Jeff Bigler's Generic Cover Letter

To whom it may concern:

I am a physics and chemistry teacher with nineteen years of experience, including twelve years of experience teaching physics (four of which included AP^® Physics 1 and/or AP^® Physics 2), and eight years of experience teaching chemistry (five of which included AP^® Chemistry). I am in my twelfth year of teaching physics at Lynn English High School. I hold Massachusetts certifications in chemistry, physics, high school mathematics, and biology, and I am National Board Certified (Adolescence & Young Adulthood: Science). Prior to teaching, I worked in the biotechnology and software industries for thirteen years.

Students, parents, colleagues, and administrators have universally described me as an excellent or outstanding teacher, and former students who are now in college or are college graduates have described my classes as some of the best preparation they had for their college science courses. In my classes, I focus on high-level thinking skills, with a strong emphasis on inquiry-based learning. I have had a successful track record in preparing my students for success on third-party standardized tests, including the MCAS physics and chemistry tests, SAT subject tests in physics and chemistry, and AP^® exams. I have also created and taught my own curricula for an organic chemistry course, for honors and college preparatory-level second-year chemistry courses, and for honors and college prepatory-level first- and second-year physics courses.

In addition to my teaching duties, I also coached the science team (which competes in the North Shore Science League) at Lynn English High School and Salem Academy Charter School, was advisor to the Diversity Club at Waltham Senior High School, chaired the Science Fair committee at Peabody Veterans Memorial High School, and have taught professional development courses for using MOODLE, eSchool Plus, GradeQuick, and Edline software at Lynn English High School, Salem Academy, and at Waltham Senior High School and the John F. Kennedy Middle School in Waltham. I also served on the Instructional Support team in Peabody and on the Website Design team in Waltham.

I maintain an extensive teaching website at www.mrbigler.com, including a MOODLE site (visit https://moodle.mrbigler.com and log in with guest access to view content) so that students can access class notes, assignments and take quizzes and tests via the Internet. I am an active contributor to Boston University Physics Teachers' Network (BU PTN) and have presented many of my physics activities and demonstrations at the group's monthly meetings. I have also presented demonstrations, activities and workshops at the annual regional meeting of the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT). I am the co-author of one of the inquiry labs in the 2014 AP^® Chemistry laboratory manual, and a member of the Aula Laudis Society of the New England Association of Chemistry Teachers (NEACT). I attended the AP^® Annual Conference in 2010 and the biennial ChemEd conference in 2009 and 2011. At ChemEd 2011, I presented a hands-on workshop entitled Converting Existing "Cookbook" Laboratory Experiments to Inquiry Format, which was well received.

Please be aware that I am happy in my current position at Lynn English High School and I am not actively looking to change schools. However I would consider another position for a truly outstanding opportunity. For me, this would involve a school with a diverse population, a knowledgeable, understanding, and supportive department head/curriculum director and principal, an administration that has sensible rules and enforces them consistently and that supports its teachers unilaterally in meetings and discussions with parents and students, and the freedom to teach the schools' curricula in the ways that work best for me, which I have developed and refined over my career. Warning flags for me would include a school that consistently has had more than ten percent turnover (other than retirements), a school in which the union has an unusually adversarial relationship with the city or town, a school with a highly scripted curriculum, or a school that requires that all assignments and assessments be administered in common by all teachers of the same subject. (Note, however, that I am in favor of all teachers of a subject having certain benchmarks in common, such as common midterm and final exams).

If your school meets the above description and is in need of an innovative and enthusiastic physics or chemistry teacher, I invite you to view my résumé, and contact me if you would like to discuss the position with me.

Best regards,

Jeff Bigler