New York Teaching Fellows Essays

I am applying to the New York Teaching Fellows. I think I would make an incredible, dedicated, and inspiring teacher. This essay that I wrote for my application is perhaps one of the best pieces of writing I have ever done. I am so proud of it that I decided to share it with you. I hope you enjoy.

Why do you want to be a teacher? What experiences have led you to want to teach in a high-need school in New York City?

I have always wanted to make a difference. When I was in middle school, I joined student government, because I wanted school funds allocated more responsibly. When I was in high school, I raised money to donate a car to a cafeteria server who had fallen on hard times. When I got to college, I took on the Ann Arbor city council and demanded increased lighting in the darkest and most crime ridden areas of off-campus student housing. And here I am at the end of my undergraduate career, waiting for the next chapter of my life to begin, and I am still not satisfied. I have not grown tired of facing a daunting obstacle and overcoming it. I am not ready to give up on changing the world for the better. Quite simply, I want to become a teacher, because I know I can make a difference.

I want to bring a fresh approach to teaching. To do this, I plan on using my natural ability to innovate. I think this is the most important aspect of teaching in a high-need school currently. Why? Because something is wrong! The disparity between the have and have-nots is overwhelming. Education can either work to perpetuate this gap, or it can be the much needed solution. Something must change if we are to correct the injustices and inequalities currently inherent to the system. This is why the role of the teacher must be to innovate. My concentration at the University of Michigan, Organizational Studies, has equipped me with the tools necessary to pinpoint organizational failure and then mold it from the inside and out so that it may succeed.

One way that I hope to innovate is by using and making technology a significant part of my student’s curriculum. Personally, I have a passion for technology and a fascination with the Internet. I have designed my own websites, write my own weblog, and read about new technologies. There is a great deal of importance in making this a priority in education. I think that all productive citizens use technology in their daily lives, and therefore, if these students are to be productive they must be well versed and keep pace with current technologies.

I recognize also that innovation is not always as structured and strategic as my abovementioned paragraph makes it out to be. However, I feel confidently in my ability to deal with ambiguity. When presented with the task of strategically mapping out the future growth of an air filter company to the year 2020, I did not retreat or back down from the challenge. Rather, I excelled and logically and rationally approached the situation and handled it maturely and professionally. I expect the classroom to throw ambiguities at me, but I know I am well prepared.

Finally, I want to be a teacher because I think it will be a good fit for me and a profession that I will succeed in. I think that aside from being a great educator, I will also be a role model and mentor to my students. I am proud of who I am and what I am becoming. In high-need schools, sometimes the most valuable commodity is a positive male role model.

And I make this decision to teach knowing that I will likely meet a challenge and test of a lifetime. But I am up for it. I am ready.

Describe something you have accomplished that makes you proud. What did you learn from this experience that might help you to ensure high academic achievement for all of your students?

Have you ever watched a chameleon change color? It is quite a remarkable thing. Just based on its surroundings, it has the ability to adjust its appearance in order to make it blend better to its background. This has made the chameleon particularly good at adapting to its environment. In this regard, I feel like a chameleon and I are quite similar.

You probably would not notice it at first by my appearance or even if I opened my mouth and chatted with you for a short while, but I was born and raised thousands of miles away from the United States of America. In fact, the first twelve years of my life took place on the southernmost point of the African continent in the Republic of South Africa.

While in South Africa, my capacity to adapt and change was cultivated. I witnessed the fall of apartheid first-hand, which altered the dynamics of the country in several ways. I, along with the rest of the country, felt like we were part of a transition, and we all worked together to adapt to the new way of life. Though I was very young, I thank my mother for placing me in front of the television to view the release of Nelson Mandela and to watch the news coverage of the 1994 free election, explaining to me that I was watching history unfold.

Immigrating to America brought on another set of challenges that tested my adaptability. At first, I had a thick South African accent which made communicating slightly awkward. When friends decided to get nostalgic and refer to cultural references from their childhood, I felt lost and out of place. For the longest time, I felt as though I was carrying around this label of being from South Africa and nothing more.

But rather than getting frustrated and refusing to accept my reality, I persevered and let my natural ability to adapt and to change take its course. And even though it did not happen overnight, today I feel accepted and pleased with the way I am perceived.

This is an enormously powerful insight that I get to live with everyday, and I think would be equally powerful in promoting the success of my students. The lesson I learned is rather than resisting change and giving up because of my frustrations, I learned to embrace change by adjusting to it and being persistent until I found the right way.

I feel like these are fundamental qualities in order to ensure high academic achievement. Learning is a grueling and arduous process that needs patience and commitment. I believe that I embody these traits and want to help my students realize them.