Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Sorry this is so long!

I'm reapplying for jobs this year. I want to be closer to my family. I forgot how hard it is to be away from them. Also, this is the first time I am by myself totally!
I haven't made any friends up here. Kind of hard when I am the only teacher and my aide is 55. She is a nice lady, but she is married and it would be weird to be over there all the time.
I am working on my new cover letter. I have no idea how to rework the second paragraph. I am just having a writer’s block or something. I have been staring at it for two days now.
I think most of you know but I am teaching grades k to 8 as the only teacher in the school and have an aide to help me. I do most of the planning (aide helps with science). My lessons have to meet the Maine State learning Results. I’m not sure if I should put that into my letter or not. Every teacher in Maine has to meet them.
At the moment I am focusing on prepping my students for the Maine Educational Assessments, which are in March. Grades 3 to 8th take a math and language arts test. Fourth and Eighth also have to take science on top of the math and L.A.
Ok I’m rambling. Sorry this is so long. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Dear person:

I am requesting consideration for the something position at something Elementary School. I hold a Bachelors degree from University of Maine-Orono in Elementary Education with a concentration in Early Childhood/Human Development, and I have met the Maine State requirements for a highly qualified teacher.

Although I am a new teacher, my experience spans the entire P-12 school system from serving as a substitute teacher to an Educational Technician III to being a Title I assistant. This wide range of experience in a variety of capacities and levels has shaped me into an observant, flexible teacher. Both of these characteristics have helped me become a teacher dedicated to guiding students toward ongoing success. I am confident that my drive and ambition to help students succeed, along with solid training, will make me a positive addition to your staff. The prospect of becoming a full-time classroom teacher is very exciting. I look forward to being able to share my skills and passion for learning with students.

Enclosed is a copy of my resume, application, teaching certificate, three letters of reference and transcripts. Please feel free to contact me at (number here) if you have any questions or would like more detailed information. Thank you for taking the time to review my credentials and consider me for employment with your district.

Best Regards,
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Jaime owned by
Mya the dog
and the cats:Crash, Gabby and Tucker

I can't help too much, no teaching experience, but something jumped at me...

Although I am a new teacher, my experience spans the entire P-12 school system from serving as a substitute teacher to an Educational Technician III to being a Title I assistant.

In the above paragraph, I'd start it out with your current teaching experience and then discuss substitute teaching experience after... Drop the "Althought I am a new teacher..." Start out with something like "I am currently teaching grades XX to XX at XXX and find it very fulfilling, but would like to find a job closer to my family...or something... In addition to full time teaching, my experince spans the entire P-12 school system...to being a Title I assistante."

You are a teacher. Forget the new teacher lable...
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Tammy
Stanley and Pookey

Thanks Tammy. That is the paragraph I am trying to rewrite
What do you think of this:

January 16, 2007

Dear Ms. whomever:

I am requesting consideration for the kindergarten teacher position at Something Elementary School I hold a Bachelors degree from University of Maine-Orono in Elementary Education with a concentration in Early Childhood/Human Development, and I have met the Maine State requirements for a highly qualified teacher.

My teaching experience is somewhat different from that of your other applicants. I have spent the past year teaching in a small school in Wesley Maine. I taught ten students, ranging in age from five to 14. Differentiated instruction has become the norm for me. My lessons are tailored to the abilities and background of the student with whom I'm currently working. I simultaneously taught the alphabet to a five year old, and multiplication facts to a 10 year old, all while also keeping the other students on task. I have learned to become a master planner, and at the same time how to change plans to accommodate a variety of educational backgrounds. This wide range of experience in a variety of capacities and levels has shaped me into an observant, flexible teacher. Both of these characteristics have helped me become a teacher dedicated to guiding students toward ongoing success. I am confident that my drive and ambition to help students succeed, along with solid training, will make me a positive addition to your staff. The prospect of becoming a full-time classroom teacher is very exciting. I look forward to being able to share my skills and passion for learning with students.

Enclosed is a copy of my resume, application, teaching certificate, three letters of reference and transcripts. Please feel free to contact me at (my number) if you have any questions or would like more detailed information. Thank you for taking the time to review my credentials and consider me for employment with your district.

Best Regards,
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Jaime owned by
Mya the dog
and the cats:Crash, Gabby and Tucker

exellent point ! you are selling yourself emphasise your strong points. Would you buy something if they said in teh commercial "well it's okay but it really isn't at it's best yet" No you want the best so show them you are the best. Heck if you can teach that many diffrent grade levels in one class without killing them I'm voteing for you!

Jaime, this latest looks good. You do want to avoid stating more than the facts and you've done so in that letter.

Best wishes.
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Smile, it will make them wonder what you are up to!

Glad to see you lost the tentative tone of the first letter.

Good Luck!

From your first cover letter, I still think this is a very strong point:

my experience spans the entire P-12 school system from serving as a substitute teacher to an Educational Technician III to being a Title I assistant. This wide range of experience in a variety of capacities and levels has shaped me into an observant, flexible teacher.

