Sample cover letter for Full Time position at David Douglas School District

1. At the age of 26 I hopped in my car and drove across the country from New York to Oregon. This was not a spur of the moment endeavor, but rather a well planned out excursion. I was going to graduate school and leaving the nest for something unknown. I had tried a few other times to leave – undergrad in Georgia, a job in Illinois, research in Madagascar – but I always found my way back to the nest. However, this time when I started up my packed car, pulled out of the driveway and looked back, I felt a little bit different. I couldn’t exactly put my finger on it, but I sensed that this was a permanent move and that something larger was ahead of me.

   After days on the road alone, I eventually arrived in Oregon. Finding my way out to Oregon was somewhat surprising to my loved ones since I have no real sense of direction. If you were to talk to anyone that knows me well, they would tell you that I do not know my north from my south from my east from my west. I typically fumble with maps and get all turned around. This particular trait of mine drives my mother bonkers, especially when I am in the co-pilot’s seat with the map and looking for a particular road. One might think as you get older and with some practice that you could get better at reading a map and knowing what direction you are traveling. I have not been so lucky and with each day that rolls by, I still wonder whether I am going east or north or west or south.

   With that said, there is one place where I can always find my true north, and that is in the classroom facilitating learning. There is never any question about the direction I am heading with the 25 little wonders that walk into my room every single day. We are on an excursion together navigating the varied terrain of content. Some days we go down this road and other days we go down that road. It rarely feels like we have traveled off course even if we take some side streets here and there.