I wish to state my intent as a future educator.

I have a great interest in young learners and

am motivated by a passion for the public school systems purpose to develop knowledge and life
skills. I believe that every student deserves a solid education to take them throughout life and
would be honored to help provide this service.
Since I graduated from high school and left my hometown of Grand Manan Island, I have
been travelling, working, studying and doing volunteer work. I have worked with children for
over ten years and have become enthralled in the joy it has brought to me. I was fortunate
enough to direct the Summer Reading Club, work as an Early Childhood Educator, reading tutor,
and volunteer at an elementary school. These experiences along with others have brought me to
where I am today, still knowing in my heart that I want to be a certified teacher more than
anything else. Ultimately my goal is to create an inclusive environment for my students so that
they can become confident and inquisitive learners. As a teacher, I want to support my students
and offer new perspectives on everyday challenges that they may face.
Before I graduated high school, I searched for summer job opportunities that worked with
the strengths and passions that I had been improving throughout my high school years. I found
one that would give me the opportunity to work with children, and I knew right away that would
be the one that suited me the most. I was employed as a tutor to help strengthen the literacy and
writing skills for children that experienced difficulties in those areas. For the following three
consecutive summers, I was re-hired by the library as the Summer Reading Club Programme
Coordinator and Director. Each week, my responsibility was to maintain a focused curriculum
that corresponded with the theme of the summer reading programme. The content of the
programme consisted of a variety of books, games, crafts, and snack based on the chosen topic
and enhanced with a special guest - local professionals and persons of special interest relating to
the theme. I especially enjoyed this position as it gave me a chance to perfect my organizational
skills, by having to meet deadlines and carefully create lesson plans which incorporated the
childrens interests. I should note that without the strong leadership skills I obtained in high
school, from volunteering for student council and attending the Canadian Student Leadership
Conference, I do not think I would have been capable of fulfilling the expectations. It was during
these three years that I discovered my love of teaching. I immediately felt at ease in the
classroom setting and quickly realized that I thoroughly enjoyed both instructing and interacting

with the children. As I was keen to gain as much experience as possible, I readily accepted every
opportunity that enabled me to work with children.
As I was reaching the end of my degree, I realized that I wanted to experience being
present in the public school system much more, to ensure that becoming a teacher was still a goal
of mine. I volunteered in a kindergarten class at Forest Hill Elementary in Fredericton. It was
honestly the most rewarding feeling I have ever had. I experienced the same ease as before
connecting with the children very quickly, and having the ability to have them confide in me as
well. Though it has been just short of three years since I have completed my work with Forest
Hill Elementary, I often find myself wondering how those children are doing now; what sorts of
interests they have taken on, the things they have learned, and the personalities they have
developed.
Following my graduation from St. Thomas University, I was employed as an Early
Childhood Educator at Saint John Early Childhood Centre. I began working with children under
two years old which I found quite difficult, because it took much more work to figure out what
they needed. While it required time and patience to improve their communication and linguistic
skills, as well as their understanding of routine, they soon astounded me with their amazing
learning capabilities. After working with this age group for five months, a position with older
children became available. This age group was closer to the level that I desire to teach. With
them already having a good basis for communication, I was able to spend more time getting to
know them. This year of absence from university was a time of reflection and practical
experience that gave me deep passion to further my studies in education. I have drawn the
conclusion that working with children between Kindergarten and grade five to be the best fit for
me as they are very willing to learn, and creating a positive learning environment to inspire
further interest in learning is what I enjoy doing. I also would love to teach French as I
appreciate my Acadian French roots and would love to be able to share my passion for this
language with others. I left Saint John with the sentiment that I had learned as much from my
experience there, as the children had learned from me. That imparted upon me the notion that
teaching itself is a continual learning process. This led me to believe that one of the most
important qualities in a great teacher is an awareness and openness to constant learning and
improvement.

My path towards education has not always been an easy one. Following my graduation, I
was determined to improve both my application and myself as a teacher candidate. I hold a
Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in English, and minors in French and Fine Arts. I am
qualified to include all three of these disciplines as teachable subjects. I was determined to attend
the Bachelor of Education programme, and took a variety of steps over the past two years to
reach my personal goal. I have furthered my experience working with children in as well as
outside the public school system. In the fall of 2013, I completed my certification in Teaching
English Second Language through Oxford Seminars. The fall of 2014, I returned to university to
boost my GPA, and succeeded in my endeavor. Acceptance to the Bachelor of Education
program at Crandall University would enable me to remain in the province to foster and promote
learning skills to New Brunswick children.
While I have much to learn, I find teaching to be challenging and rewarding, and I am
very motivated to continue to improve my skills in order to become a proficient educator. It is
my hope that between the education that I have acquired as well as life experiences I have
engaged in, it is quite apparent that I have been working towards becoming the best educator I
possibly can be.

Zoe Ells