Strategies for writing an ideal teacher resume -TheJobNetwork

Strategies for writing an ideal teacher resume -TheJobNetwork If you’re a teacher (or working on becoming one), you know that by the time you complete your degree(s), your training courses, and any standardized exams your state throws your way, the job search can feel like yet another daunting process. Or maybe you’re further along in your career and you’re ready for a scenery change, or a subject change. Whatever the case may be, your resume should be a painless part of the process. Let’s look at some strategies you can use as you craft your own teaching resume. Do a little pre-resume brainstorming.Before you start cranking away, here are some resume basics to consider before you even start working on your resume. Ask yourself:Who is going to be reading this? Will it be another educator or administrator, or a layperson? This can help you determine how much jargon or career shorthand you can use.What do I want to emphasize most about myself and my career? What are the assets that make you the most valuable hire?What is my goal with this resume? Are you looking to find your first job in the field, change jobs, or move up?Thinking about these things ahead of time helps you refine your resume before you’ve even begun. You’ve got ideas. Now you just need some structure for them†¦Open strong with a headline, objective, or summary.At the top of your resume will be your contact info, of course (don’t be that guy or gal who thinks that the cover email is enough contact info for this digital day and age), but after that is your opening statement. You could just dive right into the details of your resume, but think about it- this is a chance to really introduce yourself to the reader, and set the narrative for the rest of your resume. Chances are, whoever is reading your resume will also be reading a pile of resumes from other people who may be similarly qualified for the job. So you want to take every edge you can get, including a sentence or two to help set you apart from thos e others.Headlines are exactly what they sound like: a brief, bold one-liner about who you are. A headline is brief, and it doesn’t contain your life story, but it does tell the reader who they’re about to meet in the rest of the resume. Here are some examples:Columbus School District Teacher of the Year  Seasoned Educator and Expert Curriculum Builder  Creative, Metrics-Focused Elementary School Educator Objective statements are a couple of brief sentences letting the reader know your intent. The reader already knows you want a job, so you don’t need to be that explicit. The objective can be more about your short-term goals with this position. Are you looking to change your career? Start your career? Level up with a leadership role? The objective helps the reader see what you’re angling for, besides an interview. Here are some examples:Educator with 10 years of experience seeking an administrative role.Looking for a position as a special-needs teache r at Washington Academy, bringing a creative, high-energy approach to student outcomes.Seeking a position as a math teacher focusing on technology integration and curriculum best practices to improve student achievement.Summary statements are more of a brief collection of highlights that you want to emphasize about yourself. Resume summaries are sometimes called â€Å"qualifications summaries† or â€Å"competencies.† Here, you call out the skills and accomplishments that you want the reader to focus on. For example:Motivated, energetic teacher who values diversity and creativity in the classroomResults-focused leader with a record of improving student test scores year-over-year15 years of curriculum-building experience, and development of classroom activities in accordance with state standards and best practicesAgain, not the life story, but a bit of a sneak preview for the reader. You should be prepared to back up your intro statements with more detailed skills or exp erience bullets later in the resume.Make your experience work for you.As a teacher, you’ve got a lot of things already working for you on your resume: your education and certifications, which are essential elements. Those are concrete points that you don’t really need to finesse or wordsmith- they are what they are. You should highlight your education and credentials in a brief section near the top of the resume.After that, you can start being a little more creative with your resume structure. If you already have a ton of classroom experience, then you can go the traditional route and put your work experience next, followed by skills.If you’re a recent grad or a career changer, and don’t yet have tons of experience, consider going with a more skills-heavy format. This puts your skills and general qualifications front and center, giving it higher priority over the â€Å"experience† section. And even if you feel like you don’t have a lot of ex perience (yet), you do have things you can use to flesh out that experience section. Volunteer work, club or professional association activities, or extracurricular teaching work you’ve done can also be used here. That community writing seminar you ran at the senior center last year? Include it. Your three recent summers as a camp counselor working with elementary age students while you completed your undergrad work? Include it, if it applies to the teaching job you’re seeking. (If you’re seeking an early childhood education job, great- if you’re looking to teach calculus to seniors, maybe not as relevant). You can be creative here to fill in gaps.As you’re building your experience section, don’t forget to list accomplishments, not duties. The person reading the resume is more interested in what you’ve achieved in your career so far, not necessarily what your 10 daily duties were in your last job. It’s important to highlight on ly the most relevant experience points, related to the job you’re seeking.Be selective about your skills.Sure, you may have the highest Candy Crush score in the county, or play the harmonica intro to â€Å"Piano Man† so beautifully it’d make Billy Joel himself cry. Those are great skills to have. But they may not work on your resume. Your skills section, like the rest of your resume, should be laser-focused on the job at hand. These six skill sets are among the top skills for teachers, so you should concentrate on these areas:Communication skills. Teachers communicate all the time- they work directly with students, other teachers, administrators, staff, and parents on a regular basis. Make sure you emphasize your strengths when it comes to writing, speaking, presenting, and- perhaps most importantly- listening.Problem solving skills. Teachers are problem-solvers, and help others solve them as well. You can provide examples of how you solve conflicts, how you can adapt lesson plans in real time, and how you approach those unexpected moments in any classroom.Organizational skills. Hiring managers will be interested to know how you juggle a teacher’s many tasks (classroom teaching, meetings, grading, lesson planning, etc.). Your time management skills are crucial, so definitely emphasize those on your resume.Patience. Whether you’re teaching a classroom of six-year-olds or sixty-year-olds, one of the key characteristics of an educator is patience, and the ability to work with any student to help them learn and achieve. Not everyone has patience, so this is a good skill to include on your resume.People skills. Similarly, general people skills are an asset on your resume. The reader will want to know you can work with others in a productive way, especially students. But this applies to others as well, because teachers are very much team players, interacting with their colleagues and administrators every day as well.Technological s kills. We live in an ever-more-digital world, and teachers who can help bring technology into the classroom productively can be major assets for a school. The skills section is a good place to call out your career-relevant tech expertise.Don’t skip the editing.After you’ve written your resume, there is one more non-negotiable step: you need to review it carefully. Do you really need everything you’ve included? Is everything relevant to the job description? And most important, have you obsessively proofread it, and/or had someone trusted do it for you? It can be tempting to hit â€Å"send† as soon as you write the last word, but you should always, always take that extra step and make sure the whole document is exactly as it should be.For examples of teacher resumes (entry level, mid-career, and seeking upward movement), we’ve got you covered: How to Write a Perfect Teaching Resume (Examples Included). And if you need more inspiration, our Resume Lib rary is a click away as well.

