Hire Me. You Won't Regret It

Prompt #14: The Unsent Letter

June 26, 2016

To the Members of the Search Committee at Whatever College or University:

Listen. I could start this letter the way all applicants do, telling you the job I am interested in, as if you didn't already know. I could write you a statement about my career objective and ask you to accept my resume or CV, and this letter of interest. I could then, if I wanted to be like all the other hundreds of applicants who apply for jobs at your institution each year, follow a widely accepted template shared all across the internet. You know the one in which I highlight the most notable entries on my CV without listing them all over again. But I'm not like the others, any of them. So I won't.

Loosen your ties and kick off your heels because I'm about to blow your minds. I approach this pitch without any apology and without reserve. Go ahead and toss that entire pile of resumes and hire me.  Here are the things my resume won't tell you...

I work balls to the wall when I care about what I'm doing. When I choose to work somewhere, it's just about my choice as much as it is yours. I am committed and work with the highest standard of ethics and professionalism. My personal endeavors feed my soul and my practice so I don't chew up students and spit them out.  I expect to learn everyday and so I want that for my students as well. I am a graduate of the College of Education, and that means I have devoted myself to the craft of teaching. I have 18 years of onsite teaching and administrative experience in schools. I have worked in public and private, elementary and secondary, nonprofit and for profit, day school and residential programs, and I have taught and administered general and special education programs. I am qualified to teach teachers, because I am a teacher.

I want teacher candidates to live up to the standard of joining my profession. I take it to heart they will one day be a part of my own profession and be considered my peers. It is with this understanding that I have extremely high expectations, and provide feedback and learning experiences that will help my students develop into teachers prepared for success. I teach not just in theory but in practice, because I have been there. I want kids to once again dream of being teachers.

My doctorate is in Curriculum and Instruction, not in Educational Leadership and this is by design. My life's work has been in the study and practice of teaching and learning. Don't be fooled by my current position and others throughout my career in leadership. I have a natural propensity towards leadership, but my heart and my strengths are in the areas of curriculum development and program evaluation. I am interested in creating the best possible learning environment for students at all ages- one in which students have voice, are part of the process, and are valued as citizens in their classrooms. A place in which students construct and draw meaning from the interactions they have with peers, teachers, and literature. Students, I believe, are not empty vessels to be filled with whatever portion of the world's knowledge we think we have to give to them. Students, human beings, bring life and experiences, and knowledge with them to the school community. It is up to us to provide an environment for students to integrate and reflect upon the blending of all these things. And I can provide this.

I have the experience, I have the degrees- four of them, and I have the drive and passion. I really care about the profession. It matters little to me whether I teach undergraduate or graduate classes. I actually enjoy the entry level classes that some of my peers turn their noses up at. This is where we have the power to introduce our profession. This is where we can weed out those who just couldn't decide what to be. This is where we can excite students about what it means to be a teacher. This is where we can lay the groundwork for high expectations. I'm not in it for rank. I don't care what the title is before or after my name. I don't care what office I have or which rooms my classes are in. I just want to teach.

Hire me. You won't regret it.

Dr. Laurie J. Kemp, Ed.D