Friday, July 29, 2011
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!
Thursday, July 14, 2011
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.
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.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
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.
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.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Unemployment Hell
Many things have happened since my last post. Below are the top 10 highlights of the last 2 weeks.
1. I found out that I do not have a teaching job for the 2011-2012 school year.
2. Survived the naughty boys in my summer school class.
3. Raised the fluency scores of 90% of my summer school students.
4. Successfully kept my cool during the daily district walk-throughs of my summer school class.
5. Received MANY complements from district officials about my teaching and classroom management abilities but STILL....no job!
6. I filed for unemployment.
7. I applied for 30+ non-teaching jobs that I am not fully sure I am qualified for.
8. I came to the realization that instead of spending my college years pursuing a career in teaching, I should have become a nurse, social worker, or therapist (there seems to be an abundance of jobs for these people).
9. Experienced a week of depression over the fact that I am a 30 year old, college educated woman with a Masters and I STILL can't get a job.
10. Have had to explain the reasons for my unemployment despite my qualifications to family and friends more times than I would like to count only to be told, "But they say they need teachers ALL the time!"
Here's to hoping something good comes my way and soon!
1. I found out that I do not have a teaching job for the 2011-2012 school year.
2. Survived the naughty boys in my summer school class.
3. Raised the fluency scores of 90% of my summer school students.
4. Successfully kept my cool during the daily district walk-throughs of my summer school class.
5. Received MANY complements from district officials about my teaching and classroom management abilities but STILL....no job!
6. I filed for unemployment.
7. I applied for 30+ non-teaching jobs that I am not fully sure I am qualified for.
8. I came to the realization that instead of spending my college years pursuing a career in teaching, I should have become a nurse, social worker, or therapist (there seems to be an abundance of jobs for these people).
9. Experienced a week of depression over the fact that I am a 30 year old, college educated woman with a Masters and I STILL can't get a job.
10. Have had to explain the reasons for my unemployment despite my qualifications to family and friends more times than I would like to count only to be told, "But they say they need teachers ALL the time!"
Here's to hoping something good comes my way and soon!
Friday, June 3, 2011
Summer School-Week 1
So, I decided to teach summer school intervention this year for two reasons. 1. I still do not know if I have a job for the 2011-2012 school year and 2. I wanted to make some extra money. As it turned out, it was a good thing I applied for the position since I still don't know if I have a job for the upcoming school year.
This was the first week of summer school and I have to say it has been the most exhausting 4 days I've experienced for quite some time. I'm teaching 3rd grade intervention. These students will be in 4th grade next year and maybe it's just me but I just don't see how. Let me back up. I have 17 boys and 5 girls in my class. Did I mention there are 17 boys!!!! Holy moly...my work is cut out for me. And there are only 3 weeks left!
As a whole, the boys in this group are the most exasperating bunch I have encountered in my short teaching career. I have tried many things but nothing has worked yet. The following are the techniques I and my aide (even with an aide they are crazy monkey children) have tried to no avail.
1. Establishing class rules and consequences as a class.
2. Developing teams for cooperative learning/table groupings-at the end of the week the team with the most points gets to go to the treasure box. Teams can earn or lose points depending on their behavior and ability to work as a team.
3. Proximity to students making poor choices (shouting out, distracting others, laying down on the desk).
4. Temporarily taking away chairs from students who are not sitting correctly.
5. Time out in the classroom.
6. Losing recess time.
7. Giving M&M's to reward students who are on task, participating, and good citizens.
8. The class earns time to play Study Island, Around the World, and Spelling Bee.
None of it has worked. Select students have even been pulled out to have serious discussions regarding behavior with the Summer School Principal...and yes, parents have been informed. So where do I go from there? It is impossible to motivate a student or students who do not care about their learning. These students do not even care how their poor choices affect other students learning in the class. I think it is very sad and disappointing to see this type of attitude in such young students. I have 3 more weeks with this group. This is my challenge to teach the students who do care and attempt to motivate the students who do not care to change their negative attitude to a positive one. I welcome your suggestions!
This was the first week of summer school and I have to say it has been the most exhausting 4 days I've experienced for quite some time. I'm teaching 3rd grade intervention. These students will be in 4th grade next year and maybe it's just me but I just don't see how. Let me back up. I have 17 boys and 5 girls in my class. Did I mention there are 17 boys!!!! Holy moly...my work is cut out for me. And there are only 3 weeks left!
As a whole, the boys in this group are the most exasperating bunch I have encountered in my short teaching career. I have tried many things but nothing has worked yet. The following are the techniques I and my aide (even with an aide they are crazy monkey children) have tried to no avail.
1. Establishing class rules and consequences as a class.
2. Developing teams for cooperative learning/table groupings-at the end of the week the team with the most points gets to go to the treasure box. Teams can earn or lose points depending on their behavior and ability to work as a team.
3. Proximity to students making poor choices (shouting out, distracting others, laying down on the desk).
4. Temporarily taking away chairs from students who are not sitting correctly.
5. Time out in the classroom.
6. Losing recess time.
7. Giving M&M's to reward students who are on task, participating, and good citizens.
8. The class earns time to play Study Island, Around the World, and Spelling Bee.
None of it has worked. Select students have even been pulled out to have serious discussions regarding behavior with the Summer School Principal...and yes, parents have been informed. So where do I go from there? It is impossible to motivate a student or students who do not care about their learning. These students do not even care how their poor choices affect other students learning in the class. I think it is very sad and disappointing to see this type of attitude in such young students. I have 3 more weeks with this group. This is my challenge to teach the students who do care and attempt to motivate the students who do not care to change their negative attitude to a positive one. I welcome your suggestions!
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