Hiring Update

Finally got in touch with someone in HR. I have to go pee in a cup today (still intrigued that my new district seems to be the only in the area that requires a drug test) and will sign all relevant paperwork in August. Because I was offered the job in June, I’m free and clear from the dreaded Cat I.

Now I just need to get in touch with my department head and find out what my curriculum calendar looks like! I’ve got some planning to do…

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Stimulated

Stimulus has passed. Hundreds of millions of dollars coming into education in our state. My future looks a tiny bit brighter – maybe I won’t be unemployed next fall after all. Maybe I’ll get to stay here in my school.

Here’s hoping. I like it here. I didn’t know if I would, but I do. I’ve built relationships that are, perhaps, becoming friendships. I’ve stuffed a classroom. I’ve started a program and began building another one.

Meanwhile, in more important news… job security = increased chances of family expansion.

For a fun explanation of the stimulus, watch this video.

Happy Valentine’s Day…

Ruining My Spring Semester

I am doing a better job at teaching than I am at blogging about it. (Although to be fair, I’ve got some notes and drafts stowed away. Probably ought to finish them and get them posted, huh.)

I love what I’m doing. Some days are hard, and some weeks – like this one – exhaust me with the sheer emotional load of caring about and for these children. I’m told that I’m doing well. I feel like I’m doing a good job. I’m feeling more comfortable, more at home, here at LMS. I’m settling in.

Too bad it seems to all be falling apart around me.

I’m what they call a Category 1 teacher, which means that I was hired at the very last minute. Technically, I suppose, I was a desperation hire. The enrollment numbers turned out higher than was anticipated just before school started, and I lucked into a position. I would have put my whole heart into my teaching anyway – why do something less than 110%? – but this was extra incentive. I had to do a good job if I wanted to keep my job next fall. See, Category 1 teachers are on a non-renewing one-year contract. I knew from the outset that I was going to be gently terminated at the end of the school year and, if all had gone well, rehired for the following year. This, of course, was also contingent on there being appropriate enrollment numbers. Unfortunately, it could take until the last minute (again) to find out about those numbers. That creates a very real possibility that I’d be Category 1 again: no tuition reimbursement, and no job security.

None of this seemed too worrisome in the fall. I reckoned it would all work out in the end.

But now the economy has fallen apart. They’re talking about laying off teachers, among many other things.

Apparently, and according to a friend and a contract expert, this is the scenario I’m facing:

At the end of the school year, I’m done. I will pack up and empty out my classroom. I am going to be paid through August, because it was a one-year contract, but I am in the same place I was before I ever got the job. I am not an employee of the school district. I’ve gained one important thing, in that the school knows me and (allegedly) wants me back. That’s a very important foot in the door.

The schools have to wait for the state, and the state has to wait for the feds. Once everyone gets their ducks in a row, they’ll know how many teachers they need for next year. If last year is any indication, this will be late in the summer.

Soooo… all summer, again, I’m going to be worrying about whether or not I’m going to have a job. I’m going to have to print out resumes again, get my application into the aggravating HR pool again, interview again. I could be back at LMS in my same classroom, or I could be in a high school on the other side of the district, or I could be sitting on my couch at home. If they are even hiring at all, it’ll probably be late, and I’ll probably end up Cat 1 again – which means we’ll do this again.

It isn’t supposed to be like this. Once you get hired, you’re supposed to be able to teach if you want to and if you aren’t awful. You’re supposed to get a job, work hard, get tenure three years later, and be able to breathe. You’re not supposed to fall in love with a school and the people in it just in time to get kicked back to the curb.

I’ve been assured by several coworkers that our admins are going to fight to keep me, but I know as well as anyone that these things are rarely within anyone’s control.

Worse, I know how miserable Mr. Bees is. He has graduated. His diploma (three emphases, a minor, and certification to teach two different subjects) is sitting on the mantle. He wants to be in a classroom so much, but if it was going to be hard for him to get a job as a social studies teacher before, it’s going to be nigh unto impossible now. When they’re cutting loose existing teachers, they aren’t hiring untested ones.

I figured I’d teach a year, get tenure within reach, and then consider that whole “baby” thing I’ve heard so much about. (Don’t get me started – I want to start a family so bad that my teeth hurt when I think about it.) Now I don’t know what to do.

I don’t want to lose this job. But I guess, in a manner of speaking, I already have.

Guess what? I are an English teacher!

