Alexandria Schmidt

schmidtlexi828@gmail.com■ (563)-605-0448

XX, XX, 2024

To Whom it May Concern

I first want to thank you for the opportunity to apply to your school. I am writing to
express my interest in obtaining the elementary classroom teacher position within your school.
I am currently a student at UNI finishing up my degree in Elementary Education with an
endorsement in Literacy Education. I am student teaching at Cedar Heights Elementary with a
Title 1 Reading teacher and will be moving on to 4th grade in March to student teach at Lincoln
Elementary in Waterloo. I am highly interested in working at your school because I am very
passionate about creating and building meaningful connections with students while also
working to give students the opportunity to become more intentional with their learning.

Through my journey at UNI, I have had the privilege to work in a variety of schools in
both the Cedar Falls School District and the Waterloo School District. Within those two school
districts I have done lots of work with students improving their literacy skills during and after
school. Specifically, I have been a part of the America Reads program provided at UNI, leading a
group of 4th graders in an after school book club. While leading these students I learned the
importance of being a consistent and calm adult while teaching. Amongst my students, I had
one student that the school was very worried about due to his behavior, however very quickly I
learned that keeping a calm composure and following through with consequences that were
given he did very well within our group. He was able to learn alongside his peers and began to
enjoy our time together.

Along with the America Reads program I have also tutored while in an Advanced
Literacy Practices course at UNI, where I worked one-on-one with an ELL student in 4 th grade.
While working with this student I was able to enhance my knowledge of literacy by learning
how literacy skills that we teach as educators may be more difficult for ELL students compared
to English speaking students. Specifically, I learned that using a multimodal way of teaching was
the most beneficial in my students learning. He was able to connect words he heard to words
he read. Along with that I also made it a priority when choosing texts for him, to always include
a text that he could relate to. I incorporated many nonfiction and fiction books that either were
about Mexico, had Latino characters and used Spanish words throughout. Using these types of
texts that my student could relate to he was able to discover a sense of self. He quickly became
more confident in himself as well as began to value our time practicing literacy skills and
growing his knowledge. With these experiences and many others in mind I have found that
what drives my teaching is my want to learn and grow alongside my students. Being able to
provide my students with the resources and tools they need to be strong and independent
learners will always be my goal as an educator and when I cannot provide that I am willing and
ready to learn how.

I am very grateful for the opportunity to apply to your Elementary School and I hope you
consider me for a teaching position. If you have any further question, please call me on my cell
phone at (563)-605-0448 or email me at schmidtlexi828@gmail.com. Thank you again for the
opportunity to apply. I look forward to hearing from you.

Best Regards,

Lexi Schmidt