Viron Hattingh

Dear Hiring Manager

With a Bachelor of Education degree in English and Biology and almost 9 years of teaching experience in teaching these subjects at elementary and secondary levels, I am confident in my ability to make a positive impact on your school's educational program.

In 2019, I was employed as a qualified senior division teacher of Biology for grades 10, 11, and 12 at High School Gerrit Maritz in South Africa. This experience has provided me with a unique perspective on working with students from diverse racial, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds. I have developed adaptive and personalised teaching strategies that are free from biases and promote an interactive and learner-focused environment. I am committed to creating customised lessons and materials that cater to each student's unique needs and learning styles.

Along with my teaching expertise, I possess excellent communication and leadership skills. I value collaboration and teamwork, and I take pride in setting an example of excellence for my colleagues and students. As a fast learner and creative thinker, I am always up for a challenge and strive to create a goal-oriented, organised, and punctual environment for myself and my students.

I am currently pursuing my Ontario Teacher's College Teaching Certificate with a concentration in the intermediate/senior level and am available to start working immediately. I am also willing to relocate to an area closer to the school, if necessary.

Thank you for considering my application. I look forward to the opportunity to discuss my qualifications further and to contribute to your school's educational mission.

Please feel free to contact me at your convenience.

Sincerely, Viron Hattingh

PROFESSIONAL WORK EXPERIENCE

HIGH SCHOOL GERRIT MARITZ | August 2019 – February 2023

Biology Teacher (Grade 9, 10, 11 and 12)

My duties included all teaching-related administration, classroom management, parent communication, and all other common educator duties. I was the subject coordinator for Life Science in the grades 10 and 11 and subject teacher and moderator for grade 12. I have created numerous resources and materials that has gradually replaced the old materials used in prior years for all three grades. This included summary sheets, informal and formal assessments, annotated diagrams and worksheets. I believe that the new content that caters for diverse learners on various cognitive levels, together with my adaptive teaching and assessment strategies is what has led to an increase of 12% in learner performance.  On average, I taught and assessed 230 students per year, excluding learners participating in my scheduled extra-classes. 

In addition, I served on the School Management Team (SMT) as one of their youngest members. Our team was aimed at identifying problems as they arise inside the school and community and come up with, and debate, possible creative solutions that can be implemented. This required good communication, negotiation and delegation skills, which I definitely have a knack for. During the time that I served on the SMT I also filled the role of grade head for the grade 10 group. This included managing and instructing the grade 10 homeroom teachers on how to conduct parent meetings or communication, assisting them in managing administrative tasks, discipline and general school duties. In filling this role, I gained significant experience in managing and leading a cooperative and positive team towards success. This role also taught me to think on my feet and enabled me to practice adaptability and communication skills on a daily basis. My ability to perform these tasks so well is  possibly the reason why I was asked to manage and oversee the training of  three student-teachers during my time at the school.

During the time that I worked at the school, I also started a social committee, of which I was the coordinator, focussed on raising funds for and hosting social events, awareness campaigns and fun days which promotes the general morale of the school and gave learners a change to become contributing members in their immediate community. In addition to this, the events also helped to establish the school’s position in the community, which increased the involvement and contribution of stakeholders from in the community. 

In terms of extra-curriculars; I coached field hockey (first team), coordinated the annual revue, coached middle- and long distance track items for athletics as well as cross-country, and did art and design décor for school projects, events and uniform design.

GEN. NICOLAAS SMIT PRIMARY SCHOOL | January 2019 – February 2019

Substitute teacher of Afrikaans and Geography (Grade 4 and 6)

Because the school year in South Africa starts in January, I was mainly tasked with orientating learners to the teaching phase and content. 

I faced numerous challenges while working here. First of all, I was able to see the real effect that poverty can have on learning. Because the school was situated in a fairly low socio-economic neighbourhood, which undoubtedly played a role in student performance and motivation. I was also faced with challenges in maintaining discipline in a diverse classroom that faced numerous language and cultural barriers and the conflicts that go hand-in-hand with these. On top of this, the school had no disciplinary policy at the time which would have guided  both teachers and learners to establish boundaries. 

