() Champaign, Illinois 61820 January 7, 2013 Dear School Administrator: I am submitting this cover letter and resume to you

in hopes of acquiring a student teaching position at your school for Spring 2013. The opportunity to teach in the central Illinois area was brought to my attention by the College of Education at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. This is also where I am currently finishing up my Bachelor of Liberal Arts and Science in History with a Minor and Licensure at the Secondary Education level. After working at Jefferson Middle School in the Fall of 2012 and Central Middle School in the Fall of 2011, I noticed their abilities for being innovators of learning and empowering all students to strive for their personal goals. The characteristics of these schools are why I am interested in this area. I feel like I can contribute to their growth because I share these values along with many more skills and experience that will benefit your students. Following my first year in the Secondary Education Program I have amended my original teaching style. The teaching styles and personalities that I observed in the above-mentioned middle schools have been the reason for this change. First, personalities of the teachers I have worked with made me realize once again that I am truly more than a teacher when in the classroom. The teachers made efforts to reach out to the students beyond just their academic life. Sometimes the teacher did so because they thought it would affected their schoolwork, but other times it was simply a gesture of genuine interest. I took it upon myself, in the classroom, to really get to know the interests of the students and their characteristics in order to tailor my teaching styles to their personality. Doing this makes teaching an easier process because the student will become more engaged with the material and also demonstrate respect towards you because you are showing that you care about them as people on top of being students. As far as changing teaching styles, one of the teachers demonstrated that you could model the core characteristics of being a learner. He empowered students to draw their own conclusions and to not worry about being right or wrong. He instead wanted the students to be critical thinkers and defend their answers with evidence. This is something that I never experienced while in middle school or high school, but now have tried doing while teaching my lessons during my field placement. I started to integrate activities and worksheets that revolved more around discussion and defending arguments instead of being based on events and people. Along with these two distinct characteristics of my evolution as a teacher, I feel that I have many other contributions to add. I was educated just outside of Chicago but also frequented the city. I feel that my perspective on people and movements throughout history is one that may challenge the students perspective, and enable them to think more critically. Also, being from a Chicago suburb may appear to create a lack of experience with diverse communities; I feel that my time as a Residence Assistant at the University of Oregon, and my time-spent downstate has only furthered my ability to adapt to all circumstances. I am very grateful for your review of my cover letter, and resume. I am looking forward to hearing from you about an interview for a student teaching position. If you have any further questions after reviewing my resume, I am available by phone at () and email at () Thank you. Sincerely, Alexander Infusino