Summer Begins
Hello! It seems like forever since I've made a real post on here, despite my best efforts to keep this blog up to date. So, here it goes...
My school year of subbing wrapped up well. I worked nearly every day in April and May as well as about a week and a half in June. I had such a great time subbing that I'm finding myself reluctant to want to go back to the classroom. ;-) But I have too much invested in my education as well as materials to be a substitute teacher for the next 20 years. Plus with all the budget cuts across the state, school districts are privatizing their subs (as in, contracting with an outside company who hires, provides and officially employs the subs) and it no longer counts towards retirement years which really blows. But I was a kick-ass sub and I know I'll be busy next year if I'm still subbing.
I have had my annual At Least One Interview for the summer. There was a 1/2 time kindergarten teacher position that I interviewed for at the end of May. I wasn't thrilled about the 1/2 time status, but it was in my #2 school district so I went for it anyway. I was one of ten people selected for an interview, four of whom went on to a second interview which was teaching a lesson to the class. I think the interview went well. I don't ever remember walking out of an interview thinking that I nailed it, but I did know that I didn't bomb it. It was several days before I heard back from the principal so I knew before I even heard from him that I hadn't been chosen for round two. Any time I've been called back or offered the job in the past, I've been called the same day or the next day. He said there were 90 applicants for the job, so I do congratulate myself on getting the interview.
The same school district has another job posted right now (closes today) for full time 2nd grade in the fall. Hopefully I'll get called in to interview for that. 2nd grade would be great and the school is very close to me which I also like. :-)
I posted here about creating two classes for a summer program for advanced and accelerated kids. The minimum enrollment for the class to be a "go" was 8. I checked in on my classes last week and none of mine had reached 8. I guess the classes were not as exciting as I thought they were. Too educational, perhaps. ;-) So I'm not going to be teaching either of those classes this summer.
But that's OK because I am going to be teaching summer school elsewhere! Grand Haven has a high Migrant population with Mexican families coming in to work on all the farms out here. One of the elementary schools (on the outskirts of town, near the farms) hosts a Migrant program for the summer for the children of the Migrant workers. I interviewed for that the same time as the 1/2 time kindergarten position. I finally got an e-mail from the district that I was not selected to be a preschool teacher or teacher assistant. I wrote back and asked about a K-7 teacher. I got a response back that all positions had been filled. So I planned summer with the belief that I was not going to be working. But a few days later, the program's director called me to give me some dates for the summer. I told him that I had been told I wasn't given a position. He sounded very confused and embarrassed, saying he thought I'd been given a position. He said he'd have to talk to the district office and call me back.
When I heard back from him, he said I'd been sent the e-mail in mistake. I was supposed to have been offered the position of first grade teacher. So that's what I'll be doing! It pays REALLY well, as I think most summer school jobs do in order to entice teachers to give up their summer vacation. ;-) Orientation is Thursday morning and the first day of school is Monday, June 28th. My sister taught at the Migrant program when she was in college (hers was a small college near here) and she loved it. She was totally jealous that I'm doing it. Hopefully it will go well. As excited as I've been at the idea of teaching this program, I've realized that I do indeed need to go back to the classroom. I love it too much to be a sub forever. :-)
I currently have a garage that holds all my school stuff. Some of those boxes have been in use since before I started college 10 years ago. Some have moved me and my sister between apartments. As a result, many are collapsing. I used to have my books really well organized, complete with a list on my computer of all my titles, separated into genres for my classroom library. Over the last three years as I've been without my own room, I've pulled out books from these nice boxes and then returned to whichever box was on top and had room for it. When I moved out my two classrooms last year, I took in plastic storage totes and threw all my things into them, regardless of what it was. So I knew they were a disaster. My summer project for this year has been to re-organize my classroom/garage. Cardboard boxes replaced with plastic, books re-organized, totes sorted. I thought I'd have the whole summer to work on this. I still do, but since I'm teaching summer school. it cuts into my working time. So I've been going nuts the last two weeks to get as much done on it now as I can before the summer program starts.
I've made really good progress on everything. I've spent about $200 on plastic storage totes to aid in long-term storage. I've been through all my books, checking them off my list as I found them. It turns out I'm missing about 20 which annoys me because I thought I'd checked pretty well for them before I moved out of my classrooms. I also have been through all my other materials and I think I'm missing some of those, too. ARGH!! Oh well, it was my choice to take my own things into other people's classrooms. My mom retired the year before last and she passed on a lot of her stuff to me. I didn't even open any of them until today. Luckily, she insisted we organize them at the time we packed them up. I have to call her tomorrow to thank her for that. ;-) So I've gotten through things quickly, but I'm SOOO tired of working out there. Ugh.
I had a two class semester this spring. It was A TON of reading. I was so glad I was working part time when I did that. I don't know how anyone manages to do two classes and work full time. I'm not taking any classes this summer so I will enjoy my break from that. I take my last class in the fall and then I will begin working on my thesis.
Thanks for the earlier tip to take my pre-natal vitamins at night if that would help me remember them. I switched to that and it's definitely been working. :-)
Hope you're all having a good start to the summer!
