Searching

My job search has officially begun for the '12-'13 school year. Last year I started late because I was student teaching and really did not comprehend when and how the schools hired. This year I have a better understanding and will hopefully do a better job (and obtain a job!).

At this time I have sent out emailed resumes and customized cover letters to each middle and high school in the surrounding counties: Barrow, Hall, Walton, Banks, Oconee, Clarke, and Jackson. Which added up to 39 sent emails. This took quite a few hours as I had to look up the information for each school and put the emails together. I have two versions of cover letters, one for Title-1 schools and one for non Title-1 schools. I have not begun on Gwinnett County yet, which will be another 40+ emails for that county alone.

Hopefully I will be able to obtain a few interviews from these query emails. I plan to resend my resume to each of these schools in late April or early May. At that time I will also be able to send an updated resume which includes my long-term subbing job.

I know that not many schools will be hiring, but it is still disheartening to receive responses like these:

Thanks for your interest.  I do not anticipate any vacancies at this time but will hang on to your information.

Thank you for expressing interest in a Social Studies teaching position.  At this time we do not anticipate a vacancy in your field for the 2012-2013 school year.  If a vacancy does occur the position will be posted on our system’s website.  Please monitor our website for possible future vacancies.  Again, thank you for your interest in a teaching position.

Thanks for your interest. At the present time, we do not have any openings for next year, but I will keep you in mind as we move forward with the hiring for next year.

Sigh. Maybe things will begin to look up. I'm trying to stay positive, but then come across information articles like this: APS wants to close 13 schools.

Things Are Looking Up

I got great news today when the substitute coordinator stopped by my classroom to let me know that I was chosen for the long term sub position. Finally, something is going my way! The position is available because the teacher is expecting. Her due date is March 12th, so barring an early delivery I will take up the position on or near that date.



Because I am subbing all week at the school already (as well as next Monday and Friday!), I was able to sit in on her class today to get an idea of the class. I was lucky in that it is the first day of a 9 weeks period. This means that students are beginning new connections classes and I was able to see how she handles the first day of the class. This was a great opportunity as I should have the opportunity to teach an entire 9 weeks group of my own from start to finish.



I am very excited about this opportunity. I hope that it will provide me with more "real" classroom experience which schools are looking for when they are hiring. When interviewing I will be able to better answer questions about behavior management and motivation as well as administrative aspects of teaching such as time management, parent interaction, and working with other teachers.

Long Term

I am interviewing Tuesday morning for a long term, middle school substitute teaching job. Unfortunately, it is not for a Social Studies class, but a Family and Consumer Sciences class. This is a Connections (elective) class which eighth, seventh, and sixth graders may take. I am interviewing for it because few people are certified for this class. If it were a standard subject, they would have plenty of certified applicants available. The sub coordinator has suggested myself and another sub for the position. I assume that the other sub is interviewing as well. I am not sure if there are any other candidates besides the two of us.

This is a great opportunity to make connections within the middle school. Due to the job market finding a teaching position is about who you know (more so than ever); this would be a great way to make myself known in the school. Taking this position would mean missing an opportunity with the high school that I sub for, proctoring the Advance Placement tests at the end of the school year. This is something I did last year, and enjoyed doing. However, the long term sub job provides guaranteed daily work from the middle of March to the end of the school year. The AP testing is a three week job with varying hours.



The class seems easy enough. Here is a breakdown of some of the topics I would be teaching if I get the position.

• Careers- résumé creation (on the computer), job application basics, mock interviews (done with parent/teacher/business volunteers serving as the interviewers)
• Textiles- basic handstitching and button sewing put together to create a product; laundry HW assignment; laundry HW assignment
• Personal Finance- financial planning, income vs. expenses, budgeting, financial literacy
• Food and Nutrition- safety and sanitation, measurement basics, eating disorders, fad diets, recipe math and cooking labs
• Child Development- original game creation, ages and stages of development
• Housing and Interiors- reasons to keep a home clean and neat, home safety, elements of design

Lunch and Learn

They're eating pizza (it's considered a veggie now!)

This week and last week I have been working at the high school level in a program called Lunch and Learn. It is basically tutoring during lunch time for US History. It works out to be about two hours every day. I work with groups of students (anywhere from 1 -10 students at a time), helping them prepare for their EOCT (end of course test), which is a cumulative test which they must pass in order to obtain credit for the class.


