Adventures of a Teacher in Transition

But then they moved my loans to a more local financial company, which is fine. But my account isn’t up yet. And my loans are due on the 14th of every month. And it is now the 15th. And I can’t get my loans paid. And I’m freaking out. And I couldn’t get through to a human being with either company because I no longer have an account with the first bank and don’t have an account yet with the new bank. And apparently I can’t talk to a human unless I have an account number.

I swear to god,  if I’m charged a late fee for this, I’m going to raise bloody hell.

Back to the hunt. I applied for four or five more jobs last night. I’m just getting so frustrated.

It’s for a librarian job at the school where I’m an AVID tutor. 

I’ve never had a librarian job interview before. Any librarians here want to let me know some of the questions they were asked?

themaraudersaredead:

How to Turn All Your Essays into Feminist Rants No Matter the Subject Matter: An Autobiography by Me. 

Literally me. Every single essay in college.

Helllloooooo front of the pack!

1. Schools are REALLY FREAKING HOT when it’s 85+ degrees and the air conditioning either doesn’t exist or isn’t turned on, except for a few rooms here and there.

2. Students are extremely unaware of the world in which we live sometimes. Whilst talking about women’s rights and how we’re still discriminated against, the notion of consent came up and students didn’t realize that when you’re drunk, you cannot give consent to have sex. It blew their mind. It made me realize that despite what others may say, we really do have to teach our children about sexual assault and not to rape.

3. The pride you feel when a student comes in beaming because he got a fabulous ACT score and will now be able to go to a bunch of schools he wanted to go to is amazing. I feel just as happy as he does. And I’m just a tutor.

4. There are only 3 tutorial days left. The school year is almost over. And I have no job lined up for next year besides subbing and tutoring. I’d like my own classroom, please.

1. I got sleep. Last week was crazy and I wasn’t getting much sleep and as a result, I was crazy emotional. Seriously, I turn into a toddler when I’m tired. On Saturday, I drove home from work crying the entire way, because I was tired and feeling sorry for myself. And then I went to bed at 10:30 and slept 12 hours. And now I feel fabulous.

2. I joined the gym. I figured, if I can’t take control over where my career is headed, I might as well take control of my body. I’m tired of being big. I want to be curvy — I just can’t ever picture myself being skinny — but I want to be healthy. I want to be proud of myself. I want to know that I can do it. I’m fitting in time at the gym whenever I can. Today, for example, I got out of AVID early and went to the gym for an hour and then my friend called me and we went for a three mile walk around the forest preserve. I’m bone tired, but it’s because I worked hard - not because I’m running between a million jobs.

3. Speaking of jobs, things might be looking up. My friend (who I walked with today) is currently a librarian at the school I tutor for. She just got a job as a full-time special education teacher, so her position in the library is opening up. And she’s been talking me up to her boss and the English Department Chair who runs the library. So yay! The job will be posted online sometime this week and I have to rush to get it entered so I can be considered. But I’m really, really hopeful!

4. There are only three weeks left of school. And I’m probably not working that last week of finals. So really, two weeks. How freaking insane is that?!

I just checked the #education tag for the first time all week because reading about other people in their classrooms makes me incredibly jealous and frustrated.

I just want my own classroom. I’m getting paranoid again that I haven’t heard about any interviews in a while and that more and more people are getting hired places.

Yes, eventually, I’ll find a job. But I can’t be searching forever.

sigh.

hell to the yeahhhhhh.

My kids are the sweetest.

My AVID kids came in today, fresh off of standardized testing yesterday and Tuesday, with really lame, BSed TRFs. They did crappy ones because a crappy TRF is better than no TRF. But my group is sitting there, watching another student give their lame question and 30 second speech when suddenly:

“Ms. H? How do you write a resume?”

And suddenly we had a real question. 

I told them what’s on mine. I wrote up a quick version of mine. I gave them a quick, no-frills outline. We used one student’s own experience to write a resume on the smart board.

Suddenly, that 90 minute class period flew by because we had a real question. (also, I was teaching, even a group of three kids, and it was amazing.)

