Thinking Way Ahead

My first year of teaching I learned a very important acronym, B.O.Y. For all you newbies,  It means "beginning of year".

....uhhh....ummmm... oops...was the only thing I came up with asked by my team lead, I need your B.O.Y. folder. Oops I had no idea that by the E.O.Y. "end of year" there were certain things I was supposed to have been saving in a special folder all year long.

So do yourself a huge favor and start a file labeled BOY and every couple of weeks put some work samples from different subjects for each student. When the winter holidays come around start a middle of the year folder too.  On the first day of school I would ask the kids to draw a picture of themselves, I would save that and have them repeat the assignment near the last day and give them the original to see the difference.

You could even save simple little writing assignments like this one. I have my students keep a writing journal everyday so I also have those samples that I could pull from as well. 

Job Search

The search for the perfect teaching job can be quite overwhelming, believe me I know! I have a few tips for your job search if you are new to teaching or looking for a new school.

Step 1. Have a great resume. I'm not even going to pretend that I am good at resume writing, because I definitely am not. However there are a few resume writing services that I would really recommend. I think they can be pretty pricey, but if resume writing is a huge stresser for you than it's totally worth it.

Step 2. Make your resume stand out. When the job market is tight, principals might receive hundreds, literally hundreds of resumes for one position. I would imagine looking at plain white page after plain white page could get really tedious. So I would recommend making a colorful cover page including your picture. You know you probably have a ton of those little wallet size prints hanging around or you could make a little collage of pictures of yourself working with kids in a classroom environment. This has worked for me. I usually get a call for at least a phone interview when I put my picture on the cover page.

Step 3. Don't be lazy, show some initiative. You have to actually go to the schools to drop off your resume, don't just fax or mail it, you never know you just might get an interview on the spot! p.s. dress appropriately for the handing out of the resumes. You don't have to wear a suit, but clean and neat will do. When you get to the school, ask if the principal is available. Usually the receptionist will say no, but keep in mind that the receptionist is the most important person at a school, she is the gatekeeper to the principal and once you get the job she'll be the one to get you out of many a jam...so make sure to get on her good side from the very start. Just say that you are interested in a teaching position or be specific if there is one available at that school.

Step 4. Be flexible. If you are looking for your first teaching job, you might not be able to get too picky, sorry, this is where reality will set in. I had to drive an hour each way my first year. However being flexible is a great trait to have as a teacher, especially when your principal tells you two days before school starts that in fact you'll be teaching 3rd grade instead of Kindergarten like you were hired for...it has happened, so remember to keep a smile on your face and be flexible :)

Step 5. Be prepared. You might actually get that call for an interview so be ready when it happens. Make a list of the schools you've visited and make a note of whether or not you spoke to the principal and the positions available at that school. There's nothing worse than having a principal call to ask you how you'd feel about teaching second grade and you have no idea what school she's calling from or what she's talking about. Don't be caught off guard. Carry the list with you or don't answer the phone, check your voice mail and call back promptly.

Step 6. Ask for the job. When you get the interview...of course you'll do your homework about the school and the position, but it's very important to ask for the job at the end of the interview. Just say that you think you'll be a great fit and that you'd really love to have the job...this let's them know that you are interested and want the job. I have received an offer for every job where I followed these steps, except for one. I'll get to why I think I didn't get an offer later...when I create a post on mistakes to avoid...

Good luck and let me know if you have any tips that have worked for you!

Welcome

Here's how my teaching story started....

I had completed the course work for my certification program in Texas and now I just needed to land that coveted classroom internship. Our program coordinator called all of the remaining "teachers in training" to a meeting late one Thursday evening. They broke the news to the seven of us, that remained, that if we didn't have a job secured by the end of the next day we would have to repeat the program again! Basically start from scratch and lose an entire year of work.

I was offered a job the very next day....it was only 45 miles away. Two hours of driving a day isn't so bad of a commute, right? I can do anything for one year right? And after that year I would be a real teacher! What I didn't know then, but what I definitely know now is that that one year would be the worst, hardest, scariest year of my entire life! 

Yes, I was going to have my very own classroom, and even though I had spent the last year preparing to teach Kindergarten, I was sure that my skills and awesome ideas would translate easily to fourth grade.

My job offer came in on a Friday and I was to get my class the following Wednesday. This was early October, by the way, so I was hired to help ease the congestion of a few over crowded classrooms. I had two days to observe and prepare before opening my classroom doors.

Needless to say those two days flew by at lightening speed. Totally unprepared, but naively confident,  I opened my doors. I can wrap that year up in basically two words, "I survived". No literally, I survived...being poisoned! 

Luckily, I learned many lessons that year, the first of which was to keep my water bottle and purse safely locked away at all times! Seriously though after leaving that school and finding a much warmer and friendlier place I discovered something which I believe is absolutely crucial to every teacher's first year. It is a really good MENTOR!  Believe it or not I actually had a mentor that first year, but just because something has a label attached doesn't make it actually so. You can call a mop a mentor, but it's not going to help you figure out what to teach for Math tomorrow.

Here's where I get to my inspiration for this blog. My second year of teaching I had the best mentor any teacher could possibly hope for. That year I didn't even have to worry about surviving, because I had the support I needed and I actually got to really teach for the first time. 

My goal is that no teacher should merely survive that first year or any year of teaching. So if you need a mentor, I'll be it! In the posts to follow I hope to give some practical tips and strategies so that you don't have to reinvent the wheel when you run into a problem. Now my main focus will be on Kindergarten because that has been my favorite grade so far, but I also have experience teaching first, second, fourth, and some special ed. 

If you are just starting out, I don't want to scare you. I just want to get you ready for what you signed up for. If you ask any teacher what's the number one rule of survival in the classroom, they'll probably all say the same thing. Be prepared!  Simply, if you're prepared for anything, you can handle anything!

You are never alone in the world of teaching. There are so many resources out there for you, you just need to know where to look!

All the best!