My Essay

Please provide a personal statement of 500 to 1,000 words that addresses ALL of the following questions:

1.	Why do you want to become a teacher?
2.	The most important responsibility of a teacher is to ensure high academic achievement for all students. Describe a skill or ability that you have that will help you reach this goal. Provide an example of how you have effectively used this skill or ability in the past.
3.	Nearly all Fellows work in 'high-need schools' located in low-income communities. Specifically, why do you want to teach in a high-need school?

Although I am only 30 I am a bit older than many graduate students. I began full time school at the age of 26, so I have had more time to ponder what I want to do with my life.

I spent several years hoping to be a doctor, a pilot, a lawyer, and an astronaut (I still sort of want to do that), and on each new career path I was sure. Some I pursued more actively than others, and obstacles often discouraged me. I admit that a sense of aptitude for teaching, specifically for teaching mathematics did not arrive all at once. This sense has grown gradually since settling on this career choice and everything has fallen into place.

As a teenager I did my share of babysitting, so I spent a fair amount of time with kids. Later, I was a swim instructor and camp counselor. Though I was not mature enough to recognize it at the time, I was very fullilled by these experiences. Despite this, I never considered teaching as a career.

I love mathematics.

This was not always so, however.

I was always good at math. I was in the advanced math classes from middle school on , I completed highschool calculus, and I also took the required college math for a liberal arts degree. And still the love was not there.

I think that those who choose to teach identify unhesitatingly the educator that inspired them.

After settling on a science major, I took a calculus class from a man named Mr. Edwards. He was a different sort of teacher. He taught that humor was vital to learning, and began the first class with the imperative that the only stupid question was the one you didn't ask. I repeat that phrase to all my students and always will.

Many of his methods were unorthodox (in one class he recommended that students not purchase the text; he had written his own workbook), and this was significant to my learning. What I took most from him, though, was a sense of confidence in my own math abilities. As I said, I was always good at math, but I left his classes knowing I could bereally good at math. This change in attitude was a revelation for me, and I knew I was not unique. I knew any kid could be good at math, all they needed was convincing. I felt this was the key to my future career and to being a revolutionary math teacher.

When I say that I want to be a revolutionary math teacher, I speak not of introducting groundbreaking techniques or pedagogy. Rather, I refer to the internal revolution that begins in a child the instant they start to realize their own potential.

I have applied this attitude countless times since then. I profess this belief to my students, friends, family, and any who will listen, and as enthusiasm is infectous, I watch it catch on. I see students change from being rote, mechanical thinkers, to critical and creative mathematicians.

At the time i finally matriculate into graduate school I will have acted as a teachers assistant in a low income highschool with a high proportion of ethnic minorities. I asked specifically for this assigment. I knew that I wanted to work in such an area because of my own idealism. However, I did not want to waste mine or students time preparing for a career, only to find my confidence was misplaced. After all, low income schools are notoriously more difficult than others, and I needed to know that I could handle it. I was doubly surprised by my experience, as I found that not only could I handle it, I also loved it.

It is no secret that children of lower income often receive lower quality education, but it is not just the quality of education that suffers. It is also the children's self esteem, including their scholastic esteem. I feel it is none that needs convincing of their potential more than they.

I am passionate about education, with a fervor and zeal that borders on religious. The analogy is not far off in my opinion.

Education is the great equalizer.

There are few problems that it cannot solve, few wrongs it cannot right, and no limits to it's power. Knowledge is attainable by all, and all that is asked in return is hard work and perserverance.

Beyond this it is the privelage and responsibility of all to maintain the pursuit for life and I do not hold myslef exempt myself from this directive. At the time of this writing I have completed 17 college math courses. 15 of these were advanced, and 6 were calculus. By graduation I will have taken a total of 23 college mathematics courses. I feel I have attained content knowledge sufficient to teach at the highschool level.

Even so I know that I have not yet scratched the surface. I plan to continue my own learning indefinitely and hope to attain a Masters degree or possibly Ph.d in mathematics before the end of my career.

I am thrilled that I have achieved a level of education to speak with authority in some matters of math, and I am anxious to begin working in my chosen field. I hope I can do so in the NYC Teaching fellows program