I am hoverer proud to say that I was able to face these challenges head-on due to my adaptive strategies, learner-focused approach and passion for teaching. I won learners over fairly easily by providing regular personalised feedback to them and their parents. Involving the school support group also helped in providing learners’ families with the help they needed in order to meet their basic needs. In providing a safe space with consistent rules based on fairness and acceptance of all diversities, together with my continued encouraging attitude, I was able to make a real difference in learners’ lives.

WORK EXPERIENCE AS A STUDENT TEACHER

DALVIEW PRIMARY SCHOOL AND AFTER CARE CENTRE | April 2014 – August 2018

After-care teacher and tutor | 2014

I was responsible for tutoring grade 6 and 7 learners in all subjects, helping them complete homework assignments and projects and ensuring that they were prepared for tests and exams.

Reading specialist and language tutor (LECTORSA) | 2015

This position entailed testing learners’ reading and comprehension capabilities in an effort to determine learning problems and constructing learner-specific solutions, coping-tools and strategies accordingly to bridge any learning gaps that may exist. 

Intern Grade 7 teacher| 2016 – 2018

I taught Visual Arts and Afrikaans (Home Language), which is one of the 11 national languages of South Africa, to grade 7 learners. In the first year, I worked mainly under the supervision of a mentor teacher. From the second year onwards, I also had my own unsupervised classes for which I had to plan my own lessons, create resources, and set up, administer and assess tests. I also had to moderate the grade 5 and 6 formal assessments. During the period that I worked here, I also completed three months of my Practical  Teacher Training, during which time I focused on teaching Natural Science (Biology), Technology and English.

DALVIEW DRUMPEL | October 2014 – July 2015

Administrative facilitator, teaching assistant (Age group 2 to 6)

I mainly filled an administrative and assisting role to the main teacher here. I was tasked with creating resources within the guidelines set in the curriculum, assembling them into teacher files and making them easily-usable and accessible in both hard-copy and in electronic format for the senior teacher. I also had to make sure that all of the resources were printed, copied, set up and ready to use by both teachers and learners. On rare occasions I acted as substitute teacher when the senior teacher was not able to come in to work. This role taught me many organizational skills as well as the value of proper planning and preparation in order to execute successful lessons.

HIGHSCHOOL ZWARTKOP | April 2018 – June 2018

Teaching Practical Program – Grade 8 and 11 English Teacher

I worked under the supervision of an experienced mentor teacher to complete the Senior Division Practical part of my Teaching degree. 

I was tasked with teaching learners English at a Home Language level for both grades 8 and 11. I had to set up and plan lessons as well as presentation of these lessons. Most of the lessons also included assessments, either informal or informal, which I needed to mark and capture in order to provide learners with feedback on their progress and suggestions for improvement. 

I was able to try different teaching approaches during this time and gradually adapted my teaching style in order to see the best performance and behaviour in the classroom. I walked away with many new tools, skills and an in depth knowledge of teaching adolescents. 

WORK EXPERIENCE IN OTHER FIELDS

DR. ADELINE TWIGGE (EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGIST) | July 2014 – August 2016

Confidential transcriber

This part-time job provided me with insight into the psychology behind child and adolescent development. As mentioned in the Profile section of my resume, one of my focus areas while studying education, was psychology. Therefore, it is no surprise that I wanted to learn more about this field outside of the context of teaching. I did not interact with any of the patients in person, but was given insight into their lives, development and individual progress through video tapes that I had to watch in order to transcribe them into textual dialogues. The aim of these transcribes were to form part of a study performed by the psychologist on the unique challenges facing children and adolescents and how it affects their interpersonal development. She later published a book, Goodness and Kindness – A Currency for Success, on the research she conducted during this study.

INCASU ACCOUNTING SERVICES | September 2018 – September 2019

Bookkeeper

This was a remote job that I took while I was in my final year of studies. It gave me experience in a completely unrelated field. I learned how to work meticulously, in an organized manner under high-pressure conditions. The fact that it was a remote job also helped me to practice my telephonic and email communication skills, conflict management and problem-solving skills. 

I also picked up many new skills in basic computer programs and applications, which all turned out to be useful as a teacher who regularly has to set up marksheets with complex calculations to assess learner progress. 

University of South Africa

2015 – 2018

BEd (Senior and FET Phases) Cum Laude.

Subjects: Biology, English (home language), Psychology, Technology, Art History