A teaching cover letter is a document that helps the principal employ a teacher who inspires and elevates pupils in a topic and the critical life skills necessary to lead meaningful lives.
Of course, a resume will describe your prior job experience and qualifications, but a cover letter serves as a means of letting your potential employers get to know you personally.
Given that teaching aids in students’ learning and development, it may be a challenging yet gratifying occupation, and when applying for a teaching position, you need a teacher cover letter. These cover letters allow you to stand out from other candidates by highlighting your experience, education, and accomplishments so that the hiring manager can immediately see how well your qualifications and personality suit the job vacancy.
Is getting a teaching job a priority for you? Well, then, by now, you must realize how important a cover letter for a teaching position is to get you there. But don’t worry; this article covers the following points to help you write a winning cover letter for a teaching position:
- How to structure a cover letter for a teaching position
- What not to include in a cover letter
- A sample of a cover letter for a teaching position
- Tips for writing a winning teacher cover letter
How to Structure Cover Letter for Teaching Position?
A teaching cover letter layout is crucial since it regularly serves as the hiring manager’s first impression of you. In addition, a suitable format for a teaching position is crucial for a cover letter since it clarifies your resume, aids reader understanding, and can assist in highlighting your qualifications.
Your name, the hiring manager’s information, a greeting, three body paragraphs, and a closing are all required in an appropriate cover letter for a teaching position
1. Address your teaching cover letter
The opening of your teaching cover letter begins with proper addressing. Addressing your cover letter appropriately helps make an excellent first impression of how you pay attention to detail.
Write your details
The cover letter starts with a bit about you. Then, at the top left corner, put the following information at the start of your cover letter:
- Your full name.
- Phone number with your area or country code (if you’re applying to a school in a different city, state, or country).
- A professional email address.
- Links to any social media platforms pertinent to you as a teacher.
Include date
Just below your personal information, you should include the date of application.
Write the details of the school/recipient
Do some research to find information about the addressee. Most times, the addressee is the superintendent or Principal. Write down the name and follow up with the address of the college or institution you’re applying to.
The following is an example of a header:
Richard Gray
603-890-1264
[email protected]
linkedin.com/in/richardgray
June 12, 2022
Sarah Swanson
Principal
Imperial Baptist College
1704 EASTWEST
FLEMING ISLAND FL 32003-6402
USA
2. Start the cover letter
To get one foot through the classroom door, the start of a well-written cover letter would include the following:
Write a greeting/ salutation
It’s only polite to address your cover letter adequately to the school’s principal. Look for their name in the job description or on the school website. Try phoning the school and requesting the principal’s name if you still have trouble finding it. When you get the name of the principal, make sure you write an appropriate greeting, such as, Dear Susan Swanson
If none of these tactics is successful, refrain from using a generic salutation like “To Whom It May Concern.” Instead, use a greeting specific to the school you’re applying to, such as “Dear Principal” or “Dear Superintendent.”
Write an introductory statement
Your cover letter’s introductory line should capture the principal’s attention, introduce yourself, state the teaching job position you are applying for, and tell them how you discovered the job offer.
The introductory statement is a chance for you to communicate your enthusiasm for the position and highlight the value you would bring to the school. In addition, your positive vibes provide the principal with crucial information about your personality and the qualities that might benefit the school.
An engaging introduction sample will look like this:
Dear Richard Harrison,
I am humbled by the opportunity to contribute my ten years of a qualified Mathematics teaching experience to the academic brilliance of Landmark College in the role of an Algebra teacher advertised on the Landmark College website.
Tip: In the introductory paragraph, personalizing the paragraph with a mention of the school’s name indicates to the principal that this job applicant pays attention to detail and is enthusiastic about working with the school.
3. Write the middle paragraphs adequately
The middle paragraph of your teacher cover letter lets you further describe your qualifications and successes to impress the principal. As you compose this section of your cover letter, use the skills, experience, and necessary qualifications given in the job description as inspiration.
Explain why you are perfect for them
Any principal reading a teacher’s cover letter job application will scrutinize why a candidate is perfect for this job. Your description of why that job is for you must portray an honest account of your skills and qualifications. The cover letter is an opportunity to tell the story of skills, qualifications, accomplishments, and strengths your resume holds. In this way, you will be able to convince the reader that you are perfect for this job opportunity.
Why are they perfect for you?
Another way to have a principal highly interested in you is to describe how you think the job role will help you. Then, you can expand on how the job position will further train you and aid you to grow as this resounds willingness to learn and grow to the school board.
An example of such a descriptive body will look like this:
Teaching anyone is an opportunity to inspire and impact knowledge. Working with Citadel College puts me on the front line of utilizing my skills in art teaching, communication, time management, and patience to further give meaning to the students’ lives.
A massive contribution to my success at Hillcrest High was the various teacher training workshops where I earned my Standard Professional 1 (SP1) Professional Educator’s Licenses and Standard Professional 2 (SP2) Professional Educator license. In addition, with inspiration and patience, I helped my students at Hillcrest High win North Carolina State art competition. This success was possible through personalized, fun teaching-learning activities with feedback loops for students and colleagues to convey complaints and reinforce good attributes. I’m confident I can apply such learning models with Citadel college to champion new art projects and raise our future Picassos.
