"I have a Masters from Otterbein College and a degree in Education from Miami (Ohio) University. I have been a high school history teacher for the past 12 years at a High School. I have worked primarily with 9th grade students. One of the reasons I am most interested in this employment opportunity is because my personal road to being an educator was difficult. As a youth, I had poor grades academically year in and year out. I was a regular in summer school through the 5th grade. It wasn't until I had a mentor (5th grade teacher) who helped instill in me the confidence, believe, and mentality that I could achieve anything I wanted to achieve through hard work and a changed mindset.

My greatest strength in motivating people is my ability to communicate and form positive relationships with students. As a teacher, I actually carry out a "motivational series", which includes a variety of videos that my students watch and then we have a class discussion on the purpose/meaning/value of the video on their lives personally. I also have students set personal goals each semester that they periodically access their progress on while also reflecting on their overall success." less...