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Teaching experience
Math Tutor: I worked as an assistant math tutor for 3 years from 2001-2004.
Teacher’s Aide: I am working as an intern in English 220 this semester for
Marianne Ahokas.
Writing Center Volunteer: I am volunteering in the English writing lab this
semester to help tutor students. This will comprise at least 45 hours of volunteer
work.
Martial Arts Instructor: I am and have been the president and sole teacher of the
Seibukan Jujutsu club on campus from 2008-present.

Extracurricular Involvement
President of club on campus: I am and have been the president and sole teacher
of the Seibukan Jujutsu club on campus from 2008-present.

Community Activities
High school involvement: I helped organize and manage a school rummage sale
to raise funds for my outdoor leadership class in high school. Together we raised
$3000 dollars which was used to fund a winter camping trip. I also played a leading
role in a peace march in 2003 to protest the US invasion of Iraq which comprised
hundreds of people in my community.

Travel Experiences
I lived in inner city San Francisco from 2006-2007. I lived in a neighborhood

with an abundance of cheap hotels that housed former mental-institution patients

who were put out during the Reagan administration. Every day I encountered

severe social issues such as drug sale and abuse, prostitution, gang violence,

racism, and heavy poverty. The experience was transforming for me because for

most of my life I had lived in a rural setting predominantly amongst white middle

class people. I was able to see social issues represented first hand and live amongst

them. I have never traveled out of the country but I am a Peace Corps applicant for

2011-2013, after I finish the credential program but before I begin teaching, and I

know that I will learn a lot of about diverse ways of life during this period.

Competence in Languages Other Than English

I’ve taken two semesters of Spanish at a college level. I have worked in a

variety of settings where I spoke Spanish frequently. I’ve had many friends who

spoke only Spanish and I’ve had an intimate relationship with a partner who also
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only spoke Spanish. I have spoken comparatively little Spanish in the last two years,

but I have no doubt that with a little exposure it would come back to me quickly.

Skills and Other Experience

I think that I have excellent leadership skills. When confronted with a problem

I am able to identify the steps needed for resolution, devise a plan and take

initiative in completing them. My experiences in the past have helped me develop

an empathic style of teaching which allows me to better understand sources of

misunderstanding and overcome them at an appropriate pace. As an avid martial

artist I maintain a healthy body and a good diet which keeps me free from sickness

and gives me a sense of invigoration and purpose that helps prevent lethargy and

depression. I have always functioned well as a multi-tasker. I am a very active

person and get bored easily if my life isn’t full of activity so I have learned how to

allocate time between my hobbies and work very well.

Experience with Diverse Backgrounds

I think that my experience of living and working in Berkeley and San

Francisco are the two best experiences I’ve had with diversity. Growing up in a

small rural, predominantly ethnically homogenous area meant that I had never had

much exposure to diversity, but I have always been interested in other cultures and

the way people live. Moving to the Bay Area threw me in to an ethnic and cultural

melting pot that I had never experienced and over the years I was exposed to and

interacted with people from a variety of social backgrounds. My interest in religious

studies has helped me gain an appreciation for other cultural spiritual beliefs and

my own agnostic beliefs help me maintain a neutral stance toward religion. I am a

cultural relativist and I know that there is no “right” way to do things. I am

influenced by my American upbringing, but I am aware that my experience as a

white middle class male in the United States differs drastically from many of the
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students that I will be teaching. My openness to other cultures and my own

understanding of cultural relativity will help me adapt to cultural barriers that I may

encounter.

Professional Goal Statement

During high school I worked as an assistant math tutor for my peers. This

served as one of the most enriching experiences of my life and is certainly the job

I've enjoyed most that I've ever done. I matured a lot during this period and, in

reflection, this experience is probably what influenced me to want to pursue

teaching. When I first began, I was solely interested in content: I knew the material

and it was my duty to fix other students errors. Though we were all nearly the same

age and from similar socioeconomic backgrounds I saw myself as superior in that

classroom by virtue of my greater knowledge. I would sometimes get frustrated

when students repeatedly made the same errors even after I had corrected them

just a few days before. Some students however seemed to just “get it” and as a

result I found myself rewarding them by spending more time with them and giving

them more personalized attention, and, though I didn’t see it at the time, this

assisted their progression, which caused the initially small gap between them and

their peers to grow even wider.

I continued to teach in this manner until one semester I took a creative

writing class which had a lab component where teachers and teacher’s aides would

listen to your work and help you improve it. It was in this lab that I saw the same

pattern of my teaching repeated: some students had stronger writing skills initially

and that slight advantage continued to grow until some students were left behind

while other progressed rapidly as a result of the individualized attention and praise
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they received. When I realized that I was repeating the same pattern I discovered

that there is more to teaching than knowing the material. Over the next two years

of tutoring I focused on the student's improvement rather than the correctness of

the final product; I spent less time correcting individual errors and more time

working through the problem solving process with students. By focusing on the

student’s improvement rather than the product I saw heretofore unseen progression

over next two years and I was greatly inspired.

I have always been concerned with social injustices and the power gap

between social classes and my experience as a math tutor taught me that gaps in

education are correctable rather than fatalistically determined. A few years after

high school I enrolled as an English major at HSU, but I wasn't certain at the time

that I wanted to be a teacher. Preoccupied with the other activities that I had filled

my life with since high school, I had forgotten the joy that I felt from teaching. Two

experiences in English re-inspired me: post-structuralist critical theory, and

theoretical pedagogy. I was enthralled by post-structuralist theory because it gave

words to the notions that I grappled with as a high school math tutor: that

differences in ability are socially influenced and our beliefs and culture are at a

basic level social constructs. That core notion struck true with me and inspired me

to find ways to transcend those social barriers in order to make content accessible

to those from different cultural backgrounds. Classes dealing with theoretical

pedagogy further inspired me to become a teacher in order to practically apply my

theoretical knowledge to positively influence student's lives. I was once again

inspired and resolved to complete the credential program, but even before the

credential program I have been fortunate enough to have an opportunity to improve

my teaching ability during my time at Humboldt.

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I have trained in Seibukan Jujutsu for years and currently hold a first degree

black belt. In order to continue my training and practice my teaching I began the

university sanctioned Seibukan Jujutsu club of which I am the president and sole

teacher. Though martial arts and academia are distant, I believe that the teaching

process between the two is very similar. As a teacher my duty is to identify

misunderstandings and guide my students through them. A teacher’s role is

complex in that they not only need to know the material; they need to know how to

impart that knowledge while empowering the student to eventually grow past

needing a teacher. I’ve learned that the content becomes meaningless if the

student doesn’t engage with it, and in order to do that they need to self-confidence

to believe they can succeed. I’ve taught martial arts for two years now and have

personally dealt with students from struggling beginners to talented and

experienced students, which has imparted a unique set of skills enabling me to

personally interact with students by utilizing teaching styles appropriate to their

level.

I want to be a teacher for many reasons. I feel a deep sense of satisfaction

and personal fulfillment from watching student's progression. It makes me feel self

actualized from knowing that I had a large part in that progression. I believe that I

have a unique set of skills and experiences that make me well suited to become an

excellent teacher. My enthusiasm for teaching and my belief in the uplifting

potential of education give me a passion for the profession that ensures my

continued dedication and improvement. I have watched the public education

system with a keen eye for years and I am aware that there are many practices

which I find problematic yet I also believe that the system is ameliorative and I am

satisfied with much of the progress that the system continues to make. I am eager
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to be a part of the progress so that I can affect student's lives on an individual and

meaningful level, but also so that I can positively influence the public education

system, and, indirectly, society at large.