Good News!

I have an announcement to make. Drumroll please...I have a long-term substitute teaching position in a 2nd grade classroom! While it is not the contracted position I was hoping for, I am very excited for this opportunity. I will potentially have a long-term position for the entire school year and that is something to be excited about. I get to continue teaching, gain more experience, and do what I love. This year will be trying because of the decrease in pay but I am still hopeful that it may lead to a contracted position. In the meantime, it will be consistent work and that is very important. I'm looking forward to blogging about my adventures this year!

So Stressed My Hair Is Falling Out!!!

If you had told me three years ago that I would be in the position of being an unemployed teacher, I never would have believed you. Naive, I know. However, this is the current position I am in and it saddens me. And stresses me out. In fact, I am so stressed that my hair is falling out and I now have a small bald patch on the top of my head! My hair stylist says it's because of stress. In fact, she had a client last week who is going through the same thing and in the same profession-teaching. Crazy!

I have absolutely NO FRIGGIN' IDEA what is going to happen next or how I am going to pay the rent come September 1. That is also a huge source of stress for me. So now what? Where the hell do I go from here? I know I'm a good teacher. I know that I care about my students and that it shows in my teaching. I know that I do everything I can to help my students develop into good citizens and academic scholars. Teaching is taking a huge hit everywhere...every which way. It's absolutely ridiculous the things we have to go through and the crap that gets talked about us. But where would ANY of those people be (who are making crazy decisions and the crap talking people) without a teacher-public, private, or parochial?

This is the first summer in a long time that I have not enjoyed. I spend my time combing the Internet looking for jobs, writing cover letters, writing several drafts of my resume. I never thought I would be in this position...but here I am. I cannot wait for school to start in August so that I can get as many substitute jobs as possible so that I can pay my rent and bills. It's an exhausting and depressing process.

A Glimmer of Hope....I Hope!

Today I received an email from my school district's human resources department. It seems that on Monday, there will be a 5 day window of opportunity to apply for a spot on the eligibility list for a teaching position for the upcoming school year. While I welcome this opportunity with open arms, I am also thankful that I got my lazy butt off the couch and checked my district email which thankfully still works! Can you imagine if I had missed this! It's not like they call all the teachers who had contracts and no longer have contracts to alert us to this window of opportunity! So, I have been making sure that I have my paperwork in order, especially my letters of recommendation.

On a side note, I went to Target last week and saw from a distance that the beautiful, shiny, new school supplies are out. Today, some of them went on sale. This is only something a teacher would understand. I do feel sad that I am unable to partake in the festivities of purchasing new school supplies for my students. This is my favorite time of year. It's a fresh start and a chance to try new ways of teaching. I'm hoping I get a call and a chance to teach full-time again.