Appendix 13.1. What to Include in Your Professional Vita

Your professional vita should be a living document. Each year, you’ll add to it as a record of your professional activities and accomplishments.

From an up-to-date vita, you can extract information for customized resumés. For example, if your school is applying for a grant to set up a nature center, you could create a one-page resume highlighting your experiences and expertise in this area.

There is no standard style, but the following topics are usually included:

 Education: List each degree and institution separately and include information about current enrollment in graduate courses.

 Professional experience: Start with the most recent and repeat the entry for each place you’ve worked as an educator. Include other employment such as summer jobs, internships, or volunteer work that may be relevant to your teaching position (e.g., lab assistant, park ranger, tutor).

 Certifications: List your current teaching certifications and the state(s) that issued them.

 Awards and recognitions: —Mention those achievements related to your teaching position.

 Professional development: List the workshops you have attended (both in person and online), conferences (including location and dates), and other independent study related to your teaching position.

 Professional memberships: List national or regional associations related to teaching or your content area.

 Presentations: List the title of presentations or workshops you’ve done at your school or for other organizations.

 Publications: List anything you publish: blogs, newsletter columns, articles, lesson plans, and so on.

 Community service: Mention any work you do for local agencies related to education or your content area.

On the following page is an example that can serve as a template. Name Address Phone E-mail

EDUCATION

B. S., Biological Sciences (2010) Hometown University City, State

Other Education Currently enrolled in M.Ed. program (Science Education) at XYZ University

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Anytown Area School District—City, State Middle School Teacher, Life Science and Physical Science (2010–present)  Teaches science courses emphasizing inquiry, environmental issues, and technology applications  Revises the curriculum as part of the science department  Designs multimedia instructional materials for environmental science  Chaperones students on field trips to the ABC Museum, XYZ State Park  Serves on the Strategic Planning Committee and the School Safety Team  Sponsors the Science Club and Science Olympiad Team (2011)  Serves as science fair judge for the Regional Science Fair (2011)

XYZ State Park—City, State Naturalist (summer internship) (2010)  Conducted workshops for teachers on identifying birds  Operated the Science Center on weekends  Served on the planning team for Family Night

CERTIFICATIONS

ABC Department of Education Instructional I, Biology (2010)

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

2011 Journey of the Birds (NSTA Webinar) 2011 NSTA Regional Conference (City, State) 2010 Safety in the Science Lab (District Workshop) 2010 What's in Your Assessment Toolkit (District Workshop) PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS AND AFFILIATIONS

National Science Teachers Association (NSTA)

COMMUNITY SERVICE AND ACTIVITIES

XYZ State Park—MyTown, State  Volunteer photographer

National Audubon Society  Member and volunteer