District Application Questions

Professional Portfolio Component:

District Application Questions

1.    What are the aspects of your education and experience that you think would be particularly appropriate for this position such as past leadership roles, community activities, honors, etc?

I am a nontraditional student in the sense that upon graduation I will have two undergraduate degrees in Communications and English Education.  I am also nontraditional because I am a little older than the average recent graduate and as a result, I have a history of professional growth in between completing these two degrees. I have a proven dedication to professional development and building and maintaining working relationships within and across disciplines and departments. I earned and maintained a perfect GPA such that I was on the President’s Honor Roll for two semesters.  I typically find myself in leadership roles in collaborative settings.  I have participated in ongoing community service since I was a child.  I believe that if we want to build a solid community it requires work and a constant reinvestment of resources.

2.    Describe the skills or attributes you believe are necessary to be an outstanding teacher.

Of course a teacher must love students and learning, and I really do.  I fall in love with the classroom and the kids wherever I am, but a teacher cannot be passive.  It is necessary to actively build a community within the classroom by creating a safe place where students can be vulnerable to facing what they don’t know.  One way of doing this is creating a discourse community that focuses on building quality dialogue between students and seeking ways to give them agency over their learning.   I also think it is necessary for teachers to have a tool box of teaching strategies, resources to help design lessons, and a dedication to professional development.  Because I am a Communications and English Education person, I think it is incredibly important to be able to incorporate collaborative communication strategies into the lessons, especially considering that more and more, students (and people in general) are asked to work in groups.  Therefore, an outstanding teacher will also instruct students on how to make the most of group work, such as delegating responsibilities, setting deadlines, and practicing different roles. 

3.    How do to ensure your students learn?

Students must first be given the tools for learning – access to materials, technology, and texts in a variety of mediums for variety, interest, and differentiation.  I then design lessons in purposeful ways using backward design, meaning I start with the end goal and work backwards with formative assessments to help them get there.  A pre-assessment should be used to determine what students already know so that time is used most efficiently.  Formative assessments will demonstrate knowledge for them as well as guide my teaching toward the end goal.  Common core standards help shape desired skills and are relevant to the lessons I plan.  Finally, summative assessments should give students the opportunity to show what they know and give me the opportunity to reflect and redesign based on what the students need.