I GOT FIRED!
Well, technically not fired, fortunately -- I'm finishing out the schoolyear -- but I was not asked back for next year. Can you see me doing the happy dance from all the way over there? :)
I never got an appointment to meet with my principal and the special ed supervisor about next year, so I finally had to e-mail the principal's administrative assistant and ask. She gave me an appointment for June 2nd. I wasn't nervous that morning -- I *wanted* to get fired, so I can collect unemployment when I start grad school full-time this fall -- but then 20 minutes before the meeting, I suddenly got anxious, the stress hormones coursing through me, and I kept having to go to the bathroom.
But it turned out to be anticlimactic. The special ed supervisor opened by saying, "As you know we've had many conversations over the course of the year of challenges you've had with various students and classes and your advisory class."
I nodded.
The principal continued, "I think we've had enough conversations and documentation to be able to say it's just not a good fit."
"Okay," I said.
"So we won't be renewing your contract for the 2010 - 2011 school year," she said.
"Okay," I said again.
"We're not saying you're a bad teacher! Nothing like that!" she added hastily. "It's just not a good fit."
"Okay," I said for the third time.
Then we sat and looked at each other. They asked if I had any questions, I said no, and that was that. I'll be collecting unemployment as of August 16th, which will really reduce the number of hours I'll need to tutor. Life is good! :)
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Showing posts with label special education teaching jobs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label special education teaching jobs. Show all posts
Monday, June 7, 2010
Monday, September 21, 2009
Isn't it too early in the schoolyear to call in sick?
The English teacher and the history teacher were BOTH out today -- I hope they were just slightly under the weather, and that they're not about to quit or disappear. I was in one of the 7th grade English classes today with the substitute, and the behavior was discouraging, although they did finally settle down enough to read an article aloud, and some of them actually answered some of the questions at the end. I was in one of the 7th grade math classes today, too. The teacher introduced an incentive program where, when kids are on task and behaving well, they get tickets they can eventually redeem for prizes and other incentives. But by halfway through the period she was discouraged and yelling at kids again. I don't know. I'm still getting my bearings with this whole special ed "push-in" thing. I try to deal consistently with the misbehavior, but it's amazing how hard it is with so much else going on. Classroom management was always a challenge for me, which is part of why I went back for my special ed degree, since I like working with small groups better. And anyway, I'm only in each teacher's class a few times a week, so if they can't manage the class on their own, we're all screwed. Sigh. This morning the assistant principal sat in on the sixth grade English lesson and, at the end, asked if the lead teacher and I had discussed my role in the classroom -- I think because the lead teacher taught the whole lesson pretty much on his own. Tomorrow the math specialist and I are both in the sixth grade math class, and we're going to break the class into groups and each teach the lesson. Hopefully it will go well. I haven't used this much math in ages!
Saturday, September 19, 2009
I CAN raise my voice
Thursday was something else. Dragged myself in for our staff meeting at 7:15 IN THE MORNING (!!!), and then it was kind of disappointing because we emerged after half an hour with only two definite decisions:
1) We should call the parents of the kids in our advisory class by the end of next week to touch base and introduce ourselves, which I think is a good idea.
2) We have to line the kids up in the classroom first and then walk them to their next class, rather than line them up in the hall, because that’s when they get into trouble – yelling, touching each other, general mayhem. Honestly, I think requiring them to line up is part of the problem. I can understand walking them to classes that are four flights of stairs away, like theater or dance (although it’s still ridiculous to have to walk junior high school kids anywhere). But all of their core classes are on the same floor – literally next door to each other. If the teachers dismissed them by row or by table, it would pace them so they’re not all out in the hallway all at once. Another problem, as one of my co-workers pointed out, is that some teachers don’t feel ready for the kids to come in – they’re still preparing – so they make them wait out in the hall even after the bell has rung, and the longer they’re hanging out in the hall with nothing to do, the more that chaos ensues. We specialists are supposed to walk through the halls ‘supervising’ during this time, but I feel invisible -- kids will literally reach around me to grab each other. For the first time yesterday, I didn’t feel safe, so I just got out of the way and gave up. The trouble-makers’ lack of intimidation around adults and authority figures is shocking.
Anyway, those two issues could have been handled in an e-mail instead of making me get up at 5:20 AM.
Then I went to one of my co-worker Andrea’s seventh grade math classes, only to find most of the class clustered in the front of the room and three kids off to the side, goofing around. Andrea said something to me like, “I’m teaching the lesson, but those turkeys don’t want to learn. If you want to try to work with them, go ahead.” I winced. Referring to the kids as “turkeys” is probably not going to make them behave any better. Just sayin’.
So I tried to get something done with one of the boys, and Cori, the math specialist, came in and worked with the other two. Then Cori realized another boy had been in the room a while as punishment for acting up in another class, so I took him to class, but it took a while because he had study skills with a teacher who floats, so it took us some time to find the room.
I returned to class after it ended, so Andrea had already lined the kids up and let them go. The other seventh grade class was in a line waiting to get into the room, so when the bell rang signaling the period was starting, I began to let them come in.
“Wait, I want to greet them each individually and hand them their worksheet,” she said, so I stopped them. But then she just wandered around the room, straightening out the desks and stuff as the minutes ticked away. By the time she went to the door with her worksheets, pandemonium had broken out, one kid shoved another kid, and that kid hit a girl who fell on the floor, hitting Andrea hard in the leg. The girl got up and complained her back hurt, but she said she was OK. Andrea wasn’t, though. I let the kids inside as she tried to take a minute and pull herself together, but then after the kids were in, she turned around and her eyes were wet.
“Go take a break,” I told her. “I’ll take care of them. Just go.”
She whimpered, “Thank you” and fled in tears. I got back inside, handed out the worksheets and managed to calm the kids down enough so I could hear myself think. Then I looked down at the lesson and waves of panic washed over me. It was on integers and rational and irrational numbers. Which is which, I thought frantically. I’d heard part of the lesson the period before, and I’d glanced at the material in the math book for a couple minutes that morning, but I hadn’t refreshed my knowledge nearly enough to be able to teach it with any sort of competence or confidence.
And then, like a miracle, Cori walked in. I whispered to her what had happened and said, “My math skills are just not up to teaching this lesson.”
“No problem,” she said, and for the next 40 minutes, she taught the lesson so expertly, it was like she’d designed it herself. The kids still talked too much, and we had to shush them every so often, but she got through the whole lesson, and those kids learned rational and irrational numbers (as did I). Watching her, I thought, What a pro. I already liked Cori a lot: she’s such a positive person, she brings up issues without whining, she takes her job seriously but never to the point of losing her sense of humor, she never complains. After she took over that class with such ease and professionalism, my admiration of her, already high, was magnified a thousand times.
In the middle of class Andrea wandered in, glassy-eyed, sat at her desk for a few minutes playing with her cell phone, then disappeared again. By the afternoon, though, she was back to teaching her classes.
At lunch, I told Cori how awesome she was. She laughed and said, “Well, I would’ve wanted someone to do the same for me. But I’m worried because Andrea used the ‘q’ word before class even started.” Andrea had told her that these kids made her want to quit teaching after fourteen years. “I wanted to say, ‘No! You can’t quit! Otherwise they’ll probably make me take over your classes, and that’s not what I’m supposed to be doing!’”
The next time I saw Cori, during my prep period a couple hours after lunch, she looked uncharacteristically befuddled. We’d held recess inside that day, which means the kids go back to homeroom and sit around for 25 minutes until lunch. Cori’s homeroom meets in the art room when there’s indoor recess. Apparently some vandalism occurred – a student purposely exploded a pen or something (?), and smeared the ink all over the room, staining the floor -- there were even ink footprints on one of the tables. So Joan, the principal, called Cori in and grilled her, asking how this could have happened during her recess without her knowing it. Cori said she didn’t think it had happened under her watch, because she would’ve noticed. “I mean, I was three or four minutes late to recess, so unless something happened then – “
“Why were you late?” Joan asked.
“Um, I was watching Amy’s class after she broke down in tears?” Cori said. But she still would’ve noticed the ink everywhere, so she thought it had to have happened the following period.
But, the next thing she knew, she was on her hands and knees in the art room trying to scrub the stains off the floor. Can you believe that? By the end of the school day they’d learned who did it and had suspended him, and Cori was running around collecting work for the kid to do while he’s out. She joked, “I think it’s more of a punishment for me than for him. I got to scrub the floor and run around collecting work for him, and he gets to have two days off!”
As soon as I heard that, I immediate wrote a formal e-mail to Joan and Mitchell, the vice principal, telling them how Cori took over Andrea’s class in such an amazing and professional way. I figured she would never brag about herself, so I should brag for her, especially in light of the hard time Joan gave her that afternoon. I’m sure the whole pen incident happened either when the kids got into the room unsupervised, or under the art teacher’s watch. I have homeroom with the art teacher, and I like her a lot as a person, but her classroom management technique seems to be to just shout over the kids. It’s so loud in there, a pen could literally explode – heck, a bolt of lightening could strike – and no one would even notice.
Speaking of loud, I got caught reaming Quigley out during my advisory class last period. He – never – shuts – up! He’s like that in all his classes, as far as I can tell, though he was in particularly rare form yesterday. I was just trying to give directions for an activity for five minutes, and he kept talking. When I tried to re-direct him, he just laughed and kept talking, making comments, fooling around. It’s so disrespectful. I want to ask him, do you talk to your parents that way? They’d probably be mortified if they saw his behavior.
