Painting a Picture of Yours Truly

I had to fill out my application for Student Teaching before I left on my mission. So like 2 years ago. The actual application part was pretty easy. But along with that application went a letter of introduction. A "picture," if you will, of me. And why I am going into education. The schools I will potentially student-teach at will see this letter. The schools I apply for jobs at will see this letter. So basically, this is kind of a big deal. I wrote the letter before the mission, obviously, because it was a part of the application process. Then I e-mailed it to the lady in charge of formatting the letter and she inserted the picture that the BYU-I campus photographer took of me. It was a great picture at the time...but it is now like 3 years old. Okay, okay. It's not horrible. But it's not me either. That will be easy to fix. All I have to do is go to the Student Teaching meetings this upcoming semester (which I need to do anyway because a lot can change in 2 years) and get a new picture taken. Easy. The hard part is editing my letter.

You see...since I wrote the letter, I believe in fall of 2009, a LOT in my life has changed. A LOT in my teaching experience has changed. Not to mention, I now will have a Minor in TESOL which was not an option when I wrote the letter...and I speak Spanish. Psh...minor detail, right? Wrong. In my profession, or what will be my profession, being able to speak Spanish will be a HUGE asset! Not to mention with the TESOL I will be a little more highly qualified than the average-Jane teacher. I'll have a little more experience and a little more knowledge of how to teach those children who are learning English, and how to help their parents (not to mention be able to actually communicate with their parents) right out of the holding pen.

But as I'm sitting here, trying to figure out what to write to paint a vivid picture of myself, I'm stuck. I'm clueless. I don't know what to write! I kind of what to totally change my letter. I know for sure that there are at least some parts that I want to nix altogether. But what to add? Who knows! I need to keep it neutral, so I can't exactly mention my mission...but that is where I had a TON of teaching experiences, and learned Spanish. It was there that I really gained an appreciation for those who have migrated to the US and are trying to make a living for themselves and their families, even if it is hard. Those parents want their children to succeed...and one day I will be the educator helping them succeed. But how do I explain that in less than a page? Just a few hundred words? Really, I have less space to explain myself than I have already taken here in this blog post! And this just so happens to be one of my smaller ones. (What can I say...I'm a girl of many words...who absolutes hates talking herself up to other people.) Why can't someone else just write the letter for me??? Oh yeah...because I'm supposed to introduce myself to the administrators I will soon be working with.

So, I'm going to sit here and attempt to paint a picture of myself and hope it turns out to be a positive, uplifting, colorful image of who I am and where I stand in terms of my love for education. And alas, I'll keep it short.