Military Service
U.S. Army National Guard First Lieutenant
Experience
8 years served
Future
Seeking a career in any profession
Location
Concord, CA
About Brian
I was in the Mississippi Army National Guard from 2005 to 2010 and the California Army National Guard from 2010 to 2013. I came to California for graduate school and I got a graduate degree in teaching English as a second language. I am currently working my 4th contract position as an ESL teacher at an intensive English program that is connected to a community college, but like other IEPs there is no guarantee of continued employment due to the number of students studying at my program; fewer students means no job for me.
I worked as a platoon leader in Iraq from 2009 to 2010, I tutored undergraduate students at San Francisco State University in composition, I have taught at several intensive English programs, and before all of that I worked as a funeral director at my father's funeral home in Mississippi.
I have an Associate's in Applied Science in Funeral Service, a BA in Communications with an emphasis in Theatre, I minored in Japanese as an undergraduate, and my Master's is English with an emphasis in TESOL.
I have interests in video games, learning languages, and learning coding languages. I'm really interested in learning how to code in Python and I was able to put together a computer coding club at my current ESL school. Our club dabbled with programming in C and doing some small programming tasks.
I feel especially strong in teaching college composition and my dream has always been to teach abroad. I really want to teach in Japan because I became interested in the culture when I did a geography project in the 8th grade. I feel that I am gifted in language learning due to the fact that I can repeat words said by my students in most of their languages (e.g. Mandarin, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, and Thai). I have been told that I am very patient with others when I'm explaining new concepts and this has benefited me as an ESL teacher as well as a platoon leader because of my interactions with people from other countries.
I have applied to attend a 9 week course at a local coding camp because I live in the SF bay area. It seems that it's more likely that I can get a job coding than I can working as an ESL teacher. Coding appeals to me because I've been encouraged by others to look in to doing it, I occasionally alter the scripts that run my games on PC through Notepad, and I understand coding is rewarding to individuals with the mindset of a gamer.
I think that my biggest faults are that I'm afraid to ask for help from coworkers, I'm intimidated by unspoken criticism from others, and I feel that I have to shoulder my own burdens when there are times I should ask others for help.
I have a wife and a brand new baby (as of November 7th, 2014) and I feel especially responsible for supporting my son.