On Wednesday I sent him away to sit at a separate table and not participate in the activity, since he was being so talkative and disrespectful. On Thursday, I screamed in his face instead (!). No, I didn’t actually scream. But oh boy, did I raise my voice. I reamed him out for a good 30 seconds (“Even now you’re talking! When your lips are moving that means you’re talking, and instead you need to be listening!”), telling him in no uncertain terms he needed to respect me by listening and not interrupting when I speak, just like I respect him by listening when he has something to tell me.
Just as I finished reaming him out, I looked over and saw Mitchell, along with one of my students, Shawn, standing in the doorway staring at me. “I just wanted to let you know I’m borrowing Shawn for a little while,” Mitchell said. “And tomorrow I’ll speak to whoever was causing *that* disturbance.”
So he totally backed me up, but I still thought, Oh, no, what did he really think?? I wasn’t screaming or out of control or saying anything inappropriate like “shut up,” but my voice was raised, and I did let the anger come through. And I don’t like doing that. I would love to be one of those teachers who can control a class without showing anger or raising their voice.
But on Friday Mitchell caught me in the hall to ask my thoughts about how this morning assembly went, and then he grinned and said, “Well, after yesterday I do know that you *can* raise your voice.”
I sort of half-smiled sheepishly, and he added, “But you know what? It was good -- you were firm. You made it clear that at that moment, you were the authority figure and his job was to listen.”
Whew, I thought with relief. So he was sincere when he backed me up. I told him how Quigley drives me crazy, and he said, “You’re not the first person who’s told me that!”
“His behavior doesn’t even seem sincere half the time,” I said. “I think he’s actually a good kid, but he wants to show off to impress his friends. He’s always looking around to see their reactions.” Which is normal at this age.
That, however, does not make it any less annoying.
The good part of my afternoon was in the sixth grade English class, helping Joe, who’s a good kid, no behavior problems, but he learns so slowly – he’s basically at a second or third grade level in both reading and math – that he’s supposed to be in a special class with only 12 students per teacher. But we don’t offer that at our school, so I have to get in there as regularly as I can. The English teacher did a neat activity where he played about an hour’s worth of music – different songs from the ‘60’s to now – and the kids had to write about memories any of the songs triggered or anything that came to mind. He’d prepared a list of prompts for the kids in case they got really stuck, and Joe did wonderfully. I helped him read the list, and in the end he picked eight prompts that interested him and wrote a couple sentences for each. He really tries, and I really like working with him.
1) We should call the parents of the kids in our advisory class by the end of next week to touch base and introduce ourselves, which I think is a good idea.
2) We have to line the kids up in the classroom first and then walk them to their next class, rather than line them up in the hall, because that’s when they get into trouble – yelling, touching each other, general mayhem. Honestly, I think requiring them to line up is part of the problem. I can understand walking them to classes that are four flights of stairs away, like theater or dance (although it’s still ridiculous to have to walk junior high school kids anywhere). But all of their core classes are on the same floor – literally next door to each other. If the teachers dismissed them by row or by table, it would pace them so they’re not all out in the hallway all at once. Another problem, as one of my co-workers pointed out, is that some teachers don’t feel ready for the kids to come in – they’re still preparing – so they make them wait out in the hall even after the bell has rung, and the longer they’re hanging out in the hall with nothing to do, the more that chaos ensues. We specialists are supposed to walk through the halls ‘supervising’ during this time, but I feel invisible -- kids will literally reach around me to grab each other. For the first time yesterday, I didn’t feel safe, so I just got out of the way and gave up. The trouble-makers’ lack of intimidation around adults and authority figures is shocking.
Anyway, those two issues could have been handled in an e-mail instead of making me get up at 5:20 AM.
Then I went to one of my co-worker Andrea’s seventh grade math classes, only to find most of the class clustered in the front of the room and three kids off to the side, goofing around. Andrea said something to me like, “I’m teaching the lesson, but those turkeys don’t want to learn. If you want to try to work with them, go ahead.” I winced. Referring to the kids as “turkeys” is probably not going to make them behave any better. Just sayin’.
So I tried to get something done with one of the boys, and Cori, the math specialist, came in and worked with the other two. Then Cori realized another boy had been in the room a while as punishment for acting up in another class, so I took him to class, but it took a while because he had study skills with a teacher who floats, so it took us some time to find the room.
I returned to class after it ended, so Andrea had already lined the kids up and let them go. The other seventh grade class was in a line waiting to get into the room, so when the bell rang signaling the period was starting, I began to let them come in.
“Wait, I want to greet them each individually and hand them their worksheet,” she said, so I stopped them. But then she just wandered around the room, straightening out the desks and stuff as the minutes ticked away. By the time she went to the door with her worksheets, pandemonium had broken out, one kid shoved another kid, and that kid hit a girl who fell on the floor, hitting Andrea hard in the leg. The girl got up and complained her back hurt, but she said she was OK. Andrea wasn’t, though. I let the kids inside as she tried to take a minute and pull herself together, but then after the kids were in, she turned around and her eyes were wet.
“Go take a break,” I told her. “I’ll take care of them. Just go.”
She whimpered, “Thank you” and fled in tears. I got back inside, handed out the worksheets and managed to calm the kids down enough so I could hear myself think. Then I looked down at the lesson and waves of panic washed over me. It was on integers and rational and irrational numbers. Which is which, I thought frantically. I’d heard part of the lesson the period before, and I’d glanced at the material in the math book for a couple minutes that morning, but I hadn’t refreshed my knowledge nearly enough to be able to teach it with any sort of competence or confidence.
And then, like a miracle, Cori walked in. I whispered to her what had happened and said, “My math skills are just not up to teaching this lesson.”
“No problem,” she said, and for the next 40 minutes, she taught the lesson so expertly, it was like she’d designed it herself. The kids still talked too much, and we had to shush them every so often, but she got through the whole lesson, and those kids learned rational and irrational numbers (as did I). Watching her, I thought, What a pro. I already liked Cori a lot: she’s such a positive person, she brings up issues without whining, she takes her job seriously but never to the point of losing her sense of humor, she never complains. After she took over that class with such ease and professionalism, my admiration of her, already high, was magnified a thousand times.
In the middle of class Andrea wandered in, glassy-eyed, sat at her desk for a few minutes playing with her cell phone, then disappeared again. By the afternoon, though, she was back to teaching her classes.
At lunch, I told Cori how awesome she was. She laughed and said, “Well, I would’ve wanted someone to do the same for me. But I’m worried because Andrea used the ‘q’ word before class even started.” Andrea had told her that these kids made her want to quit teaching after fourteen years. “I wanted to say, ‘No! You can’t quit! Otherwise they’ll probably make me take over your classes, and that’s not what I’m supposed to be doing!’”
The next time I saw Cori, during my prep period a couple hours after lunch, she looked uncharacteristically befuddled. We’d held recess inside that day, which means the kids go back to homeroom and sit around for 25 minutes until lunch. Cori’s homeroom meets in the art room when there’s indoor recess. Apparently some vandalism occurred – a student purposely exploded a pen or something (?), and smeared the ink all over the room, staining the floor -- there were even ink footprints on one of the tables. So Joan, the principal, called Cori in and grilled her, asking how this could have happened during her recess without her knowing it. Cori said she didn’t think it had happened under her watch, because she would’ve noticed. “I mean, I was three or four minutes late to recess, so unless something happened then – “
“Why were you late?” Joan asked.
“Um, I was watching Amy’s class after she broke down in tears?” Cori said. But she still would’ve noticed the ink everywhere, so she thought it had to have happened the following period.
But, the next thing she knew, she was on her hands and knees in the art room trying to scrub the stains off the floor. Can you believe that? By the end of the school day they’d learned who did it and had suspended him, and Cori was running around collecting work for the kid to do while he’s out. She joked, “I think it’s more of a punishment for me than for him. I got to scrub the floor and run around collecting work for him, and he gets to have two days off!”
As soon as I heard that, I immediate wrote a formal e-mail to Joan and Mitchell, the vice principal, telling them how Cori took over Andrea’s class in such an amazing and professional way. I figured she would never brag about herself, so I should brag for her, especially in light of the hard time Joan gave her that afternoon. I’m sure the whole pen incident happened either when the kids got into the room unsupervised, or under the art teacher’s watch. I have homeroom with the art teacher, and I like her a lot as a person, but her classroom management technique seems to be to just shout over the kids. It’s so loud in there, a pen could literally explode – heck, a bolt of lightening could strike – and no one would even notice.
Speaking of loud, I got caught reaming Quigley out during my advisory class last period. He – never – shuts – up! He’s like that in all his classes, as far as I can tell, though he was in particularly rare form yesterday. I was just trying to give directions for an activity for five minutes, and he kept talking. When I tried to re-direct him, he just laughed and kept talking, making comments, fooling around. It’s so disrespectful. I want to ask him, do you talk to your parents that way? They’d probably be mortified if they saw his behavior.
