Green Witch wrote: .....and start plugging in barberry and burning bush everywhere topped off with a layer of red mulch.
Right, Greenwitch, I think of it as a summer job. And those landscrapers really bug me. I guess I could be a hired hand. I think I could make decent hourly here in this area. But, still, it's a summer job.
Growing up in a homogenous suburb of Boston, I felt that my young life was not a well-rounded one. Even in elementary school, I felt a strong desire to expand my horizons. After college, where I studied anthropology as a self-designed major combining geography and sociology, I left my beautiful New England and headed west. I had already spent eight weeks in the Southwest on an archeological dig, but I was mostly confined to the site which was isolated from any nearby towns. I wanted to experience alternate lifestyles, different ethnic groups, various landscapes and socio-political structures. I jumped at jobs which allowed to me to interact with locals and learn about different cultures.
I landed, after college, in Santa Fe, NM and took a job at a cafe where I could meet and interact with people from all over New Mexico and travellers from abroad as well. I worked also at an import store for a moroccan man and his basque wife. From this couple I learned about the history of the spanish control over both Morocco and the bulk of the Basque lands. I listened to my boss haggle with traders from Pakistan and Afghanistan. From the area, itself, I learned about the the spanish explorers who came up from Mexico and the native americans whom they met in that area now known as New Mexico. I visited old spanish churches and pueblo and Anasazi ruins. The history there was inescapable.
From the Southwest, I drove to the South, where history was also inescapable. Here was a different story, the story of slavery and the Civil War. In Georgia, I continued to take jobs of a service nature where I could meet people. My time in Georgia taught me to stand up for myself and others in the face of lingering bigotry. Prejudice of all kinds still lingers in the north, but I found it to be more obvious in the south. While living there, after 10 years of living out of state, I started to miss my family and New England and decided to move back home.
I wanted to do something truly rewarding, as well as educational. My sister and I agreed that I would care for her coming child. For the last six years I have cared, full-time, for several children. After my niece went into daycare partime, I started to care for another family's child. When both mothers gave birth to their second children, I had to chose to work, again, fulltime for my sister. These years have been the richest in my life. I love watching the newborns become toddlers and then children. There have been bumps and bruises, tantrums and rebellions, but there has also been break through moments and those are golden. While I have always been interested in becoming a teacher, these years spent with the kids have made me realize how much I would like to be one.
The above is a start to my personal statement....
career counseling is one thing, you should also meet with one of the profs from the lesley uni. not someone from admissions office only, but approaching a prof, talking about what you want, how it's compatible...that is if you still have doubts. but you mulled this one over for so long, i'd just go for it head on.
who are you getting letters of rec from? i can write one, dunno how much it'd be worth, but if you need an extra, holler....gotta gooooo.
Littlek...that's good.
Is a personal statement an opportunity to sell yourself at all? If so, you may want to point out specific qualities you have, and how they relate to teaching. what value those different experiences have brought to your life, and will bring to becoming a teacher. Point out why you think you're a good fit.
Good point.
Would you like me to edit? I see some stuff but if it's an early draft I'll wait (if you want me to at all...)
I think it's a really promising start.
well, Blaise, I like the direction it's going in. So far.
Dag - I've spoken with my neighbor, an early ed professor (she will write one recommendation). I don't even know what questions to ask that I haven't already gotten answers to. I can't have letters from friends or family (kind of stuck there).
Slappy, thanks. Selling myself is exactly what the letter is for. I wanted to get something down last night and had planned to add specifics and tinker for a day or 5. Tips are good.
Soz, I'd LOVE for you to edit - but this is a very early draft and only about half written at that. Thanks!
Ok, I'll finish my coffee and then start to rewrite.
ok, phase 2:
Growing up in a homogenous suburb of Boston, I felt that my young life was not a well-rounded one. Even in elementary school, I felt a strong desire to expand my horizons. In 6th grade I was enamored with a study we made of native american culture. I made, out of clay, an adle-adle, a half-moon blade and an awl which drilled with the help of a stringed bow. I can still see and feel them. I spent eight wonderful weeks in the Southwest on an archeological dig, but I was mostly confined to the site which was isolated from any nearby towns. I have been to England, Spain, Mexico, Italy and Australia, but only for a week or two at a time. After college, where I studied anthropology as a self-designed major combining geography and sociology, I left my beautiful New England and headed west. I wanted to experience alternate lifestyles, different ethnic groups, various landscapes and socio-political structures. I jumped at jobs which allowed to me to interact with locals and learn about different cultures.
I landed, after college, in Santa Fe, NM and took a job at a cafe where I could meet and interact with people from all over New Mexico and travellers from abroad as well. I worked also at an import store for a moroccan man and his basque wife. From this couple I learned about the history of the spanish control over both Morocco and the bulk of the Basque lands. I listened to my boss haggle with traders from Pakistan and Afghanistan. From the area, itself, I learned about the the spanish explorers who came up from Mexico and the native americans whom they met in that area now known as New Mexico. I visited old spanish churches and pueblo and anasazi ruins. The history there was inescapable.
From the Southwest, I drove to the South, where history was also inescapable. Here was a different story, the story of slavery and the Civil War. In Georgia, I continued to take jobs of a service nature where I could meet people. My time in Georgia taught me to stand up for myself and others in the face of lingering bigotry. Prejudice of all kinds still lingers in the north, but I found it to be more obvious in the south. Alas, while living there, after 10 years of living out of state, I started to miss my family and New England and decided to move back home.
I wanted to do something truly rewarding, as well as educational. My sister and I agreed that I would care for her coming child. For the last six years I have cared, full-time, for several children. After my niece went into daycare part-time, I started to care for another family's child. When both mothers gave birth to their second children, I chose to work, again, full-time for my sister. These years have been the richest in my life. I love watching the newborns become toddlers and then children. There have been bumps and bruises, tantrums and rebellions, but there has also been break through moments and those are golden. While I have always been interested in becoming a teacher, these years spent with the kids have made me realize how much I enjoy teaching.
All the experiences I've had are available to be recalled as examples to my future students, as a pool to draw from to design projects and deal with problems which may arise in the classroom. For example, perhaps I can use the idea of an archeological dig to explain why it's important to follow protocol. I can explain from travel and academic experiences, that while people are different from country to country, or even house to house, that we are all largely the same. With a solid understanding of geography and ecology coupled with living in three very different climates, I can bring the taste, smell and feel of geography to life. And, there's a wealth of experience gained from caring for the kids. I learned how to communicate with children at a level which they understand, and I also learned how to talk with parents about their kids. When my niece started pre-kindergarten, I watched her teachers and thought I'd really like to have a job like theirs. Watching the dynamics of the kids in the classroom was fascinating to me. Seeing the appreciation the kids and teachers had for one another was endearing. I'd like to be in a position where I can watch children grow and learn and be a catalyst for that process.
Yeah? The examples aren't too lame? Or too far-reaching?
Have you read it out loud to yourself? And did you get the link I sent from NPR?
(Watching with bated breath...unable to offer any help in strange environment, but egging Little k on from afar...)
Well, I was utterly bamboozled by all this "junior college" stuff Craven was talking about....