Somehow or the other, I have beaten the odds and found myself a job as an English teacher!!

I interviewed at what I will call LMS, in the Suburban School District, on August 7. The interview felt like it went pretty well, but I never feel like I exactly know – especially considering I got only two hours of sleep the night before. The local Educator Grapevine began buzzing shortly thereafter; the Asst. Principal called my mentor teacher and got a resounding recommendation from her (I love you and owe you a lunch, DR). I had discovered that one of my grad school cohorts teaches at LMS; she told me that she’d heard the interview went well.

Every day felt like a week. There was a point in time when I wanted nothing more than to teach middle school, and a point in time when I felt I preferred high school; after interviewing at LMS I wanted to teach THERE and nowhere else. I mean, I tried to hedge my emotional bets; I told myself and my loved ones that I would be perfectly happy at a different school, that whatever was intended to happen would happen. But I was definitely counting those unhatched chickens.

A couple of phone calls and phone messages later,  I was really excited. Things sounded positive.

I was supposed to find out by 8:30 AM on Wednesday. By 2 PM today, I knew that I was going to be a seventh grade English teacher.

I haven’t done paperwork yet, due to some timing issues, but I’m scheduled for new teacher orientation Thursday and Friday. I’ve met the principal, however, and gotten a look inside the classrooms. I’m going to be teaching four classes of English 7 (writing) and one class of English 7 (literature) first semester; the lit class turns into a 6th grade keyboarding class in the spring. There’s another class in there that hasn’t been determined yet. I’m also – and I’m really excited about this – going to be advising student council. I know that student council at the middle school level is more emerging leadership than actual government, but I’m excited about the prospect of teaching some of the skills I’ve learned through membership in and advisement of student organizations.

The scariest/stupidest thing I did, in terms of counting those darn chickens, was thinking about a classroom. To me, one of the coolest things about teaching is having that space to yourself, that space to decorate and fill and make your own. I  knew it was a bad idea to get my head going that direction. Many first-year teachers share classrooms or travel from room to room with a book cart (hence “cart teacher”). Still, it was just too much fun NOT to think about.

Well… I have a classroom. (!!!) There was a slight confusion with the room number, and the room I’m currently assigned still has another teacher’s things in it, so I’m not 100% positive which room will be mine once I can officially begin moving in. Apparently the current inhabitant is changing subjects and moving to another wing of the building. I was able to wander around the school and take a look inside several classrooms. Mine is like most in that it doesn’t have a window or a computer projector, but it seems to be of average size and has a cozy feel to it. I am thinking about bookcases and trying to figure out how to arrange the room so that there is some division without making it crowded…

Eek! I am so excited… I’m browsing IKEA’s website, wondering if a small sofa will fit in the classroom, thinking about the possibility of buying my own projector, watching clips of Olympics-fan Bush on the Daily Show….

I’M A TEACHER. I HAVE A JOB. WHOO HOO!!!

There is only one video in all of YouTube that is up to the task of expressing my glee. Presenting, in all 9:33 minutes of glory – each and every second full of awesome – the NerdFighters/Brotherhood 2.0 Happy Dance Project. (If the embedded video doesn’t work, just click the HDP link.)

Furious. >:(

It occurred to me that it was the second week of June – not that extraordinary an occurrence, except that I was supposed to have heard back from Suburban School District the third week of May about my screening interview. And I never did.

Meanwhile, all of the Suburban School District jobs are drying up.

So I spent half my lunch break today on the phone with their HR department. (The other half I spent playing IT professional for our slapdash English department here at the summer school – I had wanted to call the jr. high principal back and thank her, but didn’t have time.)

I told the HR gal – the same one I complained about earlier – that I was supposed to have heard from them almost a month ago and had not. She looked through her files and…. anyone wanna guess what she said?

“We don’t have anything from you on file.”

“Uhm,” I replied, “when I called before – in May – I was concerned that my materials had been lost in the mail, so I had you look for them. At that time you told me that you had them in front of you.”

HR Lady made a noise like she thought I was hallucinating and shuffled some papers. She asked what I was endorsed in, asked for my name again. Then: “Oh, are you [Mrs. Bees]? I have your materials here. They haven’t been processed yet.”

Steam proceeds to build behind my ears.

“Yeah, it looks like I just reviewed them… yesterday… We haven’t processed it into a folder yet….”

I held myself in check. “I was told they would have been reviewed and processed three weeks ago.”