On Wednesday I sent him away to sit at a separate table and not participate in the activity, since he was being so talkative and disrespectful. On Thursday, I screamed in his face instead (!). No, I didn’t actually scream. But oh boy, did I raise my voice. I reamed him out for a good 30 seconds (“Even now you’re talking! When your lips are moving that means you’re talking, and instead you need to be listening!”), telling him in no uncertain terms he needed to respect me by listening and not interrupting when I speak, just like I respect him by listening when he has something to tell me.
Just as I finished reaming him out, I looked over and saw Mitchell, along with one of my students, Shawn, standing in the doorway staring at me. “I just wanted to let you know I’m borrowing Shawn for a little while,” Mitchell said. “And tomorrow I’ll speak to whoever was causing *that* disturbance.”
So he totally backed me up, but I still thought, Oh, no, what did he really think?? I wasn’t screaming or out of control or saying anything inappropriate like “shut up,” but my voice was raised, and I did let the anger come through. And I don’t like doing that. I would love to be one of those teachers who can control a class without showing anger or raising their voice.
But on Friday Mitchell caught me in the hall to ask my thoughts about how this morning assembly went, and then he grinned and said, “Well, after yesterday I do know that you *can* raise your voice.”
I sort of half-smiled sheepishly, and he added, “But you know what? It was good -- you were firm. You made it clear that at that moment, you were the authority figure and his job was to listen.”
Whew, I thought with relief. So he was sincere when he backed me up. I told him how Quigley drives me crazy, and he said, “You’re not the first person who’s told me that!”
“His behavior doesn’t even seem sincere half the time,” I said. “I think he’s actually a good kid, but he wants to show off to impress his friends. He’s always looking around to see their reactions.” Which is normal at this age.
That, however, does not make it any less annoying.
The good part of my afternoon was in the sixth grade English class, helping Joe, who’s a good kid, no behavior problems, but he learns so slowly – he’s basically at a second or third grade level in both reading and math – that he’s supposed to be in a special class with only 12 students per teacher. But we don’t offer that at our school, so I have to get in there as regularly as I can. The English teacher did a neat activity where he played about an hour’s worth of music – different songs from the ‘60’s to now – and the kids had to write about memories any of the songs triggered or anything that came to mind. He’d prepared a list of prompts for the kids in case they got really stuck, and Joe did wonderfully. I helped him read the list, and in the end he picked eight prompts that interested him and wrote a couple sentences for each. He really tries, and I really like working with him.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Orientation; and Diane Schuler, Part 3
Yesterday was my first day of professional development at my new job and WOW, I am tired! I haven't worked full-time hours since last fall. Even when I had three part-time jobs, it might have taken all day to complete them, but I had free hours during the day in between each of them. The other teachers seem very nice, but I'm nervous. A couple who were there last year told stories about objects being thrown across their classrooms and "nothing working" to solve behavior problems -- and those were the first grade teachers! :O I found out I'll be the special ed co-teacher for the seventh grade and half of the sixth grade, which pleases me -- I especially like sixth grade. I have to admit, I'm relieved I won't have any eighth grade classes. I taught eighth grade my first year of teaching, and it was really hard.
Also, because we are supposed to model healthy eating for the kids, all of us, teachers included, are only allowed to bring "healthy food" into the school building. Even when we're having lunch in the teacher's room, we're not supposed to drink soda or eat anything unhealthy. Is it bad that my first thought was to strategize as to how I can smuggle chocolate in my purse and secretly eat it in the bathroom? If that's not the first sign of addiction, I don't know what is -- I really AM a chocoholic!
In Diane Schuler news, Westchester district attorney Janet DiFiore announced today that neither Schuler's husband, Daniel Schuler, nor anyone else will be criminally charged in the case. Here are the links to the NY Times article (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/19/nyregion/19taconic.html?_r=1&hp) and the Newsday article (http://www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/da-no-charges-in-deadly-taconic-crash-1.1376535). Not surprising, since she was the one who got drunk and stoned, drove the wrong way on the Taconic Parkway and killed eight people, including herself, so, as the D.A. said, the charges die with her. There's no evidence her husband knew she would drink and drive, as she didn't appear under the influence when they left the campground that morning, or even an hour and a half later when she stopped at McDonald's and then a Sunoco station. But Schuler's family will likely still face a civil suit from the family of Michael and Guy Bastardi, the father and son she killed when she crashed into their S.U.V. The State Police did note that "Mr. Schuler answered many questions from investigators but 'has not been forthcoming, perhaps, about marijuana use'" -- probably because he's a public safety officer and doesn't want to admit to knowing his wife (and he, too??) was using an illegal drug.
Here's a link to an interesting Huffington Post article by Stephanie Gertler, "Diane Schuler's Demons," which theorizes she was severely depressed, and the alcohol unleashed her suicidal impulses(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stephanie-gertler/diane-schulers-demons_b_254266.html).
Also, because we are supposed to model healthy eating for the kids, all of us, teachers included, are only allowed to bring "healthy food" into the school building. Even when we're having lunch in the teacher's room, we're not supposed to drink soda or eat anything unhealthy. Is it bad that my first thought was to strategize as to how I can smuggle chocolate in my purse and secretly eat it in the bathroom? If that's not the first sign of addiction, I don't know what is -- I really AM a chocoholic!
In Diane Schuler news, Westchester district attorney Janet DiFiore announced today that neither Schuler's husband, Daniel Schuler, nor anyone else will be criminally charged in the case. Here are the links to the NY Times article (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/19/nyregion/19taconic.html?_r=1&hp) and the Newsday article (http://www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/da-no-charges-in-deadly-taconic-crash-1.1376535). Not surprising, since she was the one who got drunk and stoned, drove the wrong way on the Taconic Parkway and killed eight people, including herself, so, as the D.A. said, the charges die with her. There's no evidence her husband knew she would drink and drive, as she didn't appear under the influence when they left the campground that morning, or even an hour and a half later when she stopped at McDonald's and then a Sunoco station. But Schuler's family will likely still face a civil suit from the family of Michael and Guy Bastardi, the father and son she killed when she crashed into their S.U.V. The State Police did note that "Mr. Schuler answered many questions from investigators but 'has not been forthcoming, perhaps, about marijuana use'" -- probably because he's a public safety officer and doesn't want to admit to knowing his wife (and he, too??) was using an illegal drug.
Here's a link to an interesting Huffington Post article by Stephanie Gertler, "Diane Schuler's Demons," which theorizes she was severely depressed, and the alcohol unleashed her suicidal impulses(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stephanie-gertler/diane-schulers-demons_b_254266.html).
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Gainfully employed!
Doing the sample lesson paid off -- I got the job!! Starting this fall, I will be a special education teacher for middle school students at a charter school in Manhattan! ;-D It's all "push-in" services -- I'll be in different teachers' classroom six periods a day, helping special education students within the regular classroom. The current special ed teacher said that may sound like a lot, but since you're not planning or grading all those classes, it's not as overwhelming as it may sound. Six classes sounded okay to me, though. When I taught eighth grade English, I taught six periods a day all by my lonesome, whereas in this position any whole-class teaching I'll do will be co-teaching. They really didn't have the co-teaching model when I got my master's in special ed in 1998, but I'm glad they do now. I think I'll like it! Having two teachers in the class ends up helping all the kids, not just the ones labeled as needing special ed services.
I'm grateful to have gotten a job this soon. Now I'll be spared from interviewing all summer. I'm really lucky.
I sign the contract tomorrow. First day for the kids is the day after Labor Day!
I'm grateful to have gotten a job this soon. Now I'll be spared from interviewing all summer. I'm really lucky.
I sign the contract tomorrow. First day for the kids is the day after Labor Day!
Sunday, May 31, 2009
2 job interviews this week!
This week I have two job interviews for full-time special ed teaching jobs for this fall. One is at a charter school in Manhattan, for which I have to teach a sample reading lesson to a group of four sixth graders with reading difficulties. And the other is at a private school in Manhattan for kids with learning disabilities, where the class size is capped at 12 students. Sounds nice, though of course if they can't handle being in a class with more than 11 other students, there is usually a very good reason!
The kids at the charter school go to school from 7:45 AM to 4:30 PM. I wonder if the teachers are on staggered schedules or if they're expected to teach for 8 hrs and 45 minutes per day, in which case they must have to stay up 'till all hours every night grading and planning. The school day at the private school ends at 3:00 PM, but they have a six week school summer program which they strongly encourage all students to attend. I really don't want to work during the summer. Summers off are the reward that makes the stress of teaching worthwhile!
But at this point I just need a job, so I'm excited to be getting interviews.
The kids at the charter school go to school from 7:45 AM to 4:30 PM. I wonder if the teachers are on staggered schedules or if they're expected to teach for 8 hrs and 45 minutes per day, in which case they must have to stay up 'till all hours every night grading and planning. The school day at the private school ends at 3:00 PM, but they have a six week school summer program which they strongly encourage all students to attend. I really don't want to work during the summer. Summers off are the reward that makes the stress of teaching worthwhile!
But at this point I just need a job, so I'm excited to be getting interviews.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Now we know why there are food banks
Last week I went to a government services building in Coney Island, Brooklyn, to apply for food stamps. By the time I left the subway the rain had begun to fall, but I did get to walk past the famous Cyclone roller coaster along the way.
