Master of Education Program, Personal Statement Example

In seeking to define my professional goals, for both myself and for the University of Tampa, I find that I cannot do so without incorporating a significant amount of personal ambition.  I believe this duality is in place with all those who teach, or it most certainly should be, because teaching demands a commitment level beyond that of an ordinary vocation.  It is, in plain terms, a calling, and my desire to teach is not dictated by career motives; rather, it is a reflection of a deep need within me, and one I highly value.  Consequently, my goals are inextricably connected, for furthering my education and acquiring the teaching career I anticipate translates to fulfilling a deeply-held aspiration.

This innate desire to teach has been within me for as long as I can recall, and it is something I implicitly trust.  I am aware, as I have been from the beginnings of my educational career, that teaching is one of the most challenging professions anyone may pursue.  Times changes, societies shift, and cultural considerations all play into the job’s expectations and demands.  Moreover, teaching is, in my eyes, the adopting of an enormous responsibility.  If young students today are sophisticated in technology and far more aware of worldly considerations than those of generations past, the inescapable reality remains that they are still young minds, and impressionable ones.  The teacher, then, is as constrained to take on the obligations of inspiring and instructing as any teacher of the past has been, and that has always been a task of the greatest importance.  For me, the responsibility is not intimidating, but enticing.  I want to bring to the classroom a passion for learning, and I want to reach and inspire as many children as I can, to experience the satisfactions that may only come through self-discovery and education.  Teaching is, for me, a privilege and an exciting vista.

I am no stranger to the “other side” of the teaching experience, of course.  I have a Bachelors’ degree in Criminology, as well as a Masters in Criminal Justice and Critical Incident Management.  I believe that these achievements, while only partially going to my long-term goals, will enhance the graduate program in which I participate.  More exactly, my background in these disciplines is one I am, not surprisingly, eager to share.  We all, I think, learn even as we impart learning.  I believe as well that my aspiration to teach has given me a privileged awareness of the process itself, and how it may best be conducted, in what I myself have gained in my educational life.  With each advancement in my academic career, moreover, I have come to a more focused sense of specific ambition, one in which my skills will be most effectively employed.  To that end, a Masters degree in Teaching in Social Science is the pragmatic goal before me.  This attained, I may move forward to teach grades five through nine, for I believe this range will bring out the best of what I have to offer, and enable the kind of teaching I most want to practice.  No age is unimportant, certainly, but my instincts and experience inform me that I can do the best work with children in this range of grades. If there is an inherent challenge to this, it is one I eagerly embrace.

Currently, I work as a teacher’s aide at a private day school, and I mention this to reinforce my commitment to the profession.   Very simply, every day in which I am in some fashion involved in education confirms within me a sense of rightness in my ambition.  I am near, at least, to where I should be.  As noted, my goals are not single entities, but a fusion of aspirations.  To achieve them, I require my Masters degree in teaching, and all my research reveals I can pursue this at no better venue than the University of Tampa.  It is my earnest hope that this prestigious school will allow me to move forward as I wish to, and let me work for that next step in the pursuit of all my goals.