And my homebound student is FINALLY, after two months of recovery time at home, back in school. She was back in fourth block AVID, giving me just as much shit as she does at home (and I truly mean that in the sweetest way possible. I love this girl). She’s talking to her friends whom she desperately missed. She doesn’t have the drain hooked up to her incision anymore. She can be like a real teenager again.

And that’s why today, despite my 15 hour day, was pretty awesome.

I was pretty upset about getting told thanks, but no thanks from my old high school, but today, I realized that it was probably a really good thing that I was told no.

Today, while I subbed, I was called Ally by no less than four employees in the building. Only one person in my life calls me Ally anymore, and we got close in high school. The only people who call me Ally knew me in high school only. It’s something I deal with because after them knowing me for so long, I can’t change their habits. I don’t bother. It annoys me, but for four or five years, I called myself by Ally.

And then I grew out of it. I grew up and realized that the name Allison didn’t suck as much as I thought it did when I was thirteen. 

It’s a little thing, really; what they call me. But in the grander scheme of things, it matters a lot.

I realized today after two people in a row called me Ally - including the sub coordinator, whom I met only this year when I was hired - that most of these people still see me as a high schooler. Or, at least, not fully an adult or, more importantly, a teacher. It’s hard enough getting the students to take me seriously as a substitute teacher when security stops me in the hall to ask where my hall pass is. But I realized today that I can’t work in a place where I’m not taken as seriously.

During my interview, I was interviewed by my junior English teacher, the principal, and the associate principal. By the end of the interview, the principal was calling me Ally, despite my resume, cover letter, and every document they had having me listed as Allison.

Like I said, a little thing.

But ultimately, I want to find a school where I can stand on my own. I want who I am now to matter far more than I who I was as a high school student. I want to make my own dent as a teacher, not as an older high school student. I’m not eighteen anymore. Yes, I’m still young and live at home and have lots to learn. But I am an adult and a teacher and I want a chance to prove it based on my own merit and not what my former teachers may remember me as.

So maybe this “no” was really one of the best things to have happened to me.

I know it’s risky to get one before securing a full-time teaching job. But I’m wondering if it would be worth it to do it now, while I have more time. Would it help find me a job, or would it only hurt my chances because school districts would have to pay me more for less experience?

allisonunsupervised replied to your post: I kept thinking today was Thursday. And I kept being disappointed.

SO disappointing. But, The Girl and the Goat?

I believe the restaurant is called Mercat? Maybe that’s the restaurant. I honestly can’t remember, but I Googled Iron Chef competitors restaurants, and that’s what came up. haha 

This has been the longest week ever… and it’s only Wednesday.

• Monday I subbed and then went right to work at Torrid. I didn’t get out until 10 because the drawers wouldn’t balance. Oye.
• Tuesday I had AVID tutoring all day until 3:30 when school got out. Then I had to quickly run to Target. Then I tutored from 3:45 until 5. Then I had to quickly drive to Torrid and work until 9:30, where, despite having to change all the marketing and call almost 40 people and close the registers, we got out at exactly 9:30.
• Today I miraculously only had to work at Torrid from 9:30 until 5:30. Today wasn’t too bad of a day - except when my DM emailed me a list of 40 new people to call… I sat on the counter and called them while my sales associates helped customers.
• Tomorrow I have to work at AVID until about 2:30 and then get over to Torrid to work from 3:30 until (hopefully) 9:30.
• Friday I thankfully just have to open Torrid. I want to go out and do fun things.. but honestly I might just lay in bed and watch Netflix and maybe get my friends to go out to Denny’s at midnight in our sweats or something.
• Saturday my sister is graduating from college so we have get to go to the Marriott (or maybe Hilton, now I can’t remember) in downtown Chicago to watch her graduate. And then we’re all going out for lunch at this Tapas restaruant that one of the Iron Chefs owns in the city. I don’t even know what Tapas is… And that night…. we’re getting crunk.
• Sunday my sister and I are going back downtown to see our friend perform in Cabaret.