The building smelled like a nursing home, but I forged ahead and told the security guard I had an appointment. She said to find a seat, which was hard -- the large 'waiting room' with several rows of seats was nearly standing room only. A few people had a book or a newspaper to read during their wait, as I did, and a few others spoke quietly to the person next to them. But the majority just sat there, grim-faced, staring into space. I listened to the older woman next to me hum quietly to herself as I read my book ("The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand, who definitely did not believe in food stamps). Every so often the security guard would come to the front of the room and ask, "Does anyone speak Russian and English?" and ask them to translate something for an applicant who had just walked in.
An hour after my scheduled appointment time, I was finally called in by a blondish woman with a Russian accent. I followed her into a maze of cubicles and sat down across from her. I showed her my proof I was receiving unemployment benefits, and she looked at the receipt for my nearly $1,000 a month rent, but she didn't look at the electric or gas bills. She sighed a few times as she entered my information into her computer. "I don't think you'll qualify," she said apologetically. "I'll say you're getting $405 a week in unemployment instead of $430" (you can do that?' I thought) "because $430 a week is too much."
She typed away at her computer, moving through various screens. Finally she said, "Do you want to be fingerprinted now, or do you want to see if you qualify first?"
I was taken aback. I didn't know you needed to get fingerprinted for food stamps. "Um, I'll see if I qualify first," I said.
She went through a few more screens, hit the magic button -- and sighed again, shaking her head. "I'm sorry," she said. "Your income is too high."
"Even taking my rent into account?" I asked hopefully.
She said, "We only count that if you're under the limit, but you're over." Which doesn't make sense to me (shouldn't it be the opposite?), but rules are rules.
But then I felt guilty because she seemed to feel so bad for me! She went on about how unfair it was that I didn't qualify. "If I make the rules, you would qualify. But when they make the law, they don't ask me," she said. "People like you who work should get. Not the lazy people who don't work!"
"Oh, that's all right," I said quickly, trying simultaneously to reassure her and stop her rant. "I knew I probably wouldn't get them, but I just thought I'd try."
"Well, I don't wish this on you, but if, God forbid, your unemployment runs out before you find a job, I hope you know you can come back to us," she said.
I thanked her profusely and left, thinking, If, God forbid, I don't find a job before my unemployment runs out in October, $200 a month in food stamps isn't going to cut it. Note to self: do some shopping for the St. Bart's food pantry this week. If I had to live solely off unemployment benefits, I would be one of its clients.
The New York Times actually ran an article on Sunday by Jason DeParle entitled "The Safety Net: For Victims of Recession, Patchwork State Aid," about how piecemeal the social services safety net is in this country, and how so much of the aid you can get depends on the state in which you live (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/10/us/10safetynet.html?em).
In other news, I'll have to send my resume much farther and wider for a teaching job than I have been. I was only applying for jobs in Brooklyn and Manhattan, and not at first-year schools (since they haven't had a chance to iron out the kinks yet). But that was before I went to the NYC Public Schools web site last night, where they have a big notice posted about a hiring freeze for the upcoming schoolyear. The only exceptions are specific shortage areas (like bilingual special ed -- if only I were bilingual!); schools that have been in operation less than 3 years; and "high need" schools (which is probably code for scary schools with metal detectors). The New York Times also ran an article about it, in today's paper (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/11/nyregion/11teachers.html?em).
Maybe it's a good thing I have a friend in the food stamp office. ;O
The building smelled like a nursing home, but I forged ahead and told the security guard I had an appointment. She said to find a seat, which was hard -- the large 'waiting room' with several rows of seats was nearly standing room only. A few people had a book or a newspaper to read during their wait, as I did, and a few others spoke quietly to the person next to them. But the majority just sat there, grim-faced, staring into space. I listened to the older woman next to me hum quietly to herself as I read my book ("The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand, who definitely did not believe in food stamps). Every so often the security guard would come to the front of the room and ask, "Does anyone speak Russian and English?" and ask them to translate something for an applicant who had just walked in.
An hour after my scheduled appointment time, I was finally called in by a blondish woman with a Russian accent. I followed her into a maze of cubicles and sat down across from her. I showed her my proof I was receiving unemployment benefits, and she looked at the receipt for my nearly $1,000 a month rent, but she didn't look at the electric or gas bills. She sighed a few times as she entered my information into her computer. "I don't think you'll qualify," she said apologetically. "I'll say you're getting $405 a week in unemployment instead of $430" (you can do that?' I thought) "because $430 a week is too much."
She typed away at her computer, moving through various screens. Finally she said, "Do you want to be fingerprinted now, or do you want to see if you qualify first?"
I was taken aback. I didn't know you needed to get fingerprinted for food stamps. "Um, I'll see if I qualify first," I said.
She went through a few more screens, hit the magic button -- and sighed again, shaking her head. "I'm sorry," she said. "Your income is too high."
"Even taking my rent into account?" I asked hopefully.
She said, "We only count that if you're under the limit, but you're over." Which doesn't make sense to me (shouldn't it be the opposite?), but rules are rules.
But then I felt guilty because she seemed to feel so bad for me! She went on about how unfair it was that I didn't qualify. "If I make the rules, you would qualify. But when they make the law, they don't ask me," she said. "People like you who work should get. Not the lazy people who don't work!"
"Oh, that's all right," I said quickly, trying simultaneously to reassure her and stop her rant. "I knew I probably wouldn't get them, but I just thought I'd try."
"Well, I don't wish this on you, but if, God forbid, your unemployment runs out before you find a job, I hope you know you can come back to us," she said.
I thanked her profusely and left, thinking, If, God forbid, I don't find a job before my unemployment runs out in October, $200 a month in food stamps isn't going to cut it. Note to self: do some shopping for the St. Bart's food pantry this week. If I had to live solely off unemployment benefits, I would be one of its clients.
The New York Times actually ran an article on Sunday by Jason DeParle entitled "The Safety Net: For Victims of Recession, Patchwork State Aid," about how piecemeal the social services safety net is in this country, and how so much of the aid you can get depends on the state in which you live (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/10/us/10safetynet.html?em).
In other news, I'll have to send my resume much farther and wider for a teaching job than I have been. I was only applying for jobs in Brooklyn and Manhattan, and not at first-year schools (since they haven't had a chance to iron out the kinks yet). But that was before I went to the NYC Public Schools web site last night, where they have a big notice posted about a hiring freeze for the upcoming schoolyear. The only exceptions are specific shortage areas (like bilingual special ed -- if only I were bilingual!); schools that have been in operation less than 3 years; and "high need" schools (which is probably code for scary schools with metal detectors). The New York Times also ran an article about it, in today's paper (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/11/nyregion/11teachers.html?em).
Maybe it's a good thing I have a friend in the food stamp office. ;O
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Preschool
Last Wednesday was my first day as a Special Education Itinerant Teacher (SEIT) for a 4-year-old girl, working with her one-on-one while she's in her preschool classroom. She's mandated for 10 hours of SEIT a week, which sounds like a lot to me, so I was worried she would have all these problems and be really hard to handle. Her IEP goals are things like, "She will sit and listen to a story for 5 minutes 80% of the time," so I thought, geez, this girl can't even sit and listen for five minutes??
But I met her on Wednesday, and she's sweet. She has a lot of energy and loves to talk, but when I first arrived, she was in a music class, and she did fine listening to the teacher's directions and taking turns playing instruments. The letter in the file from her teacher, which was only written a few weeks ago, said she'd only just learned to write her name, and that she doesn't know any letters other than the ones in her name. But on Wednesday we played an alphabet bingo game with another little boy, and she could name every letter. The only ones she confused were the W and the M.
The funniest thing was her reaction when I told her my name. Her eyes got wide, and she said, "Your name can't be Vicky -- you're white!"
I said, "Sure it can. Vickies come in all colors."
She digested this information for a few seconds, then announced happily, "I'm Puerto Rican!"
When we were in the hallway later going to another room, she suddenly called out, "Vicky!" and went running into the arms of another teacher -- who is Asian. Guess that's where the confusion came from. ;)
Friday morning would've been my second day with her, but she never showed up -- I guess she stayed home sick -- so after waiting around for half an hour, I left. I won't get paid for that, either. Hopefully she'll be there tomorrow.
But I met her on Wednesday, and she's sweet. She has a lot of energy and loves to talk, but when I first arrived, she was in a music class, and she did fine listening to the teacher's directions and taking turns playing instruments. The letter in the file from her teacher, which was only written a few weeks ago, said she'd only just learned to write her name, and that she doesn't know any letters other than the ones in her name. But on Wednesday we played an alphabet bingo game with another little boy, and she could name every letter. The only ones she confused were the W and the M.
The funniest thing was her reaction when I told her my name. Her eyes got wide, and she said, "Your name can't be Vicky -- you're white!"
I said, "Sure it can. Vickies come in all colors."
She digested this information for a few seconds, then announced happily, "I'm Puerto Rican!"
