Graduate School Application Essay

I learned from the best in high school, including one very dynamic tenth-grade English teacher, who helped prepare me for work in honors, AP, and then an English major at Clark University years later. I am thrilled for the opportunity to apply to Shrewsbury High School now, as I have evolved since my days as a student at a rival high school into an English teacher committed to emphasizing student voice and to preparing his students for the 21st century world.

I have found success so far in an urban setting in Worcester’s Main South neighborhood teaching at Claremont Academy, a school serving 500 students, grades 7-12. During my full-year teaching internship at Claremont, set up through my Master of Arts in Teaching program, I have taught sections of 9th and 11th grade English Language Arts to groups rich with English language learners and students with IEPs and 504s. I know that my skills can easily transfer from an urban setting into Shrewsbury. My biggest area of strength is my ability to make student voice the center of classroom discussion. I require students to think deeply on authentic topics and I underscore best practice principles of collaboration and student-centered learning. For example,

I believe students must be able to express and question their beliefs. Students must learn to write and speak (express) their world, as well as to listen to and read (perceive) it. This is another of my areas of strength that will successfully translate to working with students and teachers at Shrewsbury High School. Your philosophy underscores the value in creating lifelong learners who draw on skills as 21st century scholars. In my classroom, dialogue activities such as Socratic seminars and debates will engage students in reading their worlds and the worlds of those around them to become empathizing, critically thinking citizens. After all, conversing together makes us all