Answer to Prompt: How do you inspire students?
Prompt for a Scholarship Essay: How do you inspire students?
My most persistent motivation for teaching is both from and for one detail about life: it can be beautiful and fun. I know that life is challenging and we all experience parts of it that give us grief, but I believe we all can take part in the best parts of life if we so choose. That being said, I inspire my students to believe in beauty. When I was a substitute for a Spanish classroom for a full semester, we took time to compliment the artistry and adventurous spirits of Spanish-speaking nations. When I taught Introduction to Business for a few months in another substituting role, I asked students to share their dream jobs with me, and found a way to invite personal friends in those jobs to come and share about their experience. In a library classroom, teaching Information Literacy, I made students laugh while learning how to write research papers.
If we can all see beauty and fun in our lives, we can live them joyfully. The opposite is also true. When we see pain and suffering in our lives, we often live mournfully. Positive inspiration is not a panacea, and I found that inspiring students in their lowest moments was often more effective and fulfilling than scaffolding to the mountaintops. This was true when I counseled with a student about an abusive home situation, showing the student where there is hope and encouraging them to make different choices to lead to a better future. I also reported the necessary information to the authorities, because justice is beautiful. It was also true when a student failed one of my courses, and he needed to know that we all make mistakes. Grace is beautiful, too.
I put fun into every lesson. If I am unable to get a laugh out of my students a few times each class, I view it as a personal failure. So I often include silly pictures in my powerpoints, or I will make sure that we throw something around the room to keep our arms and eyes moving. I allow discussions that take us a little off-track to remind the students that I am interested in what they have to say, too. Listening and engaging with thoughts that students bring to the classroom is my favorite way to build rapport and respect between myself and the students in my seats.
I am currently working toward a Secondary English Certification in order to teach in my own classroom as soon as possible, and afterward I am pursuing a Master's of Education. I am a career-changing teacher, and I still surprise myself when I say that. Modeling is as important as instruction in my own estimation, and giving oneself grace is a paramount lesson for every person to learn. I hope that my own journey of living according to my convictions while still allowing those convictions room to grow and change inspires students to do the same. We all must be planners and doers and creatives, but we all must also believe in our ability to do new things and become something different than we once were.
Thank you for considering me for this scholarship. I want to use it to do more of my favorite thing in the world: teaching.
Sincerely,
Luke Stoltzfoos
My most persistent motivation for teaching is both from and for one detail about life: it can be beautiful and fun. I know that life is challenging and we all experience parts of it that give us grief, but I believe we all can take part in the best parts of life if we so choose. That being said, I inspire my students to believe in beauty. When I was a substitute for a Spanish classroom for a full semester, we took time to compliment the artistry and adventurous spirits of Spanish-speaking nations. When I taught Introduction to Business for a few months in another substituting role, I asked students to share their dream jobs with me, and found a way to invite personal friends in those jobs to come and share about their experience. In a library classroom, teaching Information Literacy, I made students laugh while learning how to write research papers.
If we can all see beauty and fun in our lives, we can live them joyfully. The opposite is also true. When we see pain and suffering in our lives, we often live mournfully. Positive inspiration is not a panacea, and I found that inspiring students in their lowest moments was often more effective and fulfilling than scaffolding to the mountaintops. This was true when I counseled with a student about an abusive home situation, showing the student where there is hope and encouraging them to make different choices to lead to a better future. I also reported the necessary information to the authorities, because justice is beautiful. It was also true when a student failed one of my courses, and he needed to know that we all make mistakes. Grace is beautiful, too.
I put fun into every lesson. If I am unable to get a laugh out of my students a few times each class, I view it as a personal failure. So I often include silly pictures in my powerpoints, or I will make sure that we throw something around the room to keep our arms and eyes moving. I allow discussions that take us a little off-track to remind the students that I am interested in what they have to say, too. Listening and engaging with thoughts that students bring to the classroom is my favorite way to build rapport and respect between myself and the students in my seats.
I am currently working toward a Secondary English Certification in order to teach in my own classroom as soon as possible, and afterward I am pursuing a Master's of Education. I am a career-changing teacher, and I still surprise myself when I say that. Modeling is as important as instruction in my own estimation, and giving oneself grace is a paramount lesson for every person to learn. I hope that my own journey of living according to my convictions while still allowing those convictions room to grow and change inspires students to do the same. We all must be planners and doers and creatives, but we all must also believe in our ability to do new things and become something different than we once were.
Thank you for considering me for this scholarship. I want to use it to do more of my favorite thing in the world: teaching.
Sincerely,
Luke Stoltzfoos
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