When we were in the hallway later going to another room, she suddenly called out, "Vicky!" and went running into the arms of another teacher -- who is Asian. Guess that's where the confusion came from. ;)
Friday morning would've been my second day with her, but she never showed up -- I guess she stayed home sick -- so after waiting around for half an hour, I left. I won't get paid for that, either. Hopefully she'll be there tomorrow.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
A full & productive day
Busy busy busy day. First, as many of you know, I am addicted to Dove Milk Chocolate Promises. As many of you also know, I enjoy parties. Today I decided to combine both of these loves of mine AND (hopefully) make some money! A few months ago in the back of some magazine somewhere, I saw an ad for Dove Chocolate Discoveries (http://www.dovechocolatediscoveries.com/) and learned that you can actually sign up to sell Dove Chocolate products, just like some people sell Avon or Pampered Chef or whatever. I could never get excited enough about Avon or Pampered Chef to sell it, but Dove chocolate practically runs through my veins! As a chocolatier, you have chocolate tastings in your home, in friends' homes, etc., the guests order any chocolate products they like, and everyone goes home happy. This month there was a special where you could buy the business kit with enough supplies for your first four to six parties for just $99. I talked to the regional person (my "sponsor") this morning, and she was really nice and answered all my questions. Chocolatiers get a 25% commision on whatever they sell (more if you sell $2,000 worth of products or more in a single month), which seems standard for direct selling companies -- according to this March 15th NY Times article, "Direct Sales as a Recession Fallback" by Eilene Zimmerman (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/15/jobs/15sales.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=direct%20selling&st=cse), the usual commision varies from 20% - 50%, depending on the company. So I decided to take the plunge! I'll receive my kit sometime within the next 10 business days. So if you'd like to host or attend a chocolate party in the tri-state area (NY/NJ/CT), let me know. :)
Then I had my interview for a special ed teaching job at that charter high school in Brooklyn. They were very organized about it, which I appreciated. I observed a 9th grade math class, met with the special education coordinator for about half an hour, and observed the resource room. For the last 45 minutes, all of us prospective teachers who'd been interviewing for various positions met with the CEO/founder. He was great, talked with us about the school, and even gave details like the salary scale and benefits. I think the next step is to do a demonstration lesson, so we'll see if they liked me enough to invite me to do that. The job would probably be partly collaborative team teaching and partly teaching in the resource room. I like that combination.
Afterwards, I went to Union Square, and while waiting in line for the restroom at the Virgin music store, I read two interesting articles in Marie Claire magazine. One was by this woman who spent four months in jail on Rikers Island because she was convicted of financial fraud, even though she really was more of a victim of it herself. She talked about how the inmates grouped themselves by the housing projects they come from, and the physical fights that happened sometimes, and how she tried to make the best of it by helping other inmates -- apparently she even taught one of the women there how to read. I wish she'd written more about that, actually. She summarized how she made the best of the situation and helped people in only one or two paragraphs. The other article was about the Mosuo, an ethnic minority who live in Luoshi, a small, rural village in southwestern China, and how they are one of the few truly matrilineal societies. The men don't own anything; all money, land and lineage are passed down from mothers to daughters. And in their language, there are no words for war, rape, or jail.
Maybe I should start subscribing to Marie Claire.
To end my day, I went to a children's book writing forum at the New School, since I've written a nonfiction children's book I want to try to get published. The agent and editors who spoke were so informative, and they even gave out their e-mail addresses. During the Q&A I got to ask about biographical non-fiction books for children, since my manuscript is about a civil rights activist who is not a household name but should be. They said a narrative nonfiction manuscript about someone who hasn't already had a lot of books written about them would probably have a good shot of selling -- good news for me!
All in all, a very satisfying day.
Then I had my interview for a special ed teaching job at that charter high school in Brooklyn. They were very organized about it, which I appreciated. I observed a 9th grade math class, met with the special education coordinator for about half an hour, and observed the resource room. For the last 45 minutes, all of us prospective teachers who'd been interviewing for various positions met with the CEO/founder. He was great, talked with us about the school, and even gave details like the salary scale and benefits. I think the next step is to do a demonstration lesson, so we'll see if they liked me enough to invite me to do that. The job would probably be partly collaborative team teaching and partly teaching in the resource room. I like that combination.
Afterwards, I went to Union Square, and while waiting in line for the restroom at the Virgin music store, I read two interesting articles in Marie Claire magazine. One was by this woman who spent four months in jail on Rikers Island because she was convicted of financial fraud, even though she really was more of a victim of it herself. She talked about how the inmates grouped themselves by the housing projects they come from, and the physical fights that happened sometimes, and how she tried to make the best of it by helping other inmates -- apparently she even taught one of the women there how to read. I wish she'd written more about that, actually. She summarized how she made the best of the situation and helped people in only one or two paragraphs. The other article was about the Mosuo, an ethnic minority who live in Luoshi, a small, rural village in southwestern China, and how they are one of the few truly matrilineal societies. The men don't own anything; all money, land and lineage are passed down from mothers to daughters. And in their language, there are no words for war, rape, or jail.
Maybe I should start subscribing to Marie Claire.
To end my day, I went to a children's book writing forum at the New School, since I've written a nonfiction children's book I want to try to get published. The agent and editors who spoke were so informative, and they even gave out their e-mail addresses. During the Q&A I got to ask about biographical non-fiction books for children, since my manuscript is about a civil rights activist who is not a household name but should be. They said a narrative nonfiction manuscript about someone who hasn't already had a lot of books written about them would probably have a good shot of selling -- good news for me!
All in all, a very satisfying day.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Good news & money
"Is this someone calling about good news or money?...No?...Well then, good-bye." (CLICK)
That's from this funny movie from the '60s, "A Thousand Clowns" -- not available on DVD, but on the recommendation of my dad I watched it when it was on PBS a few weeks ago. I thought of that line when my boss from the tutoring agency left me a voicemail last Tuesday, because she said, "I want to talk to you about two things -- I have another case for you if you're available, and I want to give you a raise." Good news AND money, all in one message! When I called her back, I learned that my tutoring pay has been increased by $5 an hour, retroactive to March 1st (!), and I agreed to start tutoring another student for TEN (!) hours a week (!!), beginning April 1st. I'm going to see how long I can do it, though, because this is a pre-school student with cognitive and social delays, and I've never worked with a pre-schooler before, so I don't really know what to do with her. At least I'll be working with her while she's at pre-school, so I won't be alone. Hopefully seeing her IEP (Individualized Education Plan) will shed some light.
This Tuesday I have an interview at a charter high school in Brooklyn -- I gave them my resume at that charter school job fair a few weeks ago. *fingers crossed*
That's from this funny movie from the '60s, "A Thousand Clowns" -- not available on DVD, but on the recommendation of my dad I watched it when it was on PBS a few weeks ago. I thought of that line when my boss from the tutoring agency left me a voicemail last Tuesday, because she said, "I want to talk to you about two things -- I have another case for you if you're available, and I want to give you a raise." Good news AND money, all in one message! When I called her back, I learned that my tutoring pay has been increased by $5 an hour, retroactive to March 1st (!), and I agreed to start tutoring another student for TEN (!) hours a week (!!), beginning April 1st. I'm going to see how long I can do it, though, because this is a pre-school student with cognitive and social delays, and I've never worked with a pre-schooler before, so I don't really know what to do with her. At least I'll be working with her while she's at pre-school, so I won't be alone. Hopefully seeing her IEP (Individualized Education Plan) will shed some light.
This Tuesday I have an interview at a charter high school in Brooklyn -- I gave them my resume at that charter school job fair a few weeks ago. *fingers crossed*
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Job interview next week!
One of the schools I met at the Charter School Job Fair e-mailed me -- I have an interview next Tuesday for a special education teaching job! It's a charter high school in Brooklyn. It has been around for a few years now, and they have 600 students, about 9% of whom are entitled to special education services. It sounds like there's a whole special education department (I'm being interviewed by the department head), which is reassuring. When I worked as the special ed teacher at a charter school in the Bronx eight years ago (before the crazy principal fired me on Halloween), I WAS the special ed department, and I really didn't know what I was doing. I only have two full years of classroom teaching experience, so I need co-workers I can learn from.
Even though this school is in Brooklyn, it will still take me an hour and 10 minutes each way to get there. The school day is a full eight hours and starts at 8 AM, which means if I get the job and have to be there at 7:45 AM every day, I would have to leave my apartment at 6:20 AM (must allow 15 minutes of "what if there's a subway problem" time). 6:20 AM -- OUCH. I'd have to get up at 5:40 AM, so I'd have to go to bed by 9:40 PM every night just to get 8 hours of sleep. Ugh. I have never been a morning person, so that has always been one of my least favorite things about teaching -- having to go to bed and get up so, so early every day.
But right now I don't have to get up early at all, and I'm thoroughly enjoying it while it lasts!
Even though this school is in Brooklyn, it will still take me an hour and 10 minutes each way to get there. The school day is a full eight hours and starts at 8 AM, which means if I get the job and have to be there at 7:45 AM every day, I would have to leave my apartment at 6:20 AM (must allow 15 minutes of "what if there's a subway problem" time). 6:20 AM -- OUCH. I'd have to get up at 5:40 AM, so I'd have to go to bed by 9:40 PM every night just to get 8 hours of sleep. Ugh. I have never been a morning person, so that has always been one of my least favorite things about teaching -- having to go to bed and get up so, so early every day.
But right now I don't have to get up early at all, and I'm thoroughly enjoying it while it lasts!