I am also only being paid to work for two hours every day, and have missed a few opportunities for full sub days, but am hoping that this is an opportunity to meet administrators in the school and make connections. I am working closely with one administrator who I was not familiar with before, and she has come in to observe me twice during the program.


The students are selected for this program based on a practice test which they take as a predictor of their achievement on the actual test. Because of this, these are not (generally) higher level students and (many) are not very motivated to learn. Most of them do not actually show up - maybe a little under 1/3.


Unfortunately, many students are in the program for a reason. They just do not know their US History, or are not practiced in thinking critically about information. For example (and I am not giving this example in an attempt to make fun of students, but this is a good example of the types of students I am working with). I was showing an example of a time line question:






While explaining the question, I prompted students to provide their own knowledge about the events in the time line. When I asked them to name the war in which the Battles of Lexington and Concord were fought in, two (of four) classes couldn't tell me. I prompted them with the next item, the Declaration of Independence, and asked them again. The students could not tell me what war we fought to gain our independence! One student offered WWI as an answer.











Whether they just aren't thinking deeply about the questions or truly do not know the answers, this shows that the students need the assistance which Lunch and Learn provides. I have been trying to focus on testing skills such as analyzing maps, charts, political cartoons, and graphs which contain US history facts and providing historical facts along the way. If I just throw fact after fact at them, they will forget them all. I hope that by attending Lunch and Learn, they gain some skills and knowledge, and are able to pass the EOCT.

Job Fair

Yesterday I attended the Walton County Public Schools job fair.

To sum it up in a few words: stressful, disheartening, and exhausting.

In more words:

Walton County is to the south of me, and none of the Middle or High Schools are less than a 40 minute drive. Here is a map:

Barrow in the pink, Walton in the red, and I am the orange dot.

So, not a preferred school district as far as drive time goes, but I can't be very picky about that.

The job fair was at Walnut Grove High School and it took about 50 minutes to get there. I arrived about 30 minutes into the job fair. I was a little dismayed when I arrived to see how many cars were there. It was packed!

When I went in I wrote out a name tag for myself and went downstairs to the location in which the middle and high schools were set up. There were three schools each, all inside the gym. Each school had a (different) number of representatives doing short interviews. All of the schools had very long lines. It was a little overwhelming and very crowded. I overheard one of the people working say that over 1,000 people were there.

I specifically wanted to see two middle schools who had postings for Social Studies teachers. It took about 30 minutes to see the first school, for a disappointingly short interview. I wasn't sure how to take that. But, I moved on to the next and spent about 45 minutes in line again.That interview was a little longer and more encouraging (although I chose a school which did not have a current opening). The last line I got in was the longest, but one that had a posting. I must have stood in line for nearly an hour and a half. I ended up chatting with the people I was in line with (Chorus, Language Arts, and Math teachers). Again, the interview was short, and I know I could have done better.

Once I was done with the third school it was noon, the time at which the job fair was supposed to be over. Lines were still long for all of the schools and I was exhausted. I went home, and after running a few errands, I took a long nap.

In the end, it was good experience for me, and I think I will have a better idea of what to do (better) next time. I am not sure that I would even want to work at a school which required a 50 minute drive every day, (or so I am telling myself).

On the flip side - there were soooooo many people there! Not all of them were Social Studies teachers, but many were. And, only about half were younger job seekers who are probably looking for their first job like I am. The other half were experienced educators. I am not sure if they have been let go from their current jobs or if they are looking for other opportunities, but either way, it is disheartening that so many people are trying to find jobs when there are so few options.

I am keeping my fingers crossed that more jobs start to open up and I will be able to find a job for the fall.

Long Time No Blog

Well, it has been a while since I have put anything here. I have been pretty busy and haven't really had much to say.

This weekend I have been working on getting my resume out to a lot of schools. Both my mentor as well as a middle school Assistant Principal who works at my part time job suggested that I begin sending out resumes. For now I have decided to focus on middle schools, as I believe that I will enjoy working in a middle school more than a high school. However, due to the conditions of the job market, I will be applying to High Schools as well.

I purchased (expensive) resume paper and envelopes and will be sending out my resumes to the schools closest to my home, along with a cover letter. I hope to make a good impression with them. I also found some thank you cards on clearance from the same people who make the resume paper which I can send out after job fairs or interviews.

Each school does its own hiring and it may be done by a variety of people (principal, assistant principal, or any other sort of administrative position) so it is hard to tell which schools are more receptive to mailed resumes or just search the database of applicants. Either way, it can't hurt!