April 1, 2014 Dear Fellow Educator: As a second year 3rd grade bilingual teacher from West Aurora School

District 129, it is with great excitement that I present my resum to you for consideration of the Kindergarten position in East Aurora School District 131 Kindergarten Center. Capitalizing on my experiences teaching diverse groups of learners and implementing a variety of teaching and classroom management strategies, I look forward to becoming a positive role model in the lives of young students. I am enthusiastic by the possibility of joining your school district as a Kindergarten teacher for the 2014-2015 school year. With an emphasis in Spanish and Reading, I am confident that I am best qualified to teach the Reading content area as well as provide support to English Language Learners in a general education or bilingual setting. As my resum will illustrate, I have had a variety of unique experiences working with elementary-age students. I am currently teaching 3rd grade bilingual and have utilized many instructional techniques to foster student growth through the use of data and technology. I have become established in the Professional Learning Community and have had the opportunity to work with my grade level team, the bilingual team, the data team, the Tier 3 behavior team and the literacy committee. Through collaboration, we have planned family nights and bilingual parent meetings that have increased parental involvement and participation. I have also become very familiar with the Common Core State Standards as I have had the opportunity to align our new reading curriculum to CCSS and WIDA standards as well as creating thematic units for our ESL curriculum that aligned with the reading and science content areas. Two years ago, I graduated with an Elementary Education major and Spanish and Reading minor at North Central College, and I relished the opportunity to train with a veteran 2nd grade bilingual teacher at Hall Elementary in District 129. My classroom consisted of academically and linguistically diverse students which I have become familiar with a variety of English Language Learner Strategies as well as specific instructional and behavioral accommodations in order to meet the needs of all learners. Prior to student teaching, I have had many opportunities to work with diverse populations through the Junior/Senior Scholars Program, a 26 year old college-readiness program for students from high-needs areas such as Aurora and Chicago. The program fosters numerous initiatives throughout the school year including my most worthwhile experiences with program: the intensive summer internship in which I had taught every summer in my 4-years at North Central. In my first year, I had the opportunity to co-teach art to Kindergarteners to 8th grade students. In my second year, I taught a 4th grade class that included many ELL students and my third year as a 2nd grade teacher. Finally during my last year with the program, I taught first grade to an energetic group of students and was able to heighten my ability to actively engage students and encourage them to be lifelong learners. Overall, these classes consisted of students from a variety of different multicultural, linguistic, and academic backgrounds. As a result, throughout the years, I have accumulated a variety of pedagogical strategies to incorporate culturally relevant teaching practices. I also have become familiar with a range of techniques for supporting the literacy and vocabulary development of English Language Learners. Furthermore I have demonstrated the ability to create welcoming classroom environments that are conducive to multicultural education and appreciative of the unique differences in students that make them special. Through each opportunity, I have gained extensive experience through tutoring, teaching, mentoring, coordinating and supervising. I am now currently mentoring and coaching pre-service teachers in the summer program for the previous year as well as this upcoming year. Overall, my time at West Aurora School District 129 and North Central College has presented me with numerous learning experiences that have taught me the best way to continue to grow is to seize opportunities. I am looking forward to impacting students by fostering their growth through meaningful individualized learning experiences and positive relationships. I am also enthusiastic about working collaboratively with colleagues to help our students, school, and district grow overall. Thank you for your consideration and I look forward to further discussing my qualifications and how I might best contribute to your school, district, and community in a positive way.

Erica Pang