I don’t even get a relaxing weekend!! ahhhhhhh.

I’m counting the minutes until Tuesday. The high schools are PSAE/ACT testing, so we don’t have AVID and I’m not scheduled to work at Torrid and I declined the subbing that my other high school offered me. I need a day to recharge.

I don’t even have energy to blow dry my hair right now…

She was only out for the afternoon because she was interviewing candidates for the opening at the school.

It bugged me all afternoon that I could have been being interviewed at that very moment for a job instead of subbing.

I could have been one step closer to my own classroom instead of being a guest in someone else’s classroom.

I could have been talking about what I would do for my students, rather than trying to get a bunch of freshmen who weren’t my students to read silently.

I could have been interviewing.

Instead, I was subbing.

And it was emotionally exhausting.

Getting a call that I don’t have to sub 1st-4th periods: Good.

Getting a call that I don’t have to sub 1st-4th periods on a Monday: Better

Getting a call that I don’t have to sub 1st-4th periods on a Monday and still getting paid to sub for a full day: Best

Only a couple were for me personally. The rest are for my classroom. 

You know, when I actually have one.

So sick of that word.

Just give me a chance.

I hate walking out of any interview thinking about different ways I could have answered the questions.

Grahhh.

That’s a good sign, right?

Fuck that snow, man. I’m so ready for spring. 

It’s only supposed to thunderstorm tomorrow. Thank the baby cheesus.

I’ve lived at my Torrid store the last few days. I haven’t talked to anyone that isn’t my staff or my immediate family. 

Everything is all set to go with the new store! We’re opening tomorrow and I’m so, so excited for my first shift as a keyholder. ahhhhhhhhhh  It’s amazing how much teaching goes into opening a new store with 9 completely brand new employees who have never worked at a Torrid before. 

The store is gorgeous. The bra wall, which I spent eighty million hours on, looks perfect. The staff is really well trained and it’s up to them to show how well they’ve learned. I have to let my sparrows fly

And I’m rambling so I should probably go to bed now… 

Please, please don’t let me get called to sub. I’ll probably say no. I don’t want to say no.

It’s going to be a strange interview if Kristen (look! I used her first name, not her last name!) is doing my interview and she asks “why do you want to be an English teacher?”

Uhh… You. 

But this is super exciting, even if it’s only for a single-year position. You never know what could happen in a year. 

I went into first hour and one of my AVID kids came up to me all excited yelling/flailing “DID YOU SEE CASTLE LAST NIGHT?!?!?!”

Yes. Yes I did. 

And we squeed together for a moment.

Waiting for the crash… It was my first day back after spring break and suffice it to say, my sleep schedule was a little thrown off…

99problemsbutapitchaintone:

IT’S ALSO SPRING BREAK!!!

…But I don’t really get a break. Tutoring, babysitting, and training for my new position at Torrid… 

…And we’re also supposed to get a snowstorm on Sunday. So it’s not really even spring..

There’s apparently 2 in CLS, where I student taught, but one is most likely going to this dude who has been maternity leave subbing off and on all year. So poop. But that leaves one for me potentially.

Ben said he’d talk to the department chairs about me and my application. (The one who’s retiring this year and the lady taking his place. Who I enjoyed. Who I connected with. So potential win for me!) 

So yayyyyyyyyyy

I have the best CTs.

My student teaching school district has 3 ENGLISH OPENINGS!!!!!!!!!

I have no idea which of the three schools the openings are in, but the entire district is amazing, so I would be happy working at any of the schools.

But I really, really, really want to work at my school.

1.  AVID seemed to be more exhausting than usual today. No idea why.

2.  I ran into one of the first hour AVID elective teachers before school and he asked if I was going to be in his room today. When I told him I wasn’t, he made a disappointed face and told me that all of the kids keep asking where I am and say that they miss me and they really like me. It was a lovely pick me up this morning.

3.  I got some mad respect from the elective teacher whose room I was in this morning when I told a student how we (teachers in general) don’t just arbitrarily give points out on homework. We don’t just round up to make a nice whole number and you (the student) have to earn every point and half-point you get. 