Monday, March 9, 2009
Charter school job fair
I went to the charter school job fair at Columbia U. on Saturday. It was crowded! But we're all certified to teach in different areas, so I wasn't in direct competition with at least half of the other candidates, or so I kept telling myself! Only one woman from one of the schools was snotty. I purposely approached her table because there was no line, only to have to wait a couple of minutes for her to finish her extremely important conversation about the new diet she's on, and how it's about being healthy, not losing weight, unfortunately, because wouldn't that be nice if it happened, blah blah blah. When she finally stopped talking and acknowledged my existence, we talked for a minute and she said, "Well, we are looking for a special education teacher but only for kindergarden and first grade." Then she took my resume, looked at it, and said in a snotty tone, "Wow. This is really confusing." I had talked to people from half a dozen other schools by then, and none of them had said my resume was confusing. Humph.
But most of the schools were very nice. One Brooklyn school in particular said they definitely need special ed teachers for the fall, that they give resumes from job fair candidates a higher priority, and that I should expect a call soon. Yay!
The only problem is that many charter schools have extended school days and extended school years, to give kids who are behind more learning time. I tried to avoid those schools. Am I a terrible person?? It's just that, for me, teaching is difficult and draining and challenging enough when you have a 6 hr and 50 minute school day, 180 days a year. When I taught 8th grade in Texas, the kids' school day was 8:05 AM - 3:35 PM every day (7.5 hours!), and I would be grading and planning all evening and on weekends, and I STILL never felt like I ever caught up. I was 23 years old and could barely do it. I just don't think I could do it now. One of my friends from when I did Jesuit Volunteer Corps was visiting NYC over the weekend from California, where she's now teaching 7th grade. She said she grades and plans every weeknight until at least 9:00 PM, but she's made a rule that her weekends are her own. She's a lot smarter than I was when I was her age! I didn't make that rule and therefore completely burned myself out. No more.
I will re-do my resume yet again, though. It's just so tough for me to organize a resume in a way that makes sense, because my experience is wildly all over the place: teaching kids, publishing, teaching adults, administrative assistance, fundraising, tutoring. The longest I've ever worked anywhere was 2 years and 5 months. Not the most typical career path. But it hasn't been boring, that's for sure!
But most of the schools were very nice. One Brooklyn school in particular said they definitely need special ed teachers for the fall, that they give resumes from job fair candidates a higher priority, and that I should expect a call soon. Yay!
The only problem is that many charter schools have extended school days and extended school years, to give kids who are behind more learning time. I tried to avoid those schools. Am I a terrible person?? It's just that, for me, teaching is difficult and draining and challenging enough when you have a 6 hr and 50 minute school day, 180 days a year. When I taught 8th grade in Texas, the kids' school day was 8:05 AM - 3:35 PM every day (7.5 hours!), and I would be grading and planning all evening and on weekends, and I STILL never felt like I ever caught up. I was 23 years old and could barely do it. I just don't think I could do it now. One of my friends from when I did Jesuit Volunteer Corps was visiting NYC over the weekend from California, where she's now teaching 7th grade. She said she grades and plans every weeknight until at least 9:00 PM, but she's made a rule that her weekends are her own. She's a lot smarter than I was when I was her age! I didn't make that rule and therefore completely burned myself out. No more.
I will re-do my resume yet again, though. It's just so tough for me to organize a resume in a way that makes sense, because my experience is wildly all over the place: teaching kids, publishing, teaching adults, administrative assistance, fundraising, tutoring. The longest I've ever worked anywhere was 2 years and 5 months. Not the most typical career path. But it hasn't been boring, that's for sure!
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
My interview at the new high school in Brooklyn
Yesterday I had my interview for an immediate full-time special ed teaching job at a high school in Brooklyn that just started this schoolyear with 100 ninth graders. It took me an hour and twenty minutes door-to-door to get there by subway, and it was *freezing* out. But I followed my directions from the train station, walked up to the huge brick building, and...had to go through a metal detector. (!) The school is housed on the top floor of a large high school that has performed so poorly, it's being phased out and will graduate its last class in 2011.
I met the principal, who was nice, but not Mr. Rogers-nice like he'd seemed on the phone. Which is good -- if you're running a high school, you have to be at least somewhat strict. I observed a global studies class first period. It was a CTT (Collaborative Team Teaching) class, which means anywhere from roughly a quarter to a third of the kids in the class are classified as special ed, so a regular education teacher and a special education teacher team-teach the class together. They were teaching a lesson on Mesoamerica, and doing a pretty good job. But they had the door open, and I could hear this DIN out in the hallway -- it sounded like students just standing around talking, calling out to each other and laughing. I kept thinking someone would make it stop, but no one ever did, and it was so LOUD, the teachers finally had to close the door.
Then I observed an English class, and the students spent most of the period using laptops to work on a writing project. But they took a while to settle down, and though some of the students were actually writing, some of them were sitting around talking. One student next to me didn't write a word -- he surfed the internet on the laptop for the entire period. And again, sometimes it just got so noisy! It made me anxious.
When the principal interviewed me afterward, he said that both the classes I observed had first year teachers, and they needed more assistance with classroom management, and with scaffolding instruction (whatever that is -- I'll have to look it up). Again, he was nice, but I just don't think I could handle working there. At first I thought, maybe it's just that high school kids aren't for me, but I've been fine working at the high school in Queens. The two schools are so different, though. At the school in Queens, no metal detectors, for one thing. And students and their families have to be with-it enough to choose to apply there, to audition, etc. It seems very ethnically and racially diverse, but I get the feeling the students tend to be mostly middle and upper-middle class. The other day, for example, two of the boys in the resource room were talking about how different pizza in Italy is from pizza in the U.S. -- they had both been to Italy. The school in Brooklyn is so new that I couldn't find any statistics for it, but I'm sure the school it shares a building with has a similar population, and at that school 95% of the students qualify for free lunch. It's a tough population, and I just don't have enough experience as a teacher and a classroom manager, especially in a gritty urban school, to feel like I can do the job justice.
I had a real comedy of errors getting to my Queens high school job after my interview in Brooklyn, by the way. First, I came up out of the subway and was walking to the school when I tripped and fell hard on my left knee. Because of the snow and ice? Of course not. It was the clearest, most dry sidewalk I'd walked on all day. I tripped over, apparently, nothing. A nice woman walking by grabbed the newspaper I'd been carrying before it could blow too far away, and asked if I was all right. I said yes and thanked her, and then limped on my way over the Queensboro Bridge -- on the side without a walkway. If you happened to be driving across the five-lane highway over the bridge yesterday and noticed a woman in a black coat staggering along the snowdrift at the edge of the road, trying desperately not to get hit by a car -- yes, that was me. At least the pain in my knee and the concentration required not to end up as roadkill made me forget the biting cold for a few minutes. ;O
Anyway, this weekend I'm going to the 7th Annual Metro NY Charter School Career Fair (http://www.charterschooljobs.com/) -- hopefully I'll get some interviews out of it!
I met the principal, who was nice, but not Mr. Rogers-nice like he'd seemed on the phone. Which is good -- if you're running a high school, you have to be at least somewhat strict. I observed a global studies class first period. It was a CTT (Collaborative Team Teaching) class, which means anywhere from roughly a quarter to a third of the kids in the class are classified as special ed, so a regular education teacher and a special education teacher team-teach the class together. They were teaching a lesson on Mesoamerica, and doing a pretty good job. But they had the door open, and I could hear this DIN out in the hallway -- it sounded like students just standing around talking, calling out to each other and laughing. I kept thinking someone would make it stop, but no one ever did, and it was so LOUD, the teachers finally had to close the door.
Then I observed an English class, and the students spent most of the period using laptops to work on a writing project. But they took a while to settle down, and though some of the students were actually writing, some of them were sitting around talking. One student next to me didn't write a word -- he surfed the internet on the laptop for the entire period. And again, sometimes it just got so noisy! It made me anxious.
When the principal interviewed me afterward, he said that both the classes I observed had first year teachers, and they needed more assistance with classroom management, and with scaffolding instruction (whatever that is -- I'll have to look it up). Again, he was nice, but I just don't think I could handle working there. At first I thought, maybe it's just that high school kids aren't for me, but I've been fine working at the high school in Queens. The two schools are so different, though. At the school in Queens, no metal detectors, for one thing. And students and their families have to be with-it enough to choose to apply there, to audition, etc. It seems very ethnically and racially diverse, but I get the feeling the students tend to be mostly middle and upper-middle class. The other day, for example, two of the boys in the resource room were talking about how different pizza in Italy is from pizza in the U.S. -- they had both been to Italy. The school in Brooklyn is so new that I couldn't find any statistics for it, but I'm sure the school it shares a building with has a similar population, and at that school 95% of the students qualify for free lunch. It's a tough population, and I just don't have enough experience as a teacher and a classroom manager, especially in a gritty urban school, to feel like I can do the job justice.