Tip: Using keywords helps tailor your resume and cover letter to appear concentric. Also, ensure you use the best font type, similar color codes, and formatting to improve readability.
4. Add a compelling closing
Time to finish on a solid high. The closure of your teaching cover letter must show gratitude, reinforce your interest in the job, and be a call to action for the hiring principal. Then, after crafting a leading closing paragraph, you can sign off with your name and details.
An example of a selfless closing paragraph will look like this:
Working with Citadel’s brilliant young minds would be an incredible experience I’d love to have, so feel free to call anytime for a virtual or offline interview, as I look forward to discussing innovative educational methods with you. Thank you for taking the time to go through my letter.
Best regards
Richard Gray
Tip: A P.S. (postscript) can come in handy when trying to swing the odds of getting the job in your favor. Using the P.S. to indicate an attached document demonstrates your ability to convey information clearly, reinforcing the ability to pass on information to students.
Sample of Cover Letter for Teaching Position
Rhonda Jones
603-740-1453
linkedin.com/in/rhondajones
July 1, 2022
Susan Rice
Superintendent
Oak Grove High
10th Street, East 31510
Georgia
USA
Dear Susan Rice,
With gratitude, I write to you to show my interest in consideration for the post of Geography Teacher at Oak Grove High school for the 2022 session. I aim to combine my ten years of practical teaching experience with my breadth of Geography knowledge to show Oak Grove students the world from a textbook and a world globe.
Oak Grove High’s recent students’ excellent SAT scores justify its awards as a premium citadel of learning. I hope to contribute to and sustain that success by showing kids that learning Geography can be so much fun with patience and excellent communication channels.
While working as a qualified Geography teacher at Crystal High, my best teacher awards earned were both a blessing and a thorn, as changing towns forced me to leave the kids and school I dearly loved. However, I have no regrets as the calls of gratitude and encouragement from parents and old students reinforce my desire to continue impacting this knowledge on more children.
I’m excited about Oak Grove High’s adoption of innovative educational technologies, as this journey would help sharpen my teaching skills and keep me up to date on the best Geography teaching practices. Thank you for going through my application, and feel free to call me anytime for an interview.
Best regards.
Sincerely
Rhonda Jones
603-740-1453
PS: I have attached a document of my achievements and qualifications I find vital to this job position.
Free Templates
Following are the cover letter for teaching position templates:
Follow Tips to Write Teaching Cover Letter
After such an extensive guide on the structure of a cover letter for a teaching position, let’s look at some tips that will trim off the excesses and keep your letter brief, which will give you an edge over other job applicants.
These tips include the following:
Customize your cover letter
Every job listing in a particular school is different, and a way to increase your job acceptance rate is to mold your teaching cover letter to fit the specific school and job listing. A way of doing this is to research the school and describe why you think you are the right fit for that school.
Keep the letter short and sweet
Nothing sparks interest like a short, sweet story. Write your teaching cover letter like you are doing an elevator pitch of a great idea. This approach reminds you to write salient points about yourself that will capture the hiring manager’s attention in 30 seconds. Also, instead of repeating everything on your resume, use the cover letter to detail why you are a great candidate in one or two paragraphs.
Read job description
Sounds obvious, right? But most applicants fail to understand that a job description is like a flashlight into their skills arsenal. Reading the job description and overlapping the required skills with your skills is the best way to say I am the best person to hire boldly. If the job requests certain qualities or uses a specific tone or language, repeat them in your cover letter.
Individualize your cover letter
Before applying to a school job listing, you should research the school and its culture, as this will help tailor each cover letter to fit the school, school area, and job. This approach helps you address their expectations while leveraging your achievements to show why you are the best candidate for the job.
Be honest
Honesty is the best virtue that couldn’t be said any better. No matter how overboard you’d want to go with a description of your skill set in your teaching cover letter, keep it simple and accurate, as only time will tell if you are dishonest.
Emphasize your versatility
Education is a dynamic area, and schools are always willing to hire candidates with versatility and adaptability. Therefore, in your cover letter, you must reinforce or show glimpses of how versatile you are in your past employment opportunities.
Keep the letter brief
Brevity in your cover letter cannot be overemphasized. Yes, there’s always that temptation to go overboard with descriptions of who you are and what you have achieved. However, it is essential to remember that you can only capture the attention span of the principal as you are not the only applying teachers.
Proofread and edit the letter
Nothing like poorly edited content or a cover letter containing grammatical errors puts off a reader. Be sure to run your teaching cover letter through a grammar checker, as plenty of them are online.
Key Takeaways
- An excellent cover letter will draw attention to your relevant experience and prior accomplishments and connect them with the position you’re applying for.
- Properly addressing your cover letter sets the stage for how the hiring principal perceives your cover letter. Be sure to correctly write your contact details, date, and principal’s details.
- Start your cover letter with a polite or formal greeting by mentioning the hiring principal’s name. This greeting shows the reader that you pay attention to tiny details.
- The tone and vibe of your letter tell the principal vital details about your character and the types of qualities that can help the institution.
- Describing why the school needs you can be made simple by overlapping the required job skills with your skills and highlighting achievements that the school is looking for in your letter.
- Use the right font size, font color, and spacing as a well-formatted cover letter is a more accessible cover letter to read.