The Teaching Cover Letter: Out of the Classroom and Into Reality
September 20, 2008
A teacher has a great job to do: he or she must be mentor and supervisor in the classroom, and counselor outside of it. Such a job requires people skills, passion, enthusiasm, and a lot of patience. Such a job is actually in great demand: there are thousands of schools all over the world with so many students, but with very few good teachers.
If you are looking for a job as a teacher, then you might be preparing your documents right now. Your resume will probably outline all your educational and career achievements, and will show all the awards you received, all the work you had peer-reviewed or published, and all the workshops or seminars you participated in and attended. Your transcript will show all the wonderful grades you got. Your cover letter will act as the complement to both these documents, and showcase your personality.
But wait, you think: can the cover letter be so important? How can one sheet of paper hold so much power? Do prospective employers actually read the cover letter?
Believe it or not, a cover letter is actually the most important part of your job application. Your teaching cover letter can show your passion for teaching, as well as your enthusiasm in dealing with different people. Your resume and transcript can only go so far in providing your prospective employers a glimpse of your personality.
So what goes into the great teaching cover letter? Your cover letter has to grab your readers attention, and make the attention stay there. There are so many ways by which you can do this but there are also so many ways by which you can get it wrong. First, you need to use direct, terse language that does not alienate your letters reader. Stay away from deep English words, long paragraphs, or run-on sentences. Check your grammar: if you are careful about how you write your letters, you can be careful with how you handle your job, and your prospective employers can sense this.
Dont make your letter boring: use language that is conversational and exciting, but be polite and tactful. You want your teaching cover letter to be bold, and to show your passion. You want to be a personality in the classroom, not a cardboard cutout reading lessons to a bunch of sleepy students. Your letter should reflect this desire, so make every word count.
Your teaching cover letter should also be relevant to the schools mission and goals. State your experience as a teacher, and make sure that you align all these experiences with how you want your career to progress, and how this career progression is in line with the schools own aims. Show that you can offer the school something, and that you can make its students better than ever. You have only a few sentences at your disposal, however, so avoid gushing about what you can do and what you want to do.
Lastly, use an active, exciting voice in your letter. State that you are looking forward to being interviewed, and that you anticipate a positive response from your prospective employers. Provide contact information, and make sure that all the information is valid. Dont make any promises that you cant keep: wait for the phone call or email from the school, and respond immediately. If you dont hear from your prospective employers, make a follow-up call. Show persistence and dedication at this stage of the job application, and chances are, you might be hired as a teacher.
Your teaching cover letter should show what kind of a teacher you will be. You have to show personality and be exciting, but you have to be mature and professional at the same time. If you can show your passion and make your teaching cover letter matter, then your teaching career may soon blossom into the kind of career that you really want.
Mario Churchill is a freelance author and has written over 200 articles on various subjects. For more information on teaching cover letter checkout his recommended websites.
The Ace Cover Letter for Teachers
Many people will agree that a teacher is someone that is well-respected and loved individuals in this world. They play such a big role in our society. This role particularly focuses in molding the capacities of the young ones who will take charge of ...
Education Cover Letter 101
Writing a good education cover letter is a must. However, there are those who fall over the mistake that this is the best way to show off and stand out. The education cover letter is actually a good way to give the good impression to your prospective...
Making a Sample Cover Letter for Teacher - Teaching the Right Way of Words
Do you remember who your best teacher was? A true mentor is someone who gives meaning to what you are learning. A real teacher can make the most trivial matters seem exciting, the most intimidating mathematical problems seem effortless to solve, and ...
Teachers Also Need A Good Cover Letter
Writing a good cover letter is the best way to sell yourself to an employer. It is written very differently from a resume. A lot of qualified job applicants havent even got themselves a job interview because their cover letters were not interesting e...
Writing a Cover Letter for Teachers
If there is one thing that worries an individual who want to pursue a teaching career is that their cover letter must sound very good and their writing skills must be perfect. Of course you need to write well but it doesnt have to be perfect.Sometim...
Free Cover Letters
If you find writing a cover letter difficult, a free cover letter template or sample developed by professionals can come to your rescue. These are available for a variety of needs. They come in many different formats and levels of formality. You coul...
No Need to Freak Out Over the Cover Letter Format
For most people, it is not new to hear about others who get frantic over what cover letter format to use. Truly, a cover letter format will help you in having an edge at your endeavor. This can help you land that job interview you aspire for. However...
Free Sample Cover Letter For A Resume
Free samples of a cover letter for a resume will certainly help you write the perfect cover letter for your job application. When it comes to cover letters there is no one cover letter that fits everyone. Each one is unique according to the job appli...
Cover Letters
Cover letters are just as important if not more so than your resume. The cover letter is the first thing that prospective employers will look at. Your cover letter needs to stand out and grab the attention of the prospective employer and land you tha...
An Outstanding Cover Letter: You Need One, Too
There is nothing that can compare to an outstanding cover letter. If you want to get an employers attention, you will need cover letter that demands their attention.The cover letter is the first thing that an employer is going to read. It is the pr...