Cover Letter & Applications

Tons of my teacher friends, and of course my mom,  have asked me about my cover letter. Both principals I interviewed with commented on how original and thoughtful my letter was. 

Here's the deal with my letter. It's out there. It's weird and quirky, but hey! so am I. I got the idea from a Professor my last semester in grad school. He told us to take a chance and be different. His advice was also quickly followed up by the warning that some principals will hate it. What I took from that was, if a principal hated it then they probably wouldn't like my teaching style. 

My letter started out as a story. I went into detail about how I used to play school outside with my stuffed animals and how they were all excellent students. After telling the story I mentioned a few things that make me stand out in a sea of applicants such as: my ability to integrate technology into lessons, my creativity and my personality. But, for an administrator to get far enough into the letter to read my qualifications I had to make sure my hook was interesting enough that they would want to keep reading. 

As far as applications go here's a few things I think are super important to remember when you start to apply:

• Personal touches - I made envelopes with scrapbook paper. They were bright and attention grabbing. I also put all my paperwork inside a purple folder. This was another recommendation from my Professor. He said he always remembered the girl with the purple folder! 
• Use snail mail! - Tons of districts post their jobs online with an online application process. In addition to online always send an application packet. If the district hasn't seen your online application but they get your packet it'll put the seed in their head about you! On the flip side, if they've already opened your application following up with a packet never hurt. 
• Make a website -  This was something I thought of on my own. It doesn't need to be super fancy, I made a weebly blog. The blog had sample lesson plans, my letters of recommendation, an easy contact button and an online resume. This simple gesture shows your administrators that you're comfortable with technology.

Once you've sent out one complete application the rest are easy peasy!