Before
The draft as it arrived.
I am a school teacher. I started with the blackboard and chalk as my only pieces of classroom "technology." Then, I saw TED talk featuring *******, the founder of **** Academy. His teaching is magical, incorporating video recordings to summarize complex courses that are then shared with the entire world. His classes are so popular because he “graphicalized” complicated theories and scientific formulas, making them easier to understand and apply for students. After that, I began to think about the possibility of implementing this technique in my classroom. Using my MacBook and a few key pieces of hardware and software, I reorganized most of my science teaching materials to be more visual. I recorded myself teaching, uploaded the clips to YouTube and linked them to my blog. One thousand clips, 83,000 viewers, and several distinguished teaching awards later, I can say that in addition to being a teacher, I have become very popular. But I believe, like Mr. ****, that distance learning is an underutilized platform for improving the world. Therefore, I am determined to study at the ************ program ******* in order to fulfill my dream of providing widespread educational opportunities using cutting-edge technology. More specifically, I wish to expand my family business to invent better distance-learning hardware and continue running **********, a non-profit I founded to provide distance-learning opportunities to students in remote areas.
Teaching came naturally to me because helping others was part of my Christian faith. Throughout my life, I have participated in many volunteering and church services; the easiest way I found to help others was by teaching them. As early as fifth grade, I designed eye-catching materials for friends to learn complex concepts in and out of class. This became my passion and led me to pursue a teaching career. I earned my degree in K-12 science education, and my professional focus has largely been on helping under-resourced students, students behind grade level, and students with disabilities.
My project started as a resource for these students. To my surprise, however, my blog went viral in the Chinese-speaking world. Students at all levels gave me positive feedback, and I was asked to share the development process with teachers around the nation. But I did not realize the potential of the platform until I received a call from the Taiwan-based Enterprise and Education Team of ***** Asia. We exchanged hundreds of ideas about distance learning and visualized curriculum and shared a vision about how to improve the educational environment in Taiwan. With their help and a degree from NYU, I believe I can reach my goal of creating more advanced technologies to share knowledge without boundaries.
I hope to launch my future products through my family business. Already we manufacture many education-related products, including the ********, which is like a flash drive that can be connected to the Internet with an operating interface allowing users to browse educational content. It allows teachers to link their devices so the content can be projected. It is particularly useful in distant-learning. Courses at ****** can nurture my entrepreneurship abilities. In the long term, with my entrepreneurial spirit and drive to improve education for all students, I am hopeful that I can impact the educational reform in Taiwan, transforming us from a memorization culture to an innovation culture. After careful consideration, I firmly believe ******** program at ****** will help me reach this goal and I appreciate the committee's consideration for admission.