My school year of subbing wrapped up well. I worked nearly every day in April and May as well as about a week and a half in June. I had such a great time subbing that I'm finding myself reluctant to want to go back to the classroom. ;-) But I have too much invested in my education as well as materials to be a substitute teacher for the next 20 years. Plus with all the budget cuts across the state, school districts are privatizing their subs (as in, contracting with an outside company who hires, provides and officially employs the subs) and it no longer counts towards retirement years which really blows. But I was a kick-ass sub and I know I'll be busy next year if I'm still subbing.
I have had my annual At Least One Interview for the summer. There was a 1/2 time kindergarten teacher position that I interviewed for at the end of May. I wasn't thrilled about the 1/2 time status, but it was in my #2 school district so I went for it anyway. I was one of ten people selected for an interview, four of whom went on to a second interview which was teaching a lesson to the class. I think the interview went well. I don't ever remember walking out of an interview thinking that I nailed it, but I did know that I didn't bomb it. It was several days before I heard back from the principal so I knew before I even heard from him that I hadn't been chosen for round two. Any time I've been called back or offered the job in the past, I've been called the same day or the next day. He said there were 90 applicants for the job, so I do congratulate myself on getting the interview.
The same school district has another job posted right now (closes today) for full time 2nd grade in the fall. Hopefully I'll get called in to interview for that. 2nd grade would be great and the school is very close to me which I also like. :-)
I posted here about creating two classes for a summer program for advanced and accelerated kids. The minimum enrollment for the class to be a "go" was 8. I checked in on my classes last week and none of mine had reached 8. I guess the classes were not as exciting as I thought they were. Too educational, perhaps. ;-) So I'm not going to be teaching either of those classes this summer.
But that's OK because I am going to be teaching summer school elsewhere! Grand Haven has a high Migrant population with Mexican families coming in to work on all the farms out here. One of the elementary schools (on the outskirts of town, near the farms) hosts a Migrant program for the summer for the children of the Migrant workers. I interviewed for that the same time as the 1/2 time kindergarten position. I finally got an e-mail from the district that I was not selected to be a preschool teacher or teacher assistant. I wrote back and asked about a K-7 teacher. I got a response back that all positions had been filled. So I planned summer with the belief that I was not going to be working. But a few days later, the program's director called me to give me some dates for the summer. I told him that I had been told I wasn't given a position. He sounded very confused and embarrassed, saying he thought I'd been given a position. He said he'd have to talk to the district office and call me back.
When I heard back from him, he said I'd been sent the e-mail in mistake. I was supposed to have been offered the position of first grade teacher. So that's what I'll be doing! It pays REALLY well, as I think most summer school jobs do in order to entice teachers to give up their summer vacation. ;-) Orientation is Thursday morning and the first day of school is Monday, June 28th. My sister taught at the Migrant program when she was in college (hers was a small college near here) and she loved it. She was totally jealous that I'm doing it. Hopefully it will go well. As excited as I've been at the idea of teaching this program, I've realized that I do indeed need to go back to the classroom. I love it too much to be a sub forever. :-)
I currently have a garage that holds all my school stuff. Some of those boxes have been in use since before I started college 10 years ago. Some have moved me and my sister between apartments. As a result, many are collapsing. I used to have my books really well organized, complete with a list on my computer of all my titles, separated into genres for my classroom library. Over the last three years as I've been without my own room, I've pulled out books from these nice boxes and then returned to whichever box was on top and had room for it. When I moved out my two classrooms last year, I took in plastic storage totes and threw all my things into them, regardless of what it was. So I knew they were a disaster. My summer project for this year has been to re-organize my classroom/garage. Cardboard boxes replaced with plastic, books re-organized, totes sorted. I thought I'd have the whole summer to work on this. I still do, but since I'm teaching summer school. it cuts into my working time. So I've been going nuts the last two weeks to get as much done on it now as I can before the summer program starts.
I've made really good progress on everything. I've spent about $200 on plastic storage totes to aid in long-term storage. I've been through all my books, checking them off my list as I found them. It turns out I'm missing about 20 which annoys me because I thought I'd checked pretty well for them before I moved out of my classrooms. I also have been through all my other materials and I think I'm missing some of those, too. ARGH!! Oh well, it was my choice to take my own things into other people's classrooms. My mom retired the year before last and she passed on a lot of her stuff to me. I didn't even open any of them until today. Luckily, she insisted we organize them at the time we packed them up. I have to call her tomorrow to thank her for that. ;-) So I've gotten through things quickly, but I'm SOOO tired of working out there. Ugh.
I had a two class semester this spring. It was A TON of reading. I was so glad I was working part time when I did that. I don't know how anyone manages to do two classes and work full time. I'm not taking any classes this summer so I will enjoy my break from that. I take my last class in the fall and then I will begin working on my thesis.
Thanks for the earlier tip to take my pre-natal vitamins at night if that would help me remember them. I switched to that and it's definitely been working. :-)
Hope you're all having a good start to the summer!