COVER LETTER
Jessica Sawyer
217 Autumn Way, Yorktown, VA, 23693
jessica.sawyer@live.longwood.edu
Fairfax County Public Schools
8115 Gatehouse Road
Falls Church, VA 22042
Dear Dr. W. C. Peabody, Director of Instruction, in Fairfax County Schools:
When visiting Fairfax public schools, I was extremely impressed with the encouragement of diversity inside and outside the classroom. A value that I believe is essential for a student to be successful. I can see that Fairfax County’s mission is to provide an inspiring learning environment that creates life long skills and connections. This is what attracted me to the position of being a teacher for Fairfax County. During my student teaching I was given the responsibilities of conducting lesson plans and creating classroom activities that allowed the students to work together in groups to give and receive feedback, as well as allow them to work individually to sharpen their own unique skills.
In my classroom I encourage students to write in a way that showcases their own ideas. I believe writing is a time for self-expression and a way for students to organize their thoughts and opinions. In order or students to succeed in the area of writing, I believe it is important to offer the students many opportunities to write, both formal and informal to engage the students and allow them to create their own writing styles. It is my personal mission as an educator to create an environment that allows the students to learn and grow, in areas that will benefit them inside and outside the classroom.
I believe that every student has the ability to learn how to showcase their strengths and sharpen their weakness in every area of learning. The role of a teacher is to demonstrate and assist each student in enhancing their skills to benefit them in the future and act as role models, mentors, and influences that will follow the student for the rest of their life. Based on my values and goals as an educator, as well as Fairfax County’s, I would be a great addition to the Fairfax County High Schools. Thank you for considering me for the position.
Sincerely,
Jessica Sawyer
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RESUME
Jessica Sawyer
217 Autumn Way, Yorktown, VA, 23693
jessica.sawyer@live.longwood.edu
STATEMENT OF QUALIFICATION_______________________________________________
As a future teacher, I will actively promote an engaging learning environment to motivate my students cognitively, emotionally, and socially so they will create public speaking and communication skills, encourage diversity in their work, and develop skills they will carrying with them throughout their lives.
EDUCATION_______________________________________________________________
Longwood University Class of 2020: Farmville, VA
Bachelor of Arts in English with Concentration in Secondary Education
Cumulative GPA: 2.6
CERTIFICATIONS___________________________________________________________
CPR May 2015 – Current
WORK EXPERIENCE______________________________________________________________
Carrabba’s Italian Grill: Server, Takeout, Hostess Sept 2015 – Present
- Greet customers, provide efficient service, and accommodate to all needs and requests.
- Acquire knowledge of computers and certain technologies.
- Assist coworkers and contributed to team serving to create customer satisfaction.
- Developed proficient communication skills with diverse personalities.
- Provided solutions to problems with customers and coworkers when arose.
- Received many good reviews for being polite, helpful, and creating a relationship with the customer.
- Sought out to train, teach, and mentor new servers.
LEADERSHIP ACTIVITIES________________________________________________________________
Longwood University Division l Lacrosse: Aug 2016 – Present
- Develop time management skills while balancing 20 hours per week of lacrosse related responsibilities with school work and other obligations.
- Build teamwork experience while working with teammates of various ages and personalities.
- Establish adequate communication skills by working with coaches and teammates.
- Learn how to receive feedback and criticism as well as teaching others to enhance their skills.
- Maintain a positive outlook and encourage teammates to build up the team’s confidence.
Non-Profit Volunteering: FACES and Habitat for Humanity Sept 2017 – Dec 2017
- Assisted people with carrying food and loading it into cars.
- Enhanced social skills by talking to people of various ages and positions within organization.
- Helped organize, clean, and ready furniture to be sold in store.
SKILLS___________________________________________________________________
- Proficient in Microsoft, PowerPoint, Excel
- Strong organization and time management skills
- Energetic personality
- Flexible with schedules
- Encouraging team worker
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WORK SAMPLE DOCUMENT
Examples of constructed thesis statements for formal essays
- Vampire stories have always been a popular topic among American literature and film making. Mostly targeted towards young adults and teens, this could possibly be because of a typical teen’s obsession with living a life without consequences and romanticizing the idea of a tortured soul. Despite Peeps by Scott Westerfeld and The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black being slightly different vampire fantasy series, the two novels both use main characters that are on a constant journey to uncovering their identities.
- Adolescents in Young Adult Literature and in the real world oftentimes experience stereotyping, and are introduced to the judgmental imperfections within society. These stereotypes involve gender, culture, reputation, etc. In some cases, young adult authors create a protagonist character to demonstrate the rebellion of these stereotypes that society and their environments have placed them in. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga, and The Pregnancy Project by Gaby Rodriguez are three young adult literature novels that revolve around a protagonist main character that battles and challenges the categories in which their community has placed them in. The breaking of these stereotypes takes each of these characters on a unique path that neither forces them to conform nor die in the story, challenging not only society, but most young adult literature involving stereotypes and social norms.
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WORK SAMPLE DOCUMENT
Example of Acrostic Poetry. This activity is a simple way of allowing students to describe themselves. This can be used as an ice breaker or a learning technique when memorizing new concepts.
Just going with the flow of things
Excited for what the future holds
Self-sufficient woman
Sporty, active, and healthy
In opposition of discrimination and suppression
Energizes others with positivity
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WORK SAMPLE DOCUMENT
Elaboration & Tone Practice Sentences
Directions: Look at the paragraph below from As I Lay Dying. Identify the tone being used. What details and vocabulary can used added to the paragraph to make it more elaborated and clearer?
- The path runs straight, worn by feet and baked brick-hard, between the rows of laidby cotton, to the cotton house in the field, where it circles the cotton house at four angles and goes on across the field again, worn in precision.
Rewritten Paragraph:
Original Paragraph:
The path runs straight as a plumb-line, worn smooth by feet and baked brick-hard by July, between the green rows of laidby cotton, to the cotton house in the center of the field, where it turns and circles the cotton house at four soft right angles and goes on across the field again, worn so by feet in fading precision.
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WORK SAMPLE DOCUMENT
News Broadcast assignment. Alternative to a standard formal research paper.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCc34ijycO8#action=share
The video will be in replacement for a standard research paper. The students will be in groups of three. The students will choose a company to complain to in a sense, they will choose a problem they have with a company or organization and research ways to improve the company. The students will still be required to write the “research paper” however, instead of the standard five paragraph essay, students will write a professional proposal letter to the head of a company of the students choice addressing a problem and possible solution for such as: a product the student has not liked (and why), environmental issues the company faces, (and why) ethical issue the company faces, (and why) and any topic the student is passionate about. The proposal letter will still require the same amount of research to be included as a research paper, but the students will be writing to a different audience, as well as creating a video to work on technology techniques, public speaking, and transforming their writing to speaking.