I had a real comedy of errors getting to my Queens high school job after my interview in Brooklyn, by the way. First, I came up out of the subway and was walking to the school when I tripped and fell hard on my left knee. Because of the snow and ice? Of course not. It was the clearest, most dry sidewalk I'd walked on all day. I tripped over, apparently, nothing. A nice woman walking by grabbed the newspaper I'd been carrying before it could blow too far away, and asked if I was all right. I said yes and thanked her, and then limped on my way over the Queensboro Bridge -- on the side without a walkway. If you happened to be driving across the five-lane highway over the bridge yesterday and noticed a woman in a black coat staggering along the snowdrift at the edge of the road, trying desperately not to get hit by a car -- yes, that was me. At least the pain in my knee and the concentration required not to end up as roadkill made me forget the biting cold for a few minutes. ;O
Anyway, this weekend I'm going to the 7th Annual Metro NY Charter School Career Fair (http://www.charterschooljobs.com/) -- hopefully I'll get some interviews out of it!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
My new part-time teaching job
Yesterday was my first day doing the part-time high school resource room teaching job. I'm not quite sure what to make of it. The Spanish teacher is in there as the regular teacher -- don't know how they get away with that, as she's not special ed certified, but I guess that's why they want me there. There's also a teacher's aide, and then today yet another teacher's aide showed up. For four to five kids per period. !!! And these kids are bright -- they just need extra time on tests, or a little extra help with homework, etc. -- they really don't seem to need an almost one-to-one adult/student ratio. But the Spanish teacher is very nice, and she suggested I just observe this week, so that's what I've been doing. Needless to say, it has not been very stressful. I spend more time commuting to the school (an hour and 20 minutes each way) than actually being AT the school (an hour and a half). Kind of funny.
The kids are pretty funny, too. Mostly boys, as is par for the course in special ed. Yesterday one of them was telling a story about how he got mugged on a street corner two years ago when a couple of guys demanded his money, and he said no.
"So what happened?" the teacher asked.
"They cut me with a knife," he said.
The teacher's jaw dropped. "And then what happened?"
"They ran away," he said, "and I went to the hospital and got 25 stitches."
One of the other boys started laughing and asked the teacher, "What did you think he would say? 'I pulled out my sword and we commenced to duel'?"
Then they started talking about a certain teacher they all like. "I have a crush on her," one of the boys admitted dreamily. "I heard she's 37. If I were 37, I would totally ask her out on a date."
"I know where she lives," another boy said.
The first boy rolled his eyes. "Dude, I'm not gonna stalk her!"
Oh, and guess what? I have an interview next week for a full-time-with-benefits special ed teaching job at a high school in Brooklyn! It's a new school that started this schoolyear with only ninth graders. I like the principal already. We only spoke a few minutes on the phone, but he just seemed so nice, so enthusiastic, so normal (three important qualities in a principal). He said, "I can't wait for you to come in and meet the staff -- we have such great people working here." So I'm going in next Tuesday morning to observe a couple of classes, and then he and I will "talk" (I assume that's his informal way of saying "interview"). Should be interesting.
The kids are pretty funny, too. Mostly boys, as is par for the course in special ed. Yesterday one of them was telling a story about how he got mugged on a street corner two years ago when a couple of guys demanded his money, and he said no.
"So what happened?" the teacher asked.
"They cut me with a knife," he said.
The teacher's jaw dropped. "And then what happened?"
"They ran away," he said, "and I went to the hospital and got 25 stitches."
One of the other boys started laughing and asked the teacher, "What did you think he would say? 'I pulled out my sword and we commenced to duel'?"
Then they started talking about a certain teacher they all like. "I have a crush on her," one of the boys admitted dreamily. "I heard she's 37. If I were 37, I would totally ask her out on a date."
"I know where she lives," another boy said.
The first boy rolled his eyes. "Dude, I'm not gonna stalk her!"
Oh, and guess what? I have an interview next week for a full-time-with-benefits special ed teaching job at a high school in Brooklyn! It's a new school that started this schoolyear with only ninth graders. I like the principal already. We only spoke a few minutes on the phone, but he just seemed so nice, so enthusiastic, so normal (three important qualities in a principal). He said, "I can't wait for you to come in and meet the staff -- we have such great people working here." So I'm going in next Tuesday morning to observe a couple of classes, and then he and I will "talk" (I assume that's his informal way of saying "interview"). Should be interesting.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
I got the gig!
The tutoring agency called me today and said I got the part-time Resource Room teacher job! Yay! I'm not sure yet when I'll start, but probably sometime next week. :)
Also, I was accepted to attend two days of (free) training in Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) with an Early Intervention agency in a couple of weeks. Early Intervention is one-on-one teaching for kids ages 0 - 3 who are experiencing some sort of delay. After the two full days of training, I'll do ten hours of observation/practice, and if I do well with that, they will assign me some Early Intervention cases where I'll work one-on-one with kids in Brooklyn in their homes. I'm a little nervous about teaching such young kids -- babies, really -- but so many children receive Early Intervention services these days, it will be really valuable experience.
So if I can keep tutoring the seventh grade student I currently tutor through one agency six hours a week, and if I can do the part-time Resource Room teacher job through the other agency, and if I can keep my unemployment, I should be able to survive financially until I (HOPEFULLY) land a full-time-with-benefits teaching job this fall -- IF Congress passes legislation to extend unemployment benefits again. To qualify for the current extension, you have to exhaust your current benefits by March 31st, and mine won't run out until two weeks later (d'oh! missed it by *that much*!).
I really, really, really hope the extension passes. If it doesn't, hopefully the Early Intervention gig will work out and make up the financial difference. *fingers crossed*
I was pleased to see that Obama signed that bill extending health care coverage to more low-income children today (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090205/ap_on_go_pr_wh/children_s_health_20), and I'm very curious to see what happens with his proposal to make people who are on unemployment automatically qualify for Medicaid. That would really be a godsend. Let's put it this way: I receive $405 per week in unemployment benefits, which is the most you can get in NY State. But you have to pay taxes on it, so I let the feds take out 10% every week, which brings it down to $364.50 per week (I'm sure I'll actually owe about 25% on it in total when I file my taxes, but they won't take out more than 10% when they give it to you). That's $1,458 per month -- too much to qualify for Medicaid or food stamps. But the rent on my one-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn is $993 per month, and the cheapest plan available under Healthy New York, the public program for those too "rich" to qualify for Medicaid (i.e., single adults without children who earn more than $600-something per month) is like $185 per month. That leaves $280 for the month -- $280 for food, electricity, phone, transportation, laundry, etc.
If I didn't have these part-time jobs, I'd never make it.
That's why this economic meltdown is so frightening. I am incredibly lucky to have an education, a teaching certificate, work experience, to be living in a big city with a variety of industries, and to not have anyone else to support besides myself. What about people, especially people with children to feed, who never went past high school and have always worked at jobs that never required more than that -- jobs that are now disappearing? What are they going to do?? :(
Also, I was accepted to attend two days of (free) training in Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) with an Early Intervention agency in a couple of weeks. Early Intervention is one-on-one teaching for kids ages 0 - 3 who are experiencing some sort of delay. After the two full days of training, I'll do ten hours of observation/practice, and if I do well with that, they will assign me some Early Intervention cases where I'll work one-on-one with kids in Brooklyn in their homes. I'm a little nervous about teaching such young kids -- babies, really -- but so many children receive Early Intervention services these days, it will be really valuable experience.
So if I can keep tutoring the seventh grade student I currently tutor through one agency six hours a week, and if I can do the part-time Resource Room teacher job through the other agency, and if I can keep my unemployment, I should be able to survive financially until I (HOPEFULLY) land a full-time-with-benefits teaching job this fall -- IF Congress passes legislation to extend unemployment benefits again. To qualify for the current extension, you have to exhaust your current benefits by March 31st, and mine won't run out until two weeks later (d'oh! missed it by *that much*!).
I really, really, really hope the extension passes. If it doesn't, hopefully the Early Intervention gig will work out and make up the financial difference. *fingers crossed*
I was pleased to see that Obama signed that bill extending health care coverage to more low-income children today (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090205/ap_on_go_pr_wh/children_s_health_20), and I'm very curious to see what happens with his proposal to make people who are on unemployment automatically qualify for Medicaid. That would really be a godsend. Let's put it this way: I receive $405 per week in unemployment benefits, which is the most you can get in NY State. But you have to pay taxes on it, so I let the feds take out 10% every week, which brings it down to $364.50 per week (I'm sure I'll actually owe about 25% on it in total when I file my taxes, but they won't take out more than 10% when they give it to you). That's $1,458 per month -- too much to qualify for Medicaid or food stamps. But the rent on my one-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn is $993 per month, and the cheapest plan available under Healthy New York, the public program for those too "rich" to qualify for Medicaid (i.e., single adults without children who earn more than $600-something per month) is like $185 per month. That leaves $280 for the month -- $280 for food, electricity, phone, transportation, laundry, etc.
If I didn't have these part-time jobs, I'd never make it.
That's why this economic meltdown is so frightening. I am incredibly lucky to have an education, a teaching certificate, work experience, to be living in a big city with a variety of industries, and to not have anyone else to support besides myself. What about people, especially people with children to feed, who never went past high school and have always worked at jobs that never required more than that -- jobs that are now disappearing? What are they going to do?? :(
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Success! hopefully (at least part-time)
My second interview today for a part-time teaching job seemed to go well! If I get it, I would be a Resource Room teacher for two periods a day in the afternoon at a public high school here in NYC. It's a neat school because it's focused on the performing arts -- music, drama, and film -- and all the kids who want to go there have to audition. But I would be working through a tutoring agency, not an employee of the school itself.
The cons: It's not full-time with benefits; it pays $40 an hour instead of $60, which is the going rate for a special ed tutor in NYC; and it's a one-hour-and-fifteen-minute commute each way.
