When developing any education resume or cover letter, you must be writing your resume and cover letter to meet district standards. Before crafting any career-related document, as well as planning for an interview, you must do your research.
Once you have chosen a school district you are interested in, find its goals, philosophy, mission statement, and school standards.
Districts tend to focus on different key issues such as literacy, multiculturalism, inclusion, special needs, outreach programs, classroom management, or technology. Find out the one or two main concerns the school district concentrates on, and then adapt your resume and cover letter accordingly.
Resume Writing Tips
Let’s start with the resume. If a learning community is most concerned about incorporating literature in the classroom, you can showcase related competencies in your expertise section areas.
For instance, you might include Reading Strategies, Interdisciplinary Reading, Literature Circle, Writer’s Workshops, etc. In the main body of your resume, under teaching experience, you should highlight literature-based activities and units you have previously implemented.
Describe the results as well. For example,
“Developed a fun thematic unit on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and integrated correlating units that examined key themes throughout the book. This unit sparked students’ interest and imagination, leaving them wanting to learn more and helped instill a love for reading and writing”.
Don’t dwell on incorporating literature; you want to show you are a well-rounded teacher.
The resume profile at the top of your resume should reflect the same thoughts and values. Explain your commitment to the issue and convey why you feel it’s important to incorporate it into the classroom. Again, do not solely focus on one or two main concerns of the district.
A potential school district needs to see you are committed to addressing the same concerns they have and tackling the regular issues that most schools face (i.e., attendance, discipline, appropriately challenging the students).
Cover Letter Tips
The education cover letter needs to keep the same ideas in mind and match up with the resume. It is a bit easier to convey your passion and dedication to the school community in a cover letter.
Take advantage of this opportunity and make your personality and commitment come to life. If you know for a fact that the school district you are applying to is, for example, very culturally diverse, explain how you have incorporated multicultural elements, celebrated cultural diversity, and promoted inclusion in your past teaching positions.
Reinforce that you seek to bring these same values to your new job. Make certain your cover letter highlights your other outstanding traits and effective teaching methods as well.
First and foremost, you should sell yourself as a versatile and adaptable teacher who is not simply a one-trick pony. Communicate you are an educator willing to face new challenges and employ innovative methods to cultivate a supportive and nurturing school community.
Focus your resume and cover letter toward the issues the district and school community find the most significant. Communicating you understand their priorities and needs will pique the hiring committee members’ interest. Use top-quality paper when printing all your job search documents to get the attention you deserve.