Everything You Need to Know About Bleach

Everything You Need to Know About Bleach Bleach is the common name for a solution of 2.5%  sodium hypochlorite in water. Its also called chlorine bleach or liquid bleach. Another type of bleach is oxygen-based or peroxide bleach. While you may know bleach is used to disinfect and remove stains, there is more to know about this everyday chemical to use it safely and effectively. Here are some important facts about this solution. Useful Bleach Facts Bleach has a shelf life and expiration date. On average, a container of unopened bleach loses 20% of its effectiveness each year. Once opened, bleach starts to lose a significant amount of its power after 6 months.Chlorine bleach is more effective as a disinfectant when its diluted rather than if its used at full strength. A typically recommended dilution is 1 part bleach to 9 parts water.A higher percentage of bleach is needed if a large quantity of organic material (e.g., blood, protein) is present, as these materials react with bleach and tend to neutralize it.If you add sodium hypochlorite bleach to whiten laundry or remove stains, its better to add it after the wash cycle has already filled with water and started agitation. If you add bleach together with detergent, you risk diminishing the effectiveness of enzyme-based stain removers and the detergent. On the other hand, oxygen-based bleach is best added to warm or hot water before clothes are added. Oxygen-based bleaches are g enerally color-safe and will preserve whiteness, but will not remove color. Sodium hypochlorite bleach does whiten fabrics ​but is not safe for all materials. Bleach reacts with several other chemicals to release toxic vapors. Its generally inadvisable to mix bleach with other cleaners. In particular, avoid mixing bleach with acetone, alcohol, vinegar  or other acids, or ammonia.Bleach can corrode metal, so if you clean or disinfect a metal surface with bleach, its important to wipe it down with water or alcohol afterward.Although its commonly believed drinking bleach can lead to a negative blood or urine test for drug use, this is untrue.While chlorine bleach is a powerful disinfectant, peroxide bleach is not suitable for this purpose. Chlorine bleach disinfects because it is an oxidizer, capable of disrupting microbial cells. Oxidation is also how chlorine bleach removes color. Sodium hypochlorite breaks bonds in the chromophore or colored portion of a molecule, rendering it colorless. Reducing bleaches also exist, which also change chemical bonds and alter how a molecule absorbs light.Chlorine bleach was first used to disinfect water in 1895 for  New York Citys Croton Reservoir. Household bleach may be made using water, caustic soda, and chlorine. The process of electrolysis is used to produce chlorine and caustic soda by running an electric current through a solution of table salt (sodium chloride) in water. Caustic soda and chlorine react to form sodium hypochlorite. All that is needed is to bubble chlorine gas through caustic soda solution. Since chlorine gas is toxic, bleach is not a chemical one should make at home.Although the odor of chlorine is apparent in bleach, when bleach is used, the chemical reaction tends to produce salt water and not chlorine gas.Although the toxic chemical dioxin has been known to occur in bleaching products using in the wood pulp and paper industry, household bleach is free from dioxin because gaseous chlorine must be present for dioxin to form.