Step 1 = complete!

We finally had to turn the heat on at school this morning. :( Although, I guess waiting until October 21st is an accomplishment of sorts . . . .thank you, New Mexico. The weather has been weirdly strange and rainy and dark, which is abnormal, but it's supposed to get nice again and be back in the 70s this weekend.

In other news, I'm virtually done with my Teach for America application! There are a few quick things I need to double check regarding financial aid/technical details, but for all intensive purposes, I've done all the hard work.

I had to write 500 words to answer these questions:

* Why do you seek to join Teach For America?
* What would you hope to accomplish as a corps member?
* How would you determine your success as a corps member?

I'm pretty happy with my response. I'm copying and pasting it here and would love any feedback you guys might have. I'm aware that there are a few sentences that need grammatical tweaking (especially in the last paragraph), so if you see one and have a suggestion. . . bring it on. I'll be fine-tuning it later this evening.

~*~

The celebrated poet E.E. Cummings once said, “We do not believe in ourselves until someone reveals that deep inside us something is valuable, worth listening to …Once we believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity, wonder … or any experience that reveals the human spirit.” I share Cummings’s sentiment that confidence stems from a sense of self-worth. Teaching allows me to work closely with students, strengthening their skills, interests, and abilities. The relationships built through teaching, both professional and personal, create bonds between the students and myself. Once communication and trust are established, I am able to strengthen students’ self-worth by reinforcing their talents, praising their uniqueness, and showing them the challenges they are capable of overcoming. Unfortunately, socioeconomic status and its inherent obstacles limit many students from high-quality educational experiences.

I am passionate about Teach for America because it gives inspired educators the opportunity to enrich the students that need it most. Educational inequity is a disservice that prohibits innumerable students from fulfilling their potential. Always having experienced a strong sense of justice, I am driven to create equal opportunities for disadvantaged students. I believe that all students are capable of learning, and that effective education results in increased self-esteem and self-confidence. In this way, a strong education shapes the course of a student’s life. Employment with Teach for America would allow me to work hands-on in the areas of highest need and do so within a community of likeminded, motivated educators.

As a corps member, I would strive to connect individually with my students, as communication and trust open the doors for growth and exploration. Specific academic goals would depend upon grade level and subject area, but I would hope for all students to leave my class with more confidence and ambition than they had upon entering. I hope to create a welcoming, safe classroom environment where students are encouraged to be themselves and express their opinions. I believe this environment is conducive to learning and that students must feel secure and comfortable in order to take risks. It is only when students feel validated and respected that they will truly engage in school. By the time they complete my class, I would like my students to value education and envision the possibilities of their futures.

Some accomplishments are easily gauged while other successes remain somewhat intangible. Increased attendance rates, improved test scores, and measurable gains in content knowledge are victories for which any teacher should be proud. I applaud these achievements but believe that overall success also includes the less definable classroom moments. The expression on a child’s face when he has the “light bulb” moment, the growing relationship between school, parents, and community, the shift in demeanor when a student begins to enjoy school, and the fortitude demonstrated when a student accomplishes a task of which he believed himself incapable – while none of these triumphs can be marked in a grade book, I find them crucial to success and triumphs nonetheless. These intangible victories signal an internal shift within the students and community, and this shift towards independent thinking and self-confidence demonstrates readiness for positive involvement in both local communities and society as a whole.