Alternative Cover Letter Template

[name]

[address]

[Suburb, State & Postcode]

October 9, 2012

Panel Chair

On-line via: www.jobs.wa.gov.au

Dear [name], (find out the name of the person chairing the panel)

Application: [Position]

I am writing to apply for the advertised vacancy of XXXX School as advertised on the Jobs WA website.

Introduction

Introduce yourself and your educational philosophy. Detail your skills and attributes to address the context of the school and the type of teacher they are looking for.

Address Professional Knowledge domain from the NPST.

Example

In my role as a Year 3 teacher, and in line with the Classroom First priority of making every student a successful student, I actively designed and implemented an inclusive class spelling program to support and improve the learning needs of all students.

My students started the year with a diverse range of spelling abilities. There seemed to be a general weakness in spelling and in their ability to identify and adopt spelling strategies that worked for them. They were all familiar with the Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check (LSCWC) strategy, but there was no real understanding of how to effectively use it. There were also a number of students whose way of learning was unsuited to this strategy. Consequently students were making no real progress in learning and retaining their words. In addition, I felt there were some ‘super spellers’ who weren’t being sufficiently challenged.

In order to address this I applied and adapted a range of strategies drawn from my Professional Learning in First Steps, contemporary research and advice from colleagues. I implemented an individualised and multi sensory approach to my class and home spelling programs. A real focus was made on what the ‘Look’ in LSCWC actually meant, and on the features of words. Students were initially given a pre-test on all the THRASS Chart words and the First 400 Salisbury Words. From this test each child was able to identify those words they could not spell, and added them to a word bank from which they selected their individual weekly spelling lists. Children who were ‘super spellers’ chose words from their writing, topic words, words they wanted to learn to spell, challenge lists, and other Salisbury Words. This spelling program worked alongside the THRASS program operating in the school. Strategies such as Thrassing It Out, Finger Tracing, Mnemonics, Small Words Inside Big Words, Word Triangles, Sentences, Speed Writing, Build a Word (using pipe-cleaners, MABD, counters, pop sticks, straws and blocks), Fancy Writing and LSCWC were modelled for children and then they were given the opportunity to practise and apply these strategies as part of their class spelling as well as homework. To develop my students as autonomous learners, I adopted a gradual release of responsibility model with this spelling program. Initially I selected and explicitly taught the spelling strategies to students and by the end of the year, once students were familiar with a range of spelling strategies, they given the opportunity to select the strategies most suited their learning styles.

As a result, students showed a remarkable improvement in their visual and phonetic spelling and in their retention of words. This was clearly demonstrated in their weekly spelling tests where students regularly scored at or above their personal best. Unlike at the beginning of the year where many children were unsure, or could not say with confidence what strategy/strategies, by the end of the year they were able to articulate and justify their choices in relation to their own spelling needs. Parents also acknowledged the success of the program and made comments about their children’s improvement in this area. This responsive, tailored program enabled students to become independent learners in spelling, who were able to make informed choices about the way they learn.

Address Professional Practice domain from the NPST.

Example

I am committed to developing an authentic and challenging arts curriculum. I stay up to date with learning theory and employ it in designing engaging arts experiences respond to the context within which the school operates and offer opportunities for exploration and success for all students.

At Serenity College, our team worked collaboratively to design and implement an innovative Arts taster course. This course involved vertical groupings (Years 7 & 8) operating on an 8-week rotation through five Arts disciplines over a year. As a team we felt it was important that future student subject selections could be based on informed choice so an experience of each art form was essential. Our initial taster course had sound goals, but problems with timing quickly became apparent and after a short period it became obvious that changes were needed.

I devised an idea that would meet the requirements of equity of access to the students and representation of the five Arts areas, utilise existing staff and deliver enough time in each module for valid and meaningful assessment. I presented it to an enthusiastic team, mapping out a timeline and the key steps toward implementation. Since 2011 our taster course has run over two years. It now offers both discipline-based courses and integrated arts courses and has been extremely successful.

Work produced by students is of a higher quality conceptually and demonstrates stronger retention of course content. We also see a particularly high level of skill acquisition and reinforcement. The transferral of skills and understandings across each artform in the taster course is a terrific outcome as it not only creates a springboard to specialisation, but also reinforces the essence of the creative process and the notion of the Arts as a whole learning area. Student reflections, essential to the learning process, indicate the course is very popular and enrolments for elective arts courses in Year 9 have improved in the order of 35%.

Address Professional Engagement domain from the NPST.

No example given.

Summary

In summary…[outline why the combination of the above responses to each of the three domains make you the best possible candidate for the position you are applying for.]

Attached is my Resume [this should highlight the key skills and experience mentioned above] which will provide you with an overview of my experience and skills. I would appreciate the opportunity to provide you with further information, and can be contacted for interview on [contact number].

Yours sincerely