in educational psychology, with a focus on teaching ELL
students with learning or emotional disorders. I stumbled into this area
because I had students with problems come into my classroom and I asked my
peers, "What should I do?" They said, "I haven't seen that before, why don't
you...?" So I asked others and searched around to find the few that have
seen the need to merge ESL and Special Education for some of the students in
our schools. So, what I learn along the way I will want to learn how to
share it effectively with other instructors and administrators. 

I hope this gives you a brief look at who I am and why I am here. If you
have any further questions please feel free to ask.

Thanks,
John Warrior
Tulsa Community College
Tulsa, Oklahoma
John.r.warrior at cox.net