I strongly believe that one of the most important elements for the academic success of any child
comes directly from the involvement and enthusiasm of the parents. In San Joaquin, Ecuador, I
taught Virtues Classes at a school of all boys from grades kindergarten through 7th grade for 9
months. During this time I not only had to learn a completely new language, but I also had to
use it to teach coherently in a short period of time.
As part of my work, my teaching partner and I developed a program for the parents of the
children in our classes. We invited all the parents to learn about the principles we were teaching
their children such as honesty, generosity, justice, and kindness. I gained a great deal of
experience dealing with uninvolved or upset parents. Based on these experiences, I believe I
would be most useful in an area with a high Latino population because of my ability to
communicate directly with the parents in either English or Spanish.
I am a very outgoing and self-motivated person and have no trouble stepping into difficult
situations to help mediate them. I believe that we need to give children of every race, cultural,
and socioeconomic background the opportunity to grow up with an education. I promote the
need to value education and put energy into making it fun. I welcome the opportunity to
facilitate a positive learning environment and communicate with students and parents in two
languages. As I graduate college, the best way for me to put into practice the principles that I
uphold is to serve as a teacher in the Teach for America program.