I chose to become a teacher for a number of reasons. First and foremost is my desire to help other people. Second – I really like kids! As a teacher, I have become involved in helping kids to learn and grow, and to help them appreciate the value of English Language Arts -- to share my passion with them in the hopes that they will, if only in a small way, incorporate the arts into who they are and who they will become.
My interest in teaching stems back to high school where I worked as a language/literature tutor. I found that I really enjoyed helping others learn and that through my help, they were better able to grasp the assigned material. I feel that in order to teach in today’s schools, one must be a dynamic and energetic person who is able to engage students at many levels and who also has tremendous patience, caring and understanding. I believe that I am such a person. I believe that my personal interests, talents and experience strengthen my character as an Intermediate/Secondary teacher.
I am a very friendly and outgoing person and I am very confident in myself. I have involved myself in quite a lot of extra-curricular activities, all of which can be considered relevant to my being suited to the teaching profession. I was a member of the student portion of the Faculty Council of Arts (F.C.A.) at MUN for two years (1998-2000) and during that time, I was able to get an idea of some of the internal workings of Memorial. My involvement in school activity goes back to my senior year in high school when I was asked to sit on the Advisory Council for the integration of the Co-Op Program into the Clarenville High curriculum. Recently, I have been heavily involved with the MUN Shooting Club (since Fall, 1996) and I served for two years as president of that group. From that position, I have gained great leadership experience, which has been highlighted by the fact that I have been a member of the Seahawks Shooting Team since 1997. worked on the range as a Range Official for the same amount of time, and spent a year as a Coordinator between the Club and the School of Physical Education. My experiences on the range are applicable to teaching in that coaching people – teaching them a very detailed and difficult process -- was a large part of my job.
In addition to the F.C.A. and shooting, my activities on campus also included writing. I have had various works printed and distributed in two separate student anthologies released by Backroads Publishing. I also write short stories, papers, and I have even written a children’s book but I have not attempted to have any of these published yet. Writing has always been of great interest to me, which is one of the reasons why I chose to pursue my Bachelor of Arts degree and will, I hope, increase my effectiveness as a teacher.
Beyond this, my early work experience (which is outlined in my resume) has been primarily in the area of customer relations and service. From this I have gained a lot of experience in dealing with a wide variety of people on many different levels. I am also an amateur woodworker and I have recently started my own small business in custom woodworking. I feel that this, combined with all of the above and my outgoing personality, shows that I am a very diverse and well-rounded person. I also feel that because of all of these, I would be a positive influence on students’ intermediate/high school experiences and a great asset to any school that would hire me.
I have been teaching at St. Joseph's All Grade for two years now and I have to say that it has been quite the experience. I believe that I have learned a great deal from both the students and the staff. It has been, and continues to be, my privilege and pleasure to teach at this school. The students are very interested and engaged in school activities and despite the normal lack of enthusiasm for learning (as seems to be the common affliction of students) they continuously surprise and amaze me. As an admitted workaholic and over-achiever, I find it incredible that when I watch my students succeed and overcome challenges and adversity I am able to experience a kind of pride that I could never feel about my own activities. Teaching is indeed a discipline with great rewards (and I'm not talking about the summers off either!).
Over the past few years I have begun to develop thoughts and ideas about what makes a good school. I thought it would be a good idea to include these thoughts here. First and foremost, a school can only be as good as its administration. At St. Joseph's, we're lucky. Principal Linda Lewis (who would probably throw an eraser at me if she knew I was writing this) has been a source of strength, encouragement, criticism, and friendship for me and indeed all other teachers who have entered the school. She is perhaps the most dedicated educator that I have ever met and her commitment to her students and to St. Joseph's is beyond my ability to describe. She is a leader and a companion -- traits that, as far as I understand the matter, tend to be of short supply among people in her position. I believe... no, I know that because of her I have grown as a teacher, as has everyone who has had the opportunity to teach under her guidance. She is not afraid to step in and inform me when I make a mistake but she isn't afraid to let me run with ideas either.
Second, a good school must have teachers who are willing to accept the direction of the administration... teachers who are able to understand that the administration is not some sort of police force that is out to get them. When I hear of problems in other schools or that there are conflicts between the administration and a teacher(s), I thank my lucky stars that I am teaching at St. Joseph's. That is not to say that myself and Mrs. Lewis agree on all points... quite the opposite actually (we constantly seem to be finding new topics on which our opinions differ) but in instances of disagreement, there is always respect. I respect her and she respects me as well and instead of arguing (in the base modern sense of the word) we work together to find the answer to the problem rather than get caught up in the fact that we don't see eye to eye. Whomever is right is right... and both of us are the better for finding the answer.
Third, a good school must have students who actively engage themselves in their own learning. Not all students are willing to do this but I believe that most are. The key is to get them to see that teachers are not evil creatures who sleep in the school and dream up ways of ruining their day. They need to understand that a good teacher wants to help and guide them through the learning process so that they can become better people for it. For this to happen, they also need to see the validity of the material being studied... and while one may never need the quadratic formula to calculate the grocery bill, the analytical skills that emerge from such learning is very valuable. The need to see that what they learn in school has meaning and that their skills are employable outside of the school walls. For any of this to happen however, it is important to remember that kids aren't stupid -- they know when there are problems between staff and administration and within the staff itself (oh, don't worry... they don't tap the staffroom phone or anything, they merely have a keep perception into the mood of a teacher. Thus, if a teacher is upset that the coffee is all gone and teacher-x forgot to get some more, an entire English class could be ruined because the students will pick up on the "vibe"). Once these things are accomplished, there is no telling what kind of wonderful things could happen. Thus, whether a school is a good one or not hinges on the idea of relationships and all healthy relationships are built on respect. My classroom rules are therefore quite simple -- they are based on the notion of all that you have read above and out of them all other possible rules must necessarily come. They are: 1. Respect Yourself; 2. Respect Your Classmates; and 3. Respect Me. Everyone follows these rules in my classroom, myself first of all. When an atmosphere of respect (and not fear as was often the case in the classroom of the past) exists good relationships can be built. When good relationships are built, adversity ceases to exist. Once the idea of adversity is gone, students and teachers can work together and learn together.