Scholarship / Overcome challenges in pursuit of professional development (Ford scholarship) [5]

I am a candidate of Ford scholarship and have a wish to pursue Master of Educational Studies. Among the requirements is an essay on the following topic:

"What challenges have you overcome in pursuit of your professional development? Describe the challenges as well as any insights, perspectives or skills you gained in overcoming them."

Please help to check my essay below:

Like any long road having on it many obstacles, my professional development has appeared to have no fewer challenges. During three years experienced in teaching, each challenge has appeared to either confirm my career choice or deny it thoroughly, depending on my will and sensitivity to signals.

Training students for a successful University entrance exam was quite demanding for me as an inexperienced teacher. Right after graduation, an averagely English capability student was sent to me with the hope of his mother for a positive exam result. I agreed and with student, both of u were working and even praying very hard. Finally, he passed with high marks, which made me so happy. From then on, I am more experienced and sensitive to University entrance exams rehearsal. Prize for me was a lesson about not being afraid when facing the new. This first success has given me confidence and encouragement to work with the next.

Another challenge occurred when I was working at College. Those were the first times I have ever worked with so crowded, mix-abilities and passive students. However, wishing to conquer difficulties and see interests on students' faces, I have tried whatever tips or methods learnt from books, peers and the Internet to make learning periods new and interesting for them. As a result, they began to show eagerness and curiosity towards English, which comforted me most was. Experiences with troublesome classroom situations were amazing. It forced me to managed for solutions and follow further studies. My good results at TESOL course could be the fruits of those difficulties.

However, there were times when I was filled with negative feelings about classes and students, which caused me to think of running away from teaching career and began another one. Those happened after TESOL course and efforts to stay, so I decided to stop for a time to consider if I could actually be a help in this field. Those months passed and I was convinced that my non-stop concern is about human development, not business, arts, things or events... Therefore, I came back teaching and learning to raise up those who deserved. This experience left me an insight of demanding students while giving them time to produce positive results rather than trying to satisfy all their needs. Maybe I had been exhausted and disappointed after all temporary efforts having done for students. It also gave me a lesson of making a purposeful teaching plan for a whole year so that I could have a more balanced mind and life.

After those significant challenges, it has gradually shaped in my mind a picture of understanding combined with experience. I believe, to keep the teaching fire burning, studying paralleled with teaching and creating needs to be an endless process.