It's tiring to write six essays!
Six! On a variety of topics for the HEB Excellence in Education Award.
I've applied most years in hopes of receiving this prestigious award, and find those in charge of the award change the essay questions every year. Thus, people cannot reuse their answers, and applicants must think! Every year it's original answers to new questions.
The questions usually include some variation of asking applicants the reasons for becoming an educator, how do the applicants handle diverse types of students, and the applicants' opinions on what are the most pressing needs in Texas' classrooms.
They're tough questions, and one needs a lot of time to think them through. And on top of that, applicants are limited to 500 words.
That number seems like a lot, but once you get going, often it's tough to limit yourself. Microsoft Word counts characters and words, as did the spaces on HEB's online application. (Even hsj does. Right now there are 165 words and 950 characters in this blog.)
The one that I had the most trouble keeping within the 500-word limit was the question asking us to discuss the one achievement as a teacher you are most proud of.
That was my acceptance as a fellow in 2009 to the Reynolds High School Journalism Institute, held at Arizona State University in downtown Phoenix, Arizona. (That'll be the subject for the next blog.)
I was one of 35 high school journalism teachers accepted out of hundreds who applied. The fellowship paid for my transportation to and from Phoenix, hotel room, meals in the Arizona State residence hall dining room, the two weeks of instruction, and some money for expenses like doing the laundry or paying for light rail tickets in case we wanted to go somewhere else in town for dinner or to go shopping.
The bulletin board below the projector screen is a breakdown of what we learned in two weeks, and what I'm trying to teach in the revamped print journalism program.
Well, I went way over 500 words on that one, and I had to work a while at getting down to 499 (just in case).
You'd be surprised at how much you can cut out of an essay when there are limitations on how long it can be.
The question on what are your goals as an educator was tough because I've already taught more than 30 years. So, what I did was to phrase everything in a conditional way (if that makes any sense).
For example, "Three-plus decades ago I could not have known that ..." or "When I first started teaching more than 30 years ago ...." It made sense to me.
I'm not sure why six essay questions or the 500-word limit, but those are the rules HEB set.
Dr. V also wrote a letter of recommendation, so that's a seventh.
We'll see how I do later in the spring. I've been chosen as a semifinalist twice and received a nifty certificate and $250 in HEB gift cards each time. That came in handy for buying gas for the car.
(As of the period above this blog had 517 words.)
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