Becoming a Teacher

There are so many things to include when you want to get a job as a teacher. Each piece needs to fit together, and really showcase what you are capable of. The first thing to include is a Cover Letter. This needs to include all kinds of information specific to the job you are applying to. It also needs to talk about the works you include in your application. The people reading over all of this will want to know what you think those works demonstrate. Here is my Cover Letter:

After that, you need your Resume. This is probably the most important piece. This is what mine looks like:

The last thing that you need to include is a collection of your work. Because this example is of me applying for a job as a teacher of writing, I included a lesson plan from my class on teaching writing. I think it the best example of a lesson plan that I have ever written. I also included the power point that goes with that lesson. It is a great example of my ability to use mentor texts. The last work I included was from this semester, but it had nothing to do with that lesson. It was a template for a poster that I would have kids edit after I taught them all about how visual cues affect your digital writing.

With all of these pieces, you greatly increase your chances of being hired for a job! Good luck!

How do you feel about writing?

I love writing, and I’ve been doing it for as long as I can remember. When I was eight, I wrote my first book. It was a really short one- about ten chapters long. It was an adventure that followed the story of a game my cousins and I played habitually. We all had a gift with one element (my name was always Aquamarine, and I was good with water) and we used them to fight evil. It was short and lame, but I loved it. I designed the cover and titled chapters and I loved it. I felt like the most creative individual around.

 

@Twitter

Art and skill of a digital writer

is to understand audience and situation

bt 2 b shrt

#notablog

 

What is Bad Writing Instruction?

Most people have a very clear idea of what bad writing instruction looks like. Everybody has an English class from way back when that they absolutely hated. You imagine a teacher you hated or a class you failed. I actually grew up loving writing, but even I had one of those classes. It was my sixth grade year, and my teacher that year was a brand new teacher- let’s call her Ms. Smith.One of the reasons I was so excited about middle school was that I’d finally have a class that was only English. I wouldn’t have to spend so much of my writing time on other subjects. I definitely wrote in the fifth grade, but not the way I wanted to. Some of my big writing assignments were to write the proposal for my science experiment, and writing things like math word problems. Those were both great activities, but I was so excited to have a class where it was only about writing and reading. Obviously Ms. Smith disagreed. She tried to work with our teachers from other classes as much as she could. So I spent another whole year writing about other subjects. I hated it. I was so happy to move up to the seventh grade. I loved my seventh grade English class.

When thinking of traditional research papers this is what I picture students feeling:

There are many different options for us teachers to explore when thinking about assigning a new project for our students. You can always go with the traditional route and have them write a standard, 5 paragraph essay on your topic, but put yourself in their shoes for a moment. Think about how many papers just like this they’ve already written. Will they actually learn anything from this? Perhaps more importantly, will they enjoy doing this?

On the flip side, you could test your students’ creativity by assigning something a little more interactive, such as a social media campaign! Have them choose a site of their choice, such as Twitter or Facebook, and let them run wild. You’ll probably notice a change in engagement, and have some more fun yourself! Have students create a hashtag that people can use to express their concern about the issue the student has posed and let the creative energy flow!

The social media campaign could look something like this:

So let’s encourage creativity and involvement in class!