MATESOL Capstone Paper Guidelines

Students who choose not to write a Master’s Thesis will be required to write a Capstone Paper. Detailed guidelines for the Capstone are sent to those students; however, the guidelines are available in the Applied Linquistics Office/MATESOL Program Office in Room 119 of Saint Edmund's Hall.

Rationale
The MATESOL faculty expects that what students learn in the program will prepare them to be successful teachers and that they have found many opportunities to develop their own philosophy of teaching. Teachers are frequently called upon to discuss their teaching philosophy. In most job interviews candidates are asked to submit a short statement of their philosophy and to be able to articulate it during the interview process.

The 5-7 page Capstone Paper recognizes the teaching profession as one of lifelong learning and professional development. To value this reality, students will have the opportunity to formally express their teaching philosophy.  The MATESOL faculty expects that students will enjoy reflecting on their coursework and teaching experiences to make sense of their conceptual understandings as learners and teachers regarding their students, classrooms and schools.

Objectives of the Paper

  1. To articulate a reasoned and reflective analysis of my teaching philosophy at the end of my MATESOL program.
  2. To explain who I am as a language teacher and how I got there, i.e. what experiences and ideas about language learning and teaching have influenced my development.
  3. To assess the impact of my strengths and limitations on my students at this point in my career.
  4. To describe how I can more fully translate my beliefs into classroom practice for the future benefit of my students while respecting my integrity and identity and the context in which I will teach.

The paper should be submitted to the committee four weeks before the end of the semester.  Students who come to Saint Michael's in the summer must submit their papers by the second week of the six-week session.  Students should begin to think about and plan for this paper from the first courses in their program.
 
We expect that the paper may eventually provide students with the material for a presentation and/or publication to advance your professional career after graduation.

For more information on Capstone or Thesis, contact:

Dr. Elizabeth O'Dowd, Director
eodowd@smcvt.edu
802.654.2276