Looking For Teaching Jobs

I have been looking for a job.  Like last summer, I am applying like a mad woman, and pretty much hoping for the best!

I have been searching all over the internet to find the best information I can about improving my resume, interview questions, writing and good cover letter and anything else I can think of that might help.

Warning, many of these sites want to sell you something, but you can still glean some great info from them without paying for their services.

http://resumes-for-teachers.com/blog/?side

Finding a Teaching Job: Advice for New Teachers (Grades K-12) - TeacherVision.com

Teacher Resume Tips | Monster

Advice for NQTs looking for their first job - TES New Teachers

Education World: NEW TEACHERS

How to Find Your Dream Teaching Job | Edutopia

Keep in mind that some of these articles were written before this crazy financial crisis put so many teachers out of work.  But there are still lots of great ideas and a wealth of helpful information.

To Grade or Not to Grade? That is the question!

When a teacher has left great sub notes, with lots of activities and a good schedule, I am so greatful.  It is much easier to keep a class on their regular routine.  Yes, I do tell them to "Go With The Flow" , but it's always easier if my flow is close to the same as their flow. 

I always leave a room neat, or at least as good as I found it. I also always want to leave all papers, completed during the day, graded. 

This isn't always an easy task.  Even in the lower grades.  Different teachers have different ways of grading assignments, and if you write in pen on a student's assignment, she/he pretty much has to go with that. 

Usually what I will do is look around, not snooping, for other papers that are similar and already graded.  That way I can see their method.  If it's something simple like math problems, I can just circle the wrong and put a

+30
  35      on top of the page.  But what happens when a problem has two parts, or they are short answer.  What is the teacher looking for?  Spelling, punctuation, neatness, complete sentences, graphs, charts, showing your work?  I hate to leave a lunch of work for her/him the next day, but what choice do I have?  If I score it wrong, and it's an important assignment, I could be leaving them with a big headache.

So, my conclusion has been, no grading if I can't match up their work with something else.  But I always leave fully explanitory notes and apologize for not grading.  And hope that's good enough.

Seen in a classroom.....

 " 5 out of 4 people are bad at fractions."

Ain't it the truth!

Overheard at the Fair

"Elephant Ears, ewwwwwww!  Why would you want to eat those?  Elephants are so cute.  Why don't people just leave their ears alone?"

I love the way kids think!

Getting Close to the End of the Year!

It's getting so close to the end of the school year.  On one hand, yeah summer!  On the other hand, where's the money coming from?  I've been applying for jobs like a mad woman.  How did I get myself into an industry that only hires during one small window a year? 

There is a BIGGER problem with the end of the school year though.  Behavior!  This is my first year or subbing, but I have been working in schools for 16 years now.  I know what the end of the year is like.  Teachers and kids alike have had enough.  The last days are filled with state tests, end of the year assessments for portfolios, finishing up big projects, and high tension on both sides.  Especially if the sun is shinning.  Kids just want to be outside, while teachers have so much to get done in order to call it a successful school year. 

Kids have high energy from the excitement of summer, which they don't realize will wear off after a week or so when they get bored and don't have their friends around them everyday.  But that high energy, times 27, bottled up in a stuffy classroom, is a recipe for disaster.  Even the best behaved kids have bad days at the end of the year. 

Picture this.....  It's a Hot Friday.  There are two weeks of school left.  There are about a million things to get done today.  Your class is already sort of out of control. (Sort of is being Kind.) 

Hey, I'd call in a sub too!

Wow!  Friday was a wild day for me.  The morning started off well.  But PE didn't go great, and honestly, it was all down hill from there.  I had Students fighting, verbally and physically.  Most students were just ignoring me altogether.  Only about half the class did the work that I assigned.  The work that the teacher wrote in her sub notes, MUST GET DONE TODAY!

I don't feel like a good sub on days like Friday.  But I just keep reminding myself that, "It is almost the end of the school year."  "You know this is a tough time for everyone."   It makes me feel a little better, but it didn't stop me from having a nightmare about getting a regular job in this classroom!

Oh please don't go.......we love you so!

The amazing author and illustrator, Maurice Sendak has died at the age of 83. He inspired so many to read and let themselves fall into a book, let the fantasy wash over them, and forget the world for a while. He didn't write realistic fiction. His stories were often pure, wonderful, wonderful, nonsense. He is most famous for "Where the Wild Things Are" but he has so many other fantastic head scratchers. Books that make you suspend disbelief and imagine.

Be off with you, run to the library and check out, "In The Night Kitchen", "Over the Water", "Little Bear", "Chicken Soup with Rice", "One Was Johnny", "Hector Protector", Alligators All Around", "Outside Over There", "Higglety Pigglety Pop", "Pierre" and MORE MORE MORE!

Get the video "Really Rosie and the Nutshell Kids" to see several of these stories animated, with words sung by Carole King.

"There are so many beautiful things in the world which I will have to leave when I die, but I’m ready, I’m ready, I’m ready.”

“I cry a lot because I miss people. They die and I can't stop them. They leave me and I love them more.”

Kids Activities

Kids Activities is a great website with literally thousands of activitiy ideas. I like to have a few ideas on hand in case we need fillers or there are no sub notes.