Northern Arizona University's Teacher Education Program requires a 500 word admission essay. Thought you guys might like a "good" read.
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John Jay Chapman asserts, "Benevolence alone will not make a teacher, nor will learning alone do it. The gift of teaching is a peculiar talent, and implies a need and a craving in the teacher himself." This is true of the way I feel. When you know what you are called to do, it becomes a burning passion embedded deep into your spirit. It is the one thing you are fulfilled in doing, feeling empty without that sense of accomplishment. When I look into a child's eyes and know that I am making a difference, there is no greater reward. Continuing my education is a choice I have made in order to satisfy this craving.

Since I was very young, and then poignantly at age 16, I have known that my soul's desire is to teach. Nothing else brings me the joy I need to feel actualized. I have spent quite a bit of time exploring this aspiration to ensure its truth in my life. In Junior High, I worked in counseling for elementary students and when entering high school began to teach lower age groups in supervised settings such as church.

After really feeling the call at graduation, I began to seek out opportunities for teaching experience; single-handedly organizing and administrating a 15 person teaching team for my home congregation's youth program. The following year, I devoted 110 volunteer hours to a 6th grade class forging a very rewarding mentor relationship with the classroom teacher, a veteran of 30 years.

In 2003, moving across country, I still continued in my given field, working as a classroom assistant until I could not stand by as others taught. Thus I began substitute teaching during the subsequent term. When subbing, I kept my span broad so as to really experience everything so I could find where I am most comfortable and relate the best. I taught a range from preschool to 12th grade. I really found my niche in 4th to 6th grade. They have so much potential! I want to be one of the ones to guide that potential, to nurture it and give it wings. I want to see these children succeed and strive for their dreams.

I see children everyday in my work, but what's frustrating is that it's just a glimpse, a taste, a mere moment of these children's lives. I can only do so much with a day. The pay, the red tape, the parents, yes, I know that there are problems in this profession. I just pray everyday that I will have the strength to endure these trials for the sake of being that light in the day of a child who comes from a broken or abusive home. I pray that even though there will be problems that I can be there to teach a child to read when no one else has the time or will take the time to do it. There's a need...and a craving in me, to teach.

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506 words. Boo Yah.