“Ha ha, yeah, that was probably wishful thinking on my part if I told you that they would be evaluated in a week.”

I responded with what I hoped would translate over the phone as a very pointed silence. Pretty damn poor time estimation, if you ask me. Thinking something will take a week when it will really take four?

“This time of year, you know…” she continued.

I’m thinking to myself, I applied to Urban School District at the exact same time, and have already been screened and narrowly rejected for an actual job. And you haven’t even put my application in a FOLDER yet??

She went on. “Well, I’ll go ahead and… I guess I can go ahead and schedule you for the screening interview now though. Can you…. can you come in Monday?”

“Well, I’m teaching summer school,” I replied. “I’m teaching from 8-4. In [Urban Area].”

“Oh well, we don’t have any afternoon interviews at all.”

My blood boiling, I asked if they had lunchtime interviews. She said they did and that the interview lasted 30 minutes, and that their latest interview was at 11:30. I looked at the bell schedule; I have lunch from 11:45-12:15, and the Suburban District office is about a 30-minute drive from summer school. I would need to miss an hour of teaching. If we have to miss, we have to find our own substitute; I have no idea how they get paid or anything, and we don’t have a contact list. We just have to “know” someone who is on file with the district who can handle a summer school session. Mr. Bees has offered to sub for me but isn’t available until the afternoon.

How am I even supposed to arrange for a sub that I magically find in the next three hours so that I can call her back and schedule an interview that was supposed to happen a month ago?

I am RAGING pissed, not to put too fine a point on it. This is just inexcusable – what kind of professional practices are these? It’s pretty clear to me, from the tone of HR Lady’s voice and the responses I’m getting, that this isn’t a case of being overwhelmed. It’s a case of not doing her job. There is no earthly reason that my application should not even be in a folder yet. There is no earthly way that they have THAT many applications. This is NOT a major metropolitan area, nor is it an area to which many educators are trying to move.

And it’s not like I can complain, because to whom does one complain about HR? And if I complain, or even indicate that I’m displeased, I’ll never get a job there. Of course, maybe that would be for the best! If this were a corporate environment there would be heads rolling.

Junior High Job

After school I checked my phone and found that I had a phone message. The exact transcript of the message follows:

Hi, [Mrs. Bees]. This is [Principal], from [Junior High]. Thank you so much for your interview. You did one of the best interviews I’ve ever been involved in, and I also appreciate the note you followed it up with today. We really had a tough choice, to be honest. You were second on the list. We did end up offering the position to someone else; he was just a little more experienced in this area. But please continue to apply for jobs in the [Urban] School District; you are an awesome candidate and I will do what I can to help in any way I can in you getting a position with [Urban] schools. If you have any questions please give me a call at [cell phone number]. Thank you and good luck! Bye bye.

I knew it was a “no” by the time she said her name – you can just tell, you know? A completely different timbre to the voice. My consolation is that if a person must be rejected for a job, this is a very nice way for it to happen. (Someone “in the know” has since confirmed that I was their second choice, and not by a wide margin, so she wasn’t just being kind.) Not only do I have an advocate on the inside – which is more precious than gold – but I know that I did very well on my first interview and that I have what it takes to get hired if there is an opening.

I’m disappointed. Could I not be? The school is beautiful, conveniently located, well-regarded. I had a good rapport with the staff I met. Moreover, it was a job – a job in my preferred district, which rarely falls within reach of those of us fresh out of student teaching. (The other day someone asked me if I hadn’t done my “year of subbing” as if it were a written requirement of applying for a job in Urban District.) A job means Mr. Bees and I can stop worrying, means that we’ll have income and benefits, means that we can officially start the countdown before we start our family.

But I’m okay. It’s just… one of those things, right? It will turn out for the best, I really do believe that. As excited as I had become about the possibility of teaching ninth grade English, I still have a desire to teach seniors. Maybe an opportunity is just waiting for me to stumble upon it.

 

* I wrote a thank-you note and had Mr. Bees, who was available while I was busy teaching, hand-deliver it for me.

More About Eva

I got Eva’s IEP today. Without going into much detail, hers are basically emotional issues rather than learning disabilities. My accommodations are simple enough: keep her in smaller groups (ha) and keep her on task.

