Garden Grove, CA 92843 (339) 364-0262 leanne.lupone@gmail.com
To Whom It May Concern:
I am seeking a long term substitute position as a science teacher for December 2018 through February 2019. In March, I will be traveling to Uruguay for a Fulbright Scholarship to teach English in the capital of Montevideo, and inland rural towns. I completed my baccalaureate as a Chemistry major at the University of California, Irvine this past June, earning Single Subject Credentials for Chemistry and Physics, as well as English Learner Authorization in the state of California.
I have a experience teaching in a variety of demographics, including minority students, low socioeconomic backgrounds, as well as those from privileged backgrounds, in both private and public schools. Throughout my teacher preparation program, I discovered that the most challenging place to work was not the school in Compton with 90% free/reduced-price lunch students, nor was it the school with reversed demographics. The most difficult classroom was in San Juan Capistrano, where the classes split halfway, so that I must challenge and inspire students from different types of backgrounds simultaneously. My goal through teaching in private schools, Title I schools, and even schools as far as South America, is to include everyone in my classroom because there is no “average learner”.
First generation students have an advantage in science because they often question the goal of what they are learning and consider what they are working towards. My objective teaching these young learners is to give real world applications and keep science relevant to their lives, whether it be through skating or lyrics from a popular song. Students will be involved in inquiry from the beginning, because those who collect and organize their own data will have a deeper understanding of its significance than by interpreting a graph from a book.
While teaching at Mater Dei, I encountered a different body of students; instead of wanting to explore with hands-on activities, they often asked to get straight to the point. The students expected procedures to solve problems, memorization of equations, and lectures on concepts because they were diligent listeners, note-takers, and studiers. However, conceptual or applied problems were a challenge for these students who only studied how to do one solution to a problem before an exam. I encouraged them to look at the big picture, to see how this problem could open a door to finding other solutions or to explain questions they had never put into words before, like why tail-gating is dangerous, based on physics concepts. I chose to teach science because I have a passion for how our understanding of the world works, grows and develops every day. While science touches what we notice and how we think, I want my students to be cognizant of the intertwined nature between the world and how we have come to study its nature.
Regardless of their first language, students hear scientific words as a new way of talking, they ask different questions, and always return to the “why”. Science itself is a growing language, and every science teacher should consider themselves an English teacher. To specifically help English Learners adapt their speech to fit academic expectations of a science discussion, I use graphic organizers, diagrams, color coding, and break-down of words. Most importantly, I ensure that all students engage in rigorous content by emphasizing critical thinking, problem solving, significance of the material, relationships between concepts, and how scientists extract meaning from experiments. My class environment promotes the philosophy that science is a dynamic conversation, an inclusive platform for students to relate what they have seen in the world to what we see in the classroom.
My philosophy is that everyone who steps into my classroom has a contribution to make, whether they know it or not. I will build on their personal lives to deepen understanding of our world and shape their growth into outstanding citizens.
Thank you for your time learning about my classroom philosophies and qualifications for a position in your district. I look forward to discussing this opportunity with you soon.