The pros: I would be paid through the tutoring agency as an independent contractor, which counts as self-employment, so it wouldn't jeopardize my unemployment benefits; being a Resource Room teacher basically means helping the kids with their work from their other classes, so I wouldn't have to come up with lesson plans or grade papers; it would give me experience with high school kids (the one school-age group I haven't worked with) in probably the least stressful way possible; there are only eight students in each class; and there's another teacher in the room, too, plus a teacher's aide.
So, I hope they liked me!
In other news, I sent the following e-mail to the principal of the charter school in Brooklyn that offered me the long-term substitute teaching position:
Dear Ms. XXXX,
Ms. So-and-So called me today about the substitute teaching position that starts on Thursday. Unfortunately, since the position does not provide benefits, I have to decline it. Although I am fortunate not to have any chronic health issues or anything, I would still be too nervous to forego health insurance (right now I qualify for Healthy New York, but if I were substituting full-time I would no longer qualify).
If a permanent teaching job does become available, I hope you will keep me in mind.
Thank you very much,
Artichoke Heart
She responded:
Dear Artichoke Heart,
Thank you for your reply. We will keep you in mind for the September position.
The cons: It's not full-time with benefits; it pays $40 an hour instead of $60, which is the going rate for a special ed tutor in NYC; and it's a one-hour-and-fifteen-minute commute each way.
The pros: I would be paid through the tutoring agency as an independent contractor, which counts as self-employment, so it wouldn't jeopardize my unemployment benefits; being a Resource Room teacher basically means helping the kids with their work from their other classes, so I wouldn't have to come up with lesson plans or grade papers; it would give me experience with high school kids (the one school-age group I haven't worked with) in probably the least stressful way possible; there are only eight students in each class; and there's another teacher in the room, too, plus a teacher's aide.
So, I hope they liked me!
In other news, I sent the following e-mail to the principal of the charter school in Brooklyn that offered me the long-term substitute teaching position:
Dear Ms. XXXX,
Ms. So-and-So called me today about the substitute teaching position that starts on Thursday. Unfortunately, since the position does not provide benefits, I have to decline it. Although I am fortunate not to have any chronic health issues or anything, I would still be too nervous to forego health insurance (right now I qualify for Healthy New York, but if I were substituting full-time I would no longer qualify).
If a permanent teaching job does become available, I hope you will keep me in mind.
Thank you very much,
Artichoke Heart
She responded:
Dear Artichoke Heart,
Thank you for your reply. We will keep you in mind for the September position.
Monday, February 2, 2009
The Job Search
I got laid off from my fundraising job at a health organization back in October. I wasn't too broken up about it because my boss was rarely in the office and I hardly had anything to do. What I miss are the paychecks (ironically, it was the highest-paying job I've ever had) and the health insurance!
I've been looking into becoming certified as a Learning Disabilities Teacher/Consultant, but since you need three years of classroom teaching experience to do that, and I only have two, I need to get a teaching job. I got my master's in special education ten years ago and have a permanent NY State teaching certificate, and since special ed is a shortage area, I didn't think it would be too hard.
A few weeks ago I had an interview at a charter school in Brooklyn. It was a panel interview, which are always a little intimidating -- the principal, special education coordinator, and two teachers all grilled me. I was actually lucky there were only four people, because, as the principal said, "Usually our ENTIRE hiring committee would be here, but they're off doing emergency teaching assignments because we have three vacancies."
Three teaching positions open in the middle of the year -- I figured I had a shot. Sure enough, 24 hours after that first interview, the special education coordinator contacted me, saying the committee had liked what I had to say. Could I come in the following Thursday and teach a demonstration lesson to one of the eighth grade classes? Why, of course I could.
I sweated and slaved over this lesson, then went into the school on January 15th and taught it, with the hiring committee watching. It was a challenge because I didn't know the kids, and I ran out of time at the end so I had to cut short the group activity I had planned. But the kids were pretty good, and seemed fairly engaged. They certainly didn't make me want to run out of the school screaming or anything. But by the time the period ended, the entire hiring committee had already left, except for the special ed coordinator who just said, "We'll be in touch in the next day or two."
But they weren't in touch in the next day or two. They didn't contact me at all -- until today (more than two weeks after I taught my demo lesson), when the school secretary called me. "The principal wanted me to call and ask you if you would be interested in a substitute teaching position starting this Thursday," she said.
Substituting? Huh?? "For what subject?" I asked.
"What subject were you interviewed for?" she said.
"Special ed."
"Then it must be a special ed substitute position."
It "must be"? Shouldn't you know for sure what the job is before you offer it to somebody? "How long would it last?" I asked.
"Well, it's open-ended. We've had temps in the classroom since there isn't a permanent teacher in that class right now. It could lead to a permanent position," she said.
I asked what the rate was, and she said $154 per hour, but I'm sure she meant $154 per day -- if it were $154 per hour, that would be over $150,000 per year! "And no benefits," she added helpfully.
Great. I asked if I could think about it, and she said yes. But what I really wanted to say was, "So let me get this straight. You asked me to come in for an interview for one of three vacant teaching jobs, and I did. You liked what I said and asked me to teach a sample lesson, which I did. After observing that, you think I would be good enough to teach -- but only as a subsititute??" Seriously, what are they thinking? I interviewed for a permanent job; I'm ready, willing and able to take a permanent job; but instead they want to hire me as a sub and continue this parade of temporary teachers in that classroom? How can that possibly be good for the kids? And, it's already February -- it's not like they'd be making some big commitment to me if they just hired me to teach from February through June. Once the schoolyear ends, couldn't they just not renew my contract if they didn't like me?
I guess they really don't want to pay benefits. I'm very fortunate that I don't have any health issues (knock on wood), but I don't want to go without health insurance. If I were substituting I would earn too much to qualify for Healthy New York, the public insurance program I will soon be on (for $235 per month out of pocket, of course). And if I'm teaching full-time, planning lessons and grading papers and managing a classroom just the same as a permanent teacher, I really shouldn't have to forego the benefits. What cheapskates.
I've been looking into becoming certified as a Learning Disabilities Teacher/Consultant, but since you need three years of classroom teaching experience to do that, and I only have two, I need to get a teaching job. I got my master's in special education ten years ago and have a permanent NY State teaching certificate, and since special ed is a shortage area, I didn't think it would be too hard.
A few weeks ago I had an interview at a charter school in Brooklyn. It was a panel interview, which are always a little intimidating -- the principal, special education coordinator, and two teachers all grilled me. I was actually lucky there were only four people, because, as the principal said, "Usually our ENTIRE hiring committee would be here, but they're off doing emergency teaching assignments because we have three vacancies."
Three teaching positions open in the middle of the year -- I figured I had a shot. Sure enough, 24 hours after that first interview, the special education coordinator contacted me, saying the committee had liked what I had to say. Could I come in the following Thursday and teach a demonstration lesson to one of the eighth grade classes? Why, of course I could.
I sweated and slaved over this lesson, then went into the school on January 15th and taught it, with the hiring committee watching. It was a challenge because I didn't know the kids, and I ran out of time at the end so I had to cut short the group activity I had planned. But the kids were pretty good, and seemed fairly engaged. They certainly didn't make me want to run out of the school screaming or anything. But by the time the period ended, the entire hiring committee had already left, except for the special ed coordinator who just said, "We'll be in touch in the next day or two."
But they weren't in touch in the next day or two. They didn't contact me at all -- until today (more than two weeks after I taught my demo lesson), when the school secretary called me. "The principal wanted me to call and ask you if you would be interested in a substitute teaching position starting this Thursday," she said.
Substituting? Huh?? "For what subject?" I asked.
"What subject were you interviewed for?" she said.
"Special ed."
"Then it must be a special ed substitute position."
It "must be"? Shouldn't you know for sure what the job is before you offer it to somebody? "How long would it last?" I asked.
"Well, it's open-ended. We've had temps in the classroom since there isn't a permanent teacher in that class right now. It could lead to a permanent position," she said.
I asked what the rate was, and she said $154 per hour, but I'm sure she meant $154 per day -- if it were $154 per hour, that would be over $150,000 per year! "And no benefits," she added helpfully.
Great. I asked if I could think about it, and she said yes. But what I really wanted to say was, "So let me get this straight. You asked me to come in for an interview for one of three vacant teaching jobs, and I did. You liked what I said and asked me to teach a sample lesson, which I did. After observing that, you think I would be good enough to teach -- but only as a subsititute??" Seriously, what are they thinking? I interviewed for a permanent job; I'm ready, willing and able to take a permanent job; but instead they want to hire me as a sub and continue this parade of temporary teachers in that classroom? How can that possibly be good for the kids? And, it's already February -- it's not like they'd be making some big commitment to me if they just hired me to teach from February through June. Once the schoolyear ends, couldn't they just not renew my contract if they didn't like me?
I guess they really don't want to pay benefits. I'm very fortunate that I don't have any health issues (knock on wood), but I don't want to go without health insurance. If I were substituting I would earn too much to qualify for Healthy New York, the public insurance program I will soon be on (for $235 per month out of pocket, of course). And if I'm teaching full-time, planning lessons and grading papers and managing a classroom just the same as a permanent teacher, I really shouldn't have to forego the benefits. What cheapskates.
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