The summer school AP came in today and told me that he had met with Eva’s mom. Apparently she told him that I had already given her and Eva more help than they had ever received from an English teacher. I was flabbergasted. I mean, I’m sure there’s more than one side to THAT story, but seriously… I did so little. All I did was ask for the IEP and send a couple of quickly dashed-off emails! Could it really be true that no one has even ever done that much? It’s no wonder if Eva has a bad attitude about school!

Anyway, the AP asked if he could sit in my class for a few minutes (to observe Eva, not me). When he came in, we were sitting at the six-person conference table reading “The Most Dangerous Game” aloud. I read for a bit, pausing here and there to ask pointed questions or add information, and then passed it to Eva. She reads well.

Later, the AP returned to tell me that he was pleased with what he had seen. He admitted to getting drawn into the story, and really liked the way I was guiding their reading. He liked the little arrangement of desks and said that I was doing the right thing, to keep on doing what I was doing. He also said that he would be happy to put in a good word for me if I had any future interviews, which was really nice to hear. It’s good to have people who are supportive of you, no?

 

I feel like I’m blogging a lot about how great everything is, how great I am. I think it is just because I am so relieved to find that I am not completely screwing up now that I am in solo charge of my own class. Getting positive feedback is enormously helpful, particularly if you consider the things I haven’t really blogged about – my fumbles, snafus, mistakes. Don’t ever let anyone tell you that teaching isn’t hard! I’m nursing a sore throat, not from a germ or allergy but from talking. I haven’t had time to eat breakfast or lunch all week because I’m too busy running around trying to clean up after myself and the things I’ve forgotten. I’m having to completely rewrite my agenda on a daily basis because I haven’t yet gotten the hang of the summer school class period or the pace of the class. (It’s tough because my quiet little PM class moves almost twice as fast as my talkative, larger AM class.)

Ultimately I am writing this blog for myself more than for an outside audience at this point. Every day goes by so quickly, and they blur together. It seems like I am switching between two settings: my classroom, and my bed. And I guess I am inadvertently focusing on the good things more than on the bad. Most of the things I’ve done badly haven’t been what you’d call notable, or even learning experiences; if I get something worth a blog post I’m not ashamed to expound on it.

Interview Recap

The interview seemed to go really well. I immediately took a liking to the principal and to the school, and quite liked the AP and the head of English as well. We sat at a conference table and they told me a bit about the school and the position, then went around the table and asked me some of the most difficult interview questions I’d ever had. (May have seemed harder given how tired I am; coming straight off of 8 hours of teaching to an interview is tough.)

The position is one of two ninth grade English teachers for the school, with three regular classes, one honors, and one modified (a small class with students who need extra help – English language learners who are fluent enough to leave the ELL class but not enough to be in regular, special education students who can be integrated but can’t make it in a regular class, etc.).

I fear I may have come across a bit unfocused or rambly; I caught myself a few times repeating myself. They were especially interested in modified/differentiated instruction. They also asked questions about my classroom arrangement, classroom management, etc.. I got asked how I would deal with a fight in the hallway, what my one classroom rule would be if I had to choose, and where I would like to be in five years.

The rapport felt good; there was a lot of smiling and laughing, and I asked some good questions that they seemed to appreciate. I don’t necessarily feel that this was my best interview I’ve ever given, but it was still strong. Ultimately, I am who I am, and I can bring what I can bring. I can’t change the fact that I have no actual experience. And if they are looking for a particular thing, I can’t control that.

I am trying pretty hard not to get excited. I have a bad tendency to prematurely enumerate barn fowl, so I have to keep reminding myself that this is only my first interview and that whatever happens it was a good experience. The school is a REALLY good school, though. It is in a great community, is a newer building with nice amenities, has high test scores and a very positive culture. I love the programs they’ve brought in, too.

The last thing the interviewers told me was that they planned to make their decision by the end of the week and that they will call me one way or the other, so at least I won’t be in suspense for long!

Interview!!

En route to Kinko’s last night my phone decided to tell me that I had a voice mail. It had been recorded at about 2:30 PM; seven hours had passed.

The voice mail was from the principal of a very good junior high school about twenty minutes from my home, in Urban School District. She asked me to come in for an interview for a ninth grade English position.

I called back and will be going in for an interview tomorrow at 4:30, which means that I either need to really zip out of here or arrange to leave a little early…

The thing is, based on the system and the district and everything, I’m really excited to have gotten a phone call so early in the summer. This must mean that I was very highly rated! Bodes well for the future, regardless of what happens with this particular position.

Whee!