It saddens me that you ask for me
to provide three pieces of data instead of three ways in which I engage my
students. Instead of answering your question I will instead answer the
following question: How do you engage your students so that they are invested
in their education? I know that you will toss my resume out, but I feel that it
is more important for my students to leave my classroom with the desire to
learn more, as opposed to becoming a piece of data. Don’t get me wrong, I do
track the effectiveness of my lessons. But as this is the only glance you will
have of me, I would rather share my love of literature and my desire to find
literature that speaks to my students as individuals. Literature teaches
empathy. It lets us know that we aren’t alone in this world. If students can
relate to what they are reading, it might foster a desire to read more. Now I
do live in the real world, I know that not all students will read, not all
students can read well. Some have to work to make ends meet, others have made
it so far without learning. But I have seen students from different backgrounds
fully engaged in a discussion while reading Looking
For Alaska, by John Green. I watched students who had previously left a
book untouched, engrossed in Green’s words. The book was relatable.  Data is not important to me. A student’s
ability to connect a book to their own life, to compare and contrast, to think
for themselves, these are the things that are important to me.  Each student is unique, each has a learning
style, and what is important is that I know my students as individuals, that I
connect with them, that I vary my lessons so that I include as many learning
styles as I can. I want students to be able to walk out of my classroom and be
able to answer larger questions, to think through issues and to argue different
viewpoints. That is what I will strive for as a teacher, not whether my data
points are significant. So I hope that you find the perfect applicant for this
position.