( Post #03 ) Application Letter – 2nd Draft

Isaac Schroeder

xxxxxxx Avenue x

Block xxx, #xx-xxx

Singapore xxxxxx

telephone: xxxxxxxx

email: xxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxx.com

10^th February 2011

Ms Janet Teo

Manager, Human Resource Office

Ministry of Education, Singapore

1 North Buona Vista Drive

Singapore 138675

Dear Ms Teo,

Physics Teacher, Teaching Career Track

I am enclosing my Résumé in response to your advertisement for the above post which appeared on the Ministry of Education’s official website on 1^st February 2011.

I have recently graduated from the National University of Singapore with an Honours degree in Physics and specialisation in Astrophysics. I have been studying full-time for the past four years and was an administrator in the Republic of Singapore Air Force for two years prior to that, with a brief stint as a relief teacher during the period in between.

My time as a relief teacher has exposed me to the rigors of a career in education and provided me with valuable experience in managing large groups of students. Being a student myself for four years at NUS has allowed me to observe a wide plethora of teaching styles and develop my own for the effective teaching of Physics. Service in the RSAF has prepared me for work as a teacher by instilling in me the values of diligence and responsibility while allowing me to hone my skill in being thorough, meticulous and systematic in my work, an important quality for any teacher if students are to be able to follow his or her lessons.

My lifelong interest in academia, encouraged by my mother who is herself a teacher, inspired me to seek a career in education. The contributions teachers make to the betterment of Singapore is a noble one as our future will be shaped by the students of today. I thus cannot imagine any higher calling than passing the torch of knowledge on to the individuals who will be driving Singapore’s progress in but a decade or two, each of them unique and talented in his or her own special way.

From reading your mission statement I am impressed by your determination to advance the standard of education in Singapore and to the provision of opportunities for all children to develop holistically. As such, I find the occupation of a teacher to be profoundly meaningful and rewarding a profession and wish to commit myself to the service of our education system. I sincerely hope that you will look favourably upon my application and look forward to your reply.

Yours sincerely,

Isaac Schroeder

Enclosure

Application Letter ( 1st Draft )

xxxxxxx Avenue x

Block xxx, #xx-xxx

Singapore xxxxxx

2^nd February 2011

Ms Janet Teo

Manager, Human Resource Office

Ministry of Education, Singapore

1 North Buona Vista Drive

Singapore 138675

Dear Ms Teo,

Physics Teacher, Teaching Career Track

I am enclosing my Résumé in response to your advertisement for the above post which appeared on the Ministry of Education’s official website on 1^st February 2011.

I have recently graduated from the National University of Singapore with an Honours degree in Physics and specialisation in Astrophysics. I have been studying full-time for the past four years and was an administrator in the Republic of Singapore Air Force for two years prior to that, with a brief stint as a relief teacher during the period in between.

My time as a relief teacher has exposed me to the rigors of a career in education and provided me with valuable experience in managing large groups of students. Being a student myself for four years at NUS has allowed me to observe a wide plethora of teaching styles and develop my own for the effective teaching of Physics. Service in the RSAF has prepared me for work as a teacher by instilling in me the values of diligence and responsibility while allowing me to hone my skill in being thorough, meticulous and systematic in my work, an important quality for any teacher if students are to be able to follow his or her lessons.

My lifelong interest in academia, encouraged by my mother who is herself a teacher, inspired me to seek a career in education. The contributions teachers make to the betterment of Singapore is a noble one as our future will be shaped by the students of today. I thus cannot imagine any higher calling than passing the torch of knowledge on to the individuals who will be driving Singapore’s progress in but a decade or two, each of them unique and talented in his or her own special way.

From reading your mission statement I am convinced of your determination to further the standard of the education scene in Singapore and to the provision of opportunities for all children to develop holistically. As such, I find the occupation of a teacher to be profoundly meaningful and rewarding a profession and wish to commit myself to the service of our education system. I sincerely hope that you will look favourably upon my application and look forward to your reply.

Yours sincerely,

Isaac Schroeder

Enclosure

( Post #02 ) Resolving Interpersonal Conflict

      As a significant number of students taking this module are aspiring to be teachers, and perhaps a few have plans to start a family after graduation, learning to resolve interpersonal conflicts amongst children is of vital importance. We should bear in mind that such conflicts, while revolving around matters seemingly trivial to adults, are of profound seriousness to the child at that stage of his or her life and if left unresolved could grow into something more detrimental as the child develops. Thus, I have decided it appropriate that this post feature a hypothetical but not uncommon scenario involving a pair of squabbling siblings.

Scenario :

      Isaac and Rebecca are siblings in a family of four. Four-year-old Rebecca is the younger of the two by five years. They are both big fans of Garfield, the comic by Jim Davis. One day, they decide that they are going to start collecting clippings from the newspaper’s comics section. However, the family only subscribes to one newspaper and both siblings want the daily Garfield comic for their own private collections. Isaac is willing to share but the younger and more selfish Rebecca is not.

      On the surface, the conflict appears to be over newspaper clippings. However, this latest dispute is actually a symptom masking a deeper source of sibling rivalry. Isaac is bitter that his elders always insist that he give in to his sister on the grounds that she is younger. Rebecca, on the other hand, is tired of living in her brother’s shadow, of being endlessly compared to him because his grades are better and of receiving hand-me-down toys and clothes from him. She attempts to distinguish herself from him in as many ways as possible, to the extent of deluding herself into thinking that she likes everything he doesn’t and hates everything he does even though they share similar tastes. She even refuses to acknowledge their family resemblance.

      The argument over who gets the newspaper clippings is just the most recent manifestation of their constant rivalry, with both parties reluctant to “lose” this symbolic battle of wills.

      If you were either Isaac or Rebecca, or one of their parents or grandparents, what would you suggest as a satisfactory resolution to this conflict at its superficial and deeper levels?

Peer Teaching Group 2 – Resumes & Application Letters

Dear classmates, how's my driving peer teaching? On Monday the 31^st of January 2011, Michelle, Faizal and I presented on the topic of Resumes and Application Letters. The lesson plan was as follows:

Content

·         Effective application letters (workplace, internship, graduate school)

·         Effective résumé

·         Personal Statements

Goals

·         Educate our classmates on how a good application letter and/or resume will allow one to stand out from others.

·         Teach them and demonstrate the proper way of writing a professional application letter and resume

Materials/Technology

·         PowerPoint slides

·         Facebook

Activities

·         “Spot the Mistake!” game

·         Part 1 – Identify and discuss problems with a sample résumé

·         Part 2 – Analyse mistakes in an application letter statement

·         Write A Résumé

·         From details gathered on Facebook, write a résumé of that person

Lesson Sequence

1.    Introduction

2.    Résumé

3.    Application letter

4.    Personal Statement

5.    Activity

6.    Closing

If you have any opinions with regards to our presentation, please feel free to leave a comment.