Personal Statement

Personal Statement

Hello!  My name is Mark Hertz and I am a proud father of two sons, Matthew and Benjamin, and husband to an amazing wife, Lauren.  I am 38 years-old and live in Eureka, CA, a small city on the northwest coast of  California, in Humboldt County.  I moved to Humboldt in August of 1996 to attend Humboldt State University where I finished my undergraduate work in English and went on to earn a Master's Degree in English with an emphasis on Teaching Writing.  I am currently in my seventh year as a teacher at Six Rivers Charter High School in Arcata, CA--just a stone throw away from my Alma Mater.  I was born in New York, grew up in Southern California, and became an adult in Humboldt.  In that time I held many different jobs and participated in a variety of hobbies and sports.  I have rebuilt auto parts, cleaned hotel rooms, and learned the art of drywall installation and finishing.  I have a love for rowing, competitive sports, playing music, and writing in all kinds of genres.  

Though I gave a solid effort in academics during grade, middle, and high school, I did not really become a scholar until my first year of college.  Growing up, I was active in sports and other organizations, therefore I did give enough effort in my classes to really learn and really do well.  Upon entering college, I had a meek skill set in the language arts, an affinity for the sciences, and a strong interest in history, but I struggled with math and had poor study skills.  My writing skills were OK.  I could write an essay that answered a question or a prompt, but did not understand basic essay format or structure and had no clue what a thesis was.  My first two years of college also suffered academically somewhat due to my participation in intercollegiate crew, but my love of thinking, learning, and discovering grew exponentially.  Three years later when I transferred to Humboldt State, I stopped rowing, changed my major to English (emphasis: teacher preparation), and focused my energy on my studies.  Ironically, I still lacked the understanding of what an essay was--both structurally and how to develop content. Therefore, within the first few weeks of coursework at HSU I made a personal goal to 1. Learn how to write. and 2.  Know my content area well.  

 

Upon graduation from the ivory tower, I was a good writer who garnered a basic understanding of the complexities of composition and the act of writing, and after one mildly successful year of teaching Freshmen Composition as a graduate student, I grew confident I could even share my newfound skill with others.  Content wise, extending my stay in HSU English Department to earn a Master's Degree allowed me to delve deeply in the theories of language and communication development, writing (composition), and literature.  That stated, on my second first day of high school most of the above stated training and went right out the window, as none of it had ANYTHING to do with how to teach TEENAGERS.  Quickly, I had to learn a new skill set--It was do or die (metaphorically speaking). 

 

Thankfully the rough road began to get smooth, and I am still at Six Rivers seven years later.  More importantly, I am in the middle of fulfilling another goal I set for myself:  3.  Any student who graduates from my school will know how to write an essay.  It is important to state, "It takes an entire committed teaching staff to teach writing, not just one person."  The teachers at my school are passionate and earnestly want our students to have the skills necessary to flourish in our competitive, modern world.  They have bought into the idea that students learn how to write in every class, not just English.  At Six Rivers, we teach writing across the curriculum, and our students, even those who greatly struggle with academic work, are responding positively.  

 

The cornerstone of our writing program is the Writer's Portfolio.  The past six years, students at our school submitted their best essays (revised and polished) to a portfolio board (teachers, administration, and parents) who assess their ability to proficiently compose basic analytic expository essays.  Students submit two essays and writing sample of their choice, as long as it is prose (not poetry).  The portfolio begins with a personal statement (this document) about the author.  It must introduce themselves to their readers, discuss their growth as a writer--this particular year and all years prior, identify how they view their writing skills at the present moment, and how they will use writing in the future.  Students are also asked to talk about how they feel about school in general.

 

This "Sample" portfolio I am sharing contains a few selections of my writing, as well as this Personal Statement.  This sample's purpose is to provide a model for my students as they read and revise their own essays and build their own writer's portfolio platform.  It is also our inaugural year of having students create personal web-based platforms as a means to submit their portfolio.  In the past, students submitted a hard copies of their work in a presentable binder.  Though the end products were always quality, an extreme amount of paper was consumed (multiple drafts, writer's workshops, revisions, etc.).  Beginning this year all students were required to create Google Drive accounts, use the application to compose their essays, and then share them with their instructor via Gmail for feedback and assessment.  These changes to how student writing is completed and assessed will save paper while also providing a web based storage space for individual student work.

If you are inclined, I invite you to read my writing.  However, I urge you to forgo my endless rhetoric and babble and instead peruse the writing of my students.  Their development as writers in the short time span of one school year is impressive to say the least, and I am proud of their hard work.  I hope you will celebrate their personal achievements and academic development with me by reading their portfolios.