4.  I was actually able to use something that I learned in college that I literally never thought I would use in a teaching setting during a tutorial today. Yay college education actually doing something!

5.  I tutored after school. Tutoring seems to go by much slower when I’m just watching her take quizzes and tests and not actually helping her learn…

6.  I got official notice that I am the new Torrid store’s part time keyholder. WOOOOO. Hello $1.50 raise and more hours. I start training on opening and closing procedures next week and then the week after that, we start everything for opening the store. CRAZY!

7. I keep having weird dreams involving Ben and Scott (my CTs from student teaching). I don’t even know why. I guess I just miss them.

8. I haven’t applied for a job in a while… I’m just so overwhelmed by it all that I think I need a little mental break from it. …Too bad I can’t afford to take one.

They just have to do a background check to make sure I’m not a murderer (spoiler alert: I’m not) and then I’ll get the okay from the district manager. And I didn’t even have to talk to her! Phew.

The first couple of weeks of April are going to be insane. Oof. I only have 2 weeks (basically until April) left at my current store. Then I’ll be going to the new store and helping set up everything (joy of joys. I set up my current store and it’s some of the most physical work you can imagine) and training new staff. 

It’s really just hit me looking at the schedule how much more work being a keyholder will be. I’m basically a part-time manager, just with fewer hours. I’m going to be in charge of people AND money. Oye…

If you’re going to have staggered admittance to your job fair, that’s fine. In fact, I enjoy not having to push through a whole ton of people to figure out which extraordinarily long line is for which table. What is not okay is you not letting some people (ahem, anyone other than current students) in until up to an hour before the job fair closes.

What is not okay is your school district representatives closing their booths and packing up and leaving before the actual time they’re supposed to. In some cases, representatives left for lunch and simply never came back until five minutes before the end to pack up their table.

What is not okay is that I had to wait over an hour for one school district only to find that more than half of the other schools I did want to talk to I couldn’t because you didn’t let me in until two hours before the fair ended and these schools decided to leave early.

What is not okay is that I felt unimportant and that I was wasting these representatives times when they chose to eat their lunch in front of me while trying to interview me. And yet I felt lucky that he was eating and interviewing me because that was less time I had to wait before I could actually go and talk to someone else.

What is not okay is that you didn’t allow for school districts to say that they specifically needed reading specialists and not just “English” teachers, only to find this fact out when you finally got to talk to the representative.

I spent time and money that I could have saved staying at home, not renting a hotel room, not buying gas, not driving down, and not missing two days of work to come down to this job fair. I left feeling dejected, hopeless, and frustrated instead of hopeful and positive. 

Thanks for nothing, ISU. At least I didn’t have to pay to register for the fair.

I stuffed myself on Mexican food from my favorite restaurant in town. Seriously. So stuffed. And I still have leftover chips and salsa left sitting in my teeny tiny little fridge the motel has in the room.

Tomorrow, I’m grabbing dinner with one of my favorite people who still lives in the area. I’m going to try to grab coffee or lunch with another girl who’s still in school.

I’m going to kick ass at the job fair.

I’m looking at the positives. I emailed the principal of the school that declined me and politely asked why she didn’t want to interview me again and what I could do to improve for my next interviews. Maybe she’ll respond; maybe she won’t. The point is that I tried.

And really, nothing is so terrible when you’re stuffed on delicious, delicious Mexican food. :)

Sad.

I really felt good about that interview. Now I’m wondering if I have ANY chance on the second interview I had last week, because I felt awful about it.

Now I get to go drive three hours and obsess over what I could have said differently… Joy of joys…

It’s something I’m thinking about since I interviewed with a school that’s about 3 hours away from home. It’s not very far and I could still come home on weekends, but I’m still trying to decide if it’s the right fit for me.

So what made you relocate? The school? A family member needing to move? Just wanting an adventure?

teamteachers:

(formerly TDD)

Mark your calendars!

ASK ME ALL THE THINGS. :P