Can you fit it in somehow? They need to know the range...
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Tammy
Stanley and Pookey

Here is the most updated cover letter with out my phone number in it!
Dear Ms. whomever:

I am requesting consideration for the kindergarten teacher position at Something Elementary School. I hold a Bachelors degree from University of Maine-Orono in Elementary Education with a concentration in Early Childhood/Human Development, and I have met the Maine State requirements for a highly qualified teacher.

I have spent the past year teaching ten students in kindergarten thru eighth grade. My lessons are differentiated to meet the needs of each individual student. I simultaneously taught the alphabet to a five year old and multiplication facts to a ten year old, while also keeping the other students on task. I am a master planner, and I can readily adapt my plans to accommodate a variety of educational backgrounds. My experience has shaped me into an observant, flexible teacher dedicated to guiding students toward ongoing success. I am confident that my drive and ambition to help students succeed, along with solid training, will make me a positive addition to your staff.

Enclosed is a copy of my resume, application, teaching certificate, three letters of reference and transcripts. Please feel free to contact me at (my number) if you have any questions or would like more detailed information. Thank you for taking the time to review my credentials and to consider me for employment with your district.

Best Regards,
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PHMoxie

Looks good!
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Tammy
Stanley and Pookey

You are already a classroom teacher now teaching in a multi grade intermediate level class. So rather than say you will find teaching in a classroom exciting I would put that with the flexiblity and adaptiblity as you make a statement about qualities and then have the example of those qualities following the statement.
I work with veterans seeking employment most have barriers to employment such as a disablity or homelessness so look at lots of resumes and cover letters everyday.
One major akk for me is the objective statement. The only time there should be an objective statement on a Resume is if you are changing it for every job and every school you apply to. The objective is to obtain X job at Y school.
Cover letters are many times part of the scan readers they want to see thier job descriptionin thier opening regurgitated back to them with examples of how you meet those qualities or requirements. Think about all the key words in a job description, Certified, test preperation, standards meet, goal achievment, engaging, and so forth. You want to make sure that those are in that secound paragraph because if you send to a school that uses a scanner it has all those key words programed in and it has a required hits number so out of 100 key words it will only okay for human review ones that say give a 50 hit (usually inculdes the resume and cover letter.) so you want clean bullet pointed resume and to bullet the things that are looked for and then pull from those to make that 2nd paragraph as a meets or exceeds job description thing.
Hope that makes sense I'm a little tired from force feeding sick kit all night...

Ok here is my lastest update. Thanks everyone for all your advice!

I would love the opportunity to be interviewed
for the kindergarten teacher position.(This part is centered)

Dear Ms. SOMEONE,
I have spent the past year teaching ten students in kindergarten thru eighth grade. My experience has shaped me into an observant, flexible teacher dedicated to guiding students toward ongoing success. My lessons are differentiated to meet the needs of each individual student. I simultaneously taught the alphabet to a five year old and multiplication facts to a ten year old, while also keeping the other students on task. I am a master planner, and I can readily adapt my plans to accommodate a variety of educational backgrounds.

With these unique strengths, I write because I am moving to Southern Maine in June, and I seek a position as an elementary school teacher with in the Biddeford School Department.

I hold a Bachelors degree from University of Maine-Orono in Elementary Education with a concentration in Early Childhood/Human Development, and I have met the Maine State requirements for a highly qualified teacher.

I am excited about the possibility of a personal interview to further discuss my qualifications with you. I can be reached at number. Enclosed is a copy of my resume, application, teaching certificate, three letters of reference and transcripts Thank you for taking the time to review my credentials and to consider me for employment with your district.

Best Regards,
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Jaime owned by
Mya the dog
and the cats:Crash, Gabby and Tucker

Jamie,

I do like this version much better than the original one that I read. If I were reading your resume, I would assume that this is the only work that you have done in elementary education. However, from your first resume, I know that you have done more than just this one position. I would think that you may want to briefly mention some of your prior work that you have done as well just so the reader would know that you have had other experience as well as your current position.
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Boris's Human, Pam

I caught the same thing Pam did... You may want to capture your substitue work -- this new cover makes it look like you just entered the Teaching workforce fresh a year ago...
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Tammy
Stanley and Pookey

I am still stuck on liking this sentence from the first version:

my experience spans the entire P-12 school system from serving as a substitute teacher to an Educational Technician III to being a Title I assistant.

Then launch into your last year as a Teacher...
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Tammy
Stanley and Pookey

Thanks Pam and Tammy,
The reason I didn't mention subbing or ed teching is because they don't see it as experience. That is what I was told over and over last year. I didn't have teaching experience.
But they will see it on my resume. This is just my cover letter.
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Jaime owned by
Mya the dog
and the cats:Crash, Gabby and Tucker

But they will see it on my resume. This is just my cover letter.

====

True... Good point.
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Tammy
Stanley and Pookey

I would post my resume but I don't want all that personal information on the web.
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Jaime owned by
Mya the dog
and the cats:Crash, Gabby and Tucker

VERY NICE! I would hire you! And great selling yourself!