Personal statement

One of the eight bagijillion things I've had to do this month was write a personal statement regarding my work at AUC.

The guidance we got was that it should be 12 pt font, single spaced and we should try to keep it to under one page. I laughed. I've been working there for 18 months. I didn't think I could write a meaningful paragraph, let alone most of a page. Well, guess what? It was almost a full page, and I had to leave stuff out. After I finished writing it, I was pretty pleased with myself. I mean, I'm actually doing stuff!!

I am, after all, just about the laziest person I know (and that's saying a lot). So anyway, just to toot my own horn a little bit more, I thought I'd post my personal statement here:

I first came to AUC in 2003 as a TEFL MA fellow. Because of the collaborative and non-competitive nature of the faculty and administration here, I decided that this was the ideal environment for me to mature as a teacher and expand my skills into as many aspects of education as possible.
Since being hired as a full time English instructor in 2005, I have taught nearly every possible section, including all five of the skills areas at the advanced (99) level as well as Academic Writing (100) and Reading in the Graduate Module (124). Prior to graduation, I also spent one semester as a student teacher in the Writing Program teaching research writing(103) I am currently exploring the possibility of teaching a Core Curriculum course in 2008.
In addition to teaching, I have been working hard to participate in the various duties of the department and in the university. I have edited the ELIte, a publication of student work from our department. I am an active member of the ELI computer committee, where I have organized a sub-committee to keep our website up-to-date and have also joined the ELI assessment committee.
Additionally, I am a member of the AUC Faculty Services Committee where I participate in a number of functions, including new faculty orientation and faculty library acquisition and maintenance. I regularly participate in TEFL MA research projects, student training, and research work of my colleagues.
I also participate in the department activities to enhance our materials and teaching tools. I have recently been working to develop a number of audio materials from online sources. I have also been working to develop a WebCT template for the entire program to use and conducting training sessions for teachers to help them use WebCT.
I also work outside the university to enhance the profession of ESL teaching in Egypt. I am an active member of EgypTesol, and sit on the Education Technology special Interest Group, which organizes occasional workshops as well an annual Electronic Oasis at the main EgypTesol convention, where I have presented workshops every year. I have helped develop an online application process and database to help organize the activities of the Electronic Oasis and the rest of the convention. I have also volunteered to be the Webmaster for the EgypTesol website.

After reading it over, I realized I've left lots of stuff off! Hmm, oh well. I'll try to boast more later.