Salt Lake City, Utah © (801)706-3688 Christina.Romero201@gmail.com Dear Sir/Madam, After graduating from college I decided to volunteer for City Year. City Year is an Americorps organization that works in high needs schools with at-risk youth. | moved to California and spent two years volunteering. Over those two years | saw six classrooms from the first day to the last. | got to see different techniques for behavior management, how to set up routines and expectations, and how to work with administration and staff to support the students. My first year I was at Gompers Middle School. The student | got to work with that year are the reason | ‘am going into teaching. | had a student who had security called on her almost every day for a semester. After a lot of walking and talking she finally began to see how great of a student she could be. The next ‘year she was proudly in a math honors class. Another student refused to speak during class, but by the end of the year he was performing an original piece to a crowd. Another student did not think it was, ‘coo’ to get good grades. | gat to witness her excitement when | told her she was accepted into the summer space program. Another student did not think she would be missed. After confiding in me that she had attempted suicide the day before, | worked with the social worker on campus to figure out how to support her in and out of the classroom. That year had its ups and downs, but getting to see the students eyes light up when they finally got a concept, was priceless. My second year | was chosen to help open up a partnership with Locke High School. Every day | walked Into a schoo! that from the outside looked like a prison. | set up an after school program, worked with ‘administration to place Americorps members in classrooms, and | got to work in three classrooms myself. |Jearned how important it was to be prepared academically and mentally for the environment you are teaching in. | saw teachers struggle and often leave because they were not prepared for the job they had signed up for. | worked with ninth graders that were still struggling with third grade concepts. it was not the students’ fault, they did not have a solid foundation. That is why | want to work in an elementary school. Every student deserves to have a great education. At Locke and Gompers | saw some of the most amazing students with incredible potential. Every student deserves a teacher that shows up every day, sets high expectations, and is prepared. Since | wanted to be as prepared as possible, | decided to go to Westminster College. | have learned how to write lesson plans that are developmentally appropriate, integrate lessons, dissect the Utah Common Core, assess students, read data, and use technology to improve education. | got to spend a semester at Parkside Elementary in Murray School District leaming how to work with the resource staff. A semester at Beacon Heights in Salt Lake Schoo! District learning how to organize a classroom so that every transition was seamless. | am now student teaching at Mountain View Elementary in Salt Lake Schoo! District and learning the importance of consistency and routines. At Mountain View | have been able to work on my pacing for lessons, learn how to set up small group activities to support all students, create a unit of study, and how to best communicate with parents. {1am looking forward to taking everything { have learned in the last four years into a classroom of my own next fall,