A call to post!

This is an open invitation for teachers seeking jobs to post their strategies on looking for work, and it is place where all teachers seeking jobs to gain valuable job-hunting tips as we all try to weather the current economic climate.

First, a little bit about myself. I am a certified English teacher in the state of CT. I have two Master's degrees, one in English from Clark University, and one from my undergrad alma mater, Eastern Connecticut State University in Secondary Education. Previously I taught in Hartford, but I left to pursue employment in a district that was a better fit for me. Prior to my Hartford experience I taught for a year in South Windsor where my position was unfortunately eliminated.

Fast forward to today. From May to the present I have gone on 18 interviews! To me this is indicative of several things: One, my resume looks really good on paper. Two, my interpersonal skills could use some fine-tuning, and three: I am among thousands in need of a job. During this odyssey I have gained a number of insights and tips as to how to present oneself to an interview committee, yet I do not claim to be a self-professed expert. I would greatly appreciate insights from present and past job seekers - what have you found worked and did not work in your searches?

The Summer Doldrums

This is my third summer experiencing the summer doldrums. Ever since I became certified it has been a struggle to find a position for the fall. I have not experienced the fortune of staying in the same district for more than one academic year, and while this pattern is familiar, it does not seem reasonable or fair.

I struggle with trying not to feel bitter.

Certain questions have arisen during the interview process - "Why do you want to leave Hartford?", or "Why did you leave South Windsor?" When these questions are asked I inevitably feel an uncomfortable twinge - implicitly it does not look good for an educator to acquire a new position every year, and I am all too cognizant of that fact. In many ways, I feel the reasons for my not being stationary are more out of my control than they are in. I was recommended for renewal at South Windsor only to have my position eliminated. That was to be expected; the school wanted to create another full time position, and in the process it eliminated the part time position I had. And while I applied and was interviewed for that new position, I was not the recommended candidate in the end. As it happened, I was not even considered in the final selection process, a revelation that still hurts nearly a year later. Inevitably the question turns inward: "What is it about me that is lacking???"

With regards to Hartford, I knew right off that I was not a good fit for the school. I lacked the mental toughness and courage, I suppose, to be immediately effective in an inner city school. Yet I still aver that had I been endowed with a more supportive administration - or at the very least a dedicated mentor, I might have been able to experience greater success in the school. It is exceedingly difficult to be an effective and respected classroom manager when your expectations are countermanded by the administration.

Which leads me to this point. I have been on seven interviews since May, two with the same school. I have received four rejections from schools I have applied to. I am awaiting responses from four schools I have interviewed with. All told, I believe I have applied to 20 schools or more since the end of March. If I were a betting woman I would assert that something is bound to come through, that I can't have put this much effort into a job hunt for the process to come to nothing. Nagging doubts clamor in my brain and disrupt everyday activities. I admit that my hope is transmogrifying into something like desperation. I am essentially unemployed. My husband is unemployed. This stark reality, and the potential financial downfall that has quickly followed for others in this unfortunate tragicomedy of errors haunts me every day.

Until I get that call, I am,

A Poor Wayfaring Schoolmarm

Nothing endures but change

Yeah, I borrowed the title for this entry from a chapter in Anne of Green Gables. I've been officially done with Hartford Public High School for three days and in the interim I have gone on several interviews and applied for as many more positions. As grateful as I am for the opportunity to interview, I can't help but feel impatience at the tediousness of the interview process.

Getting a teaching job is not like getting a job in many other fields. Usually a first interview is a "screening interview." After the administrator in charge of the committee selects a handful of candidates who look good on paper, the chosen few are contacted for this screening interview. Then comes the dog and pony show, where you work at being the most enthusiastic, most innovative, and most committed educator since John Dewey (or Horace Mann, or Montessori, or whoever your particular education god happens to be). Usually the interview committee ranges from the blatantly nonplussed to the over-affected, whose interest-feigning is nearly as disconcerting as the attitudes of the nonplussed. Oy vey.

The time-line for information turnaround is equally distressing. Most administrators on panels like to tell you that they will come to a decision "soon." Now, soon could be the next day (this was the case for Coventry and Canton - thanks for playing and best of luck in your future endeavors, blah, blah, blah), or soon could be two, three, or four weeks from the interview date, at which point you have to pick up the phone or open a new email window only to find out that the position was filled prior to your physical interview. Now wait a minute....

Nevertheless I am committed to being hopeful. I have had a couple of interview experiences thus far that have bucked this trend of disinterested, insincere, watch-checkers. Their interest has led me to respond in kind - it really is so much easier to wax on one's experience and skills when one feels as though her responses are valued and, dare I say, interesting. Perhaps one of these panels will prevail yet. Until then, I remain,

A Poor wayfaring schoolmarm

Another suitcase in another hall

Today is the last day for students at Hartford Public High School; I technically have a few more days to deal with before I can call it a year. The district wants to make sure they have extracted their pound of flesh before I am released from my bonds. The quality of their mercy is very much strained, lol.

Prospects are hopeful as interview opportunities continue to trickle in. I have attended four so far and will attend another tomorrow. So far I have interviewed in Canton, Fairfield, and in Willimantic twice at the Arts Magnet School. Tomorrow I look to interview in Coventry. Something will pan out, I am sure of it.

I am also hopeful that my husband will find employment soon. There haven't been many jobs for him to apply for. In the meantime he paints with his friend Ken. At least if I get a job for the fall I can secure health benefits. He can apply for unemployment and we would not have to worry about paying for medicine or doctor visits.

I have my fingers crossed but beyond that it is out of my hands.

Ho Hum

Another week is almost over, and so far I have secured ONE fecking interview in this crappiest of craptacular job markets. It could prove to be a good one though, considering it's in an affluent district with involved parents, etc, etc. Now before you get all Scheff v. O'Neill on me I ask you to consider the following facts:

1. I'm not Michelle Pfeiffer in Dangerous Minds, Edward James Olmos in Stand and Deliver, or even the inimitable Robin Williams in Dead Poets' Society. I truly lack the mental fortitude to force-feed kids the merits of literacy.
2. The predominate reason WHY I lack said mental fortitude is because I am more or less left to my own devices in classes that filled with English Language Learners (ELLs) and students with Special Education classifications. While mainstreaming in theory alleviates our collective sense of guilt it does little to address the very real modifications that these students need. Add an ineffective and caustic administrator into the mix and well, you have a scenario that will guarantee newbie teachers running, not walking to the nearest exit.

I would like to think that with a collaborative group of colleagues and an administrator who provides constructive criticism I could grow and hone my avocation. But first, I need to land an interview, impress the panel, beat out the wide-eyed ingenues.......

I Made a Lolz

http://mine.icanhascheezburger.com/view.aspx?ciid=4081401

This is my cat Dewey - he stole the Walrus's bukkit!

Mental Health Day

Spring has come again, and again I find myself on the hunt for a fall teaching position. Suffice it to say that my affiliation with Hartford Public High School will come to end effective June 30th. I am a little more than disappointed with the way things turned out; the support for new teachers in the district leaves everything to be desired. The Kool Aid they feed you during orientation is merely empty calories without the satisfaction of a buzz.

Still, it is a glorious spring day and I intend to make it count. Carpe Diem!