yesterday was the big education expo job fair spectacular, and it was simultaneously chill and intense. the event itself had been crazy built up, to the point that all of us were pretty nervy about it. i agonized about little details on my resume, cover letter, teaching philosophy, etc etc etc. i got my fancy online portfolio (complete with those aforementioned documents, a picture of myself, and some lesson plans i have created) all good to go, got the outfit picked out, and went to bed at a reasonable hour. upon arrival i was immediately blown away by the sheer amount of people squeezed into the building, each district with their own table set up science fair style to entice you to come talk with them. add to that the dozens upon dozens of students and young professionals dressed in their classiest outfits trolling the halls looking for job opportunities, and we were probably a fire hazard. so the initial impression was pretty nuts. however, walk up to any of the tables and, though the feel was decidedly varied depending on the district, everyone was generally welcoming and appeared glad to talk with you. i had emailed the locations i was most interested in ahead of time, with my resume attached, and had only heard back from one (and they just said "come to our booth to sign up for an interview!"), but when i arrived at the tables basically all of them had my resume printed and ready - some even recognized my name! i got my interviews lined up and went on my way to eat lunch/panic about interviewing.
the interviews went surprisingly smoothly. it was a little crazy - you get a half-hour time block, and while some places used up to the last five minutes, others had you in and out in 15. sounds like a lot, but it goes FAST. i, like a super nerd, had a binder with extra resumes (good idea) and print-outs of some lesson plans i had done (also good idea) so i was able to provide extra resume copies to those who needed/lost mine, and could show them things that i had done in the class. you sit across the table from the interviewer and they will likely have a list of questions that they write notes on as you answer. smile, be friendly, and have questions prepared to ask them. every single one asked "do you have any questions for me?" BAD IDEA to say "nope." smile, shake hands, say thank you, and get out of there :)
the interviews i had were all very encouraging (yay!); now all i have to do is complete about a gagillion emails/forms/online applications. oh boy.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Monday, March 14, 2011
how to deal with bullies
this is as much for teaching kids as for teaching us teachers because sometimes, even grown ups can be bullies. this i am discovering being a student teacher. a fairly small, blondish, young-looking student teacher. easy target.
recently, i had an interaction with the family member of one of my kiddos in which i got yelled at. my clinical instructor (ie - the legit gets-paid-for-it teacher in the classroom) was out for the week and i was left as acting head teacher in charge. meaning: if there is a problem, i have to deal with it. and i did. when the family member came in angry, we went out in the hall to talk about it. shockingly, i managed to stay calm and generally eloquent. i sent this person in the direction of someone more equipped to answer the question and went back in the room, shaking in my boots a bit, but also pretty stoked that i hadn't broken down and cried or something. the rest of the day went really well.
now the trick is, how to progress? what if something like this happens again? myguess fear is that it is going to. for now, student teachers: the moral of the story is to keep calm. teach the kids that, remind yourself that. and maybe stash away some security chocolate for after :)
recently, i had an interaction with the family member of one of my kiddos in which i got yelled at. my clinical instructor (ie - the legit gets-paid-for-it teacher in the classroom) was out for the week and i was left as acting head teacher in charge. meaning: if there is a problem, i have to deal with it. and i did. when the family member came in angry, we went out in the hall to talk about it. shockingly, i managed to stay calm and generally eloquent. i sent this person in the direction of someone more equipped to answer the question and went back in the room, shaking in my boots a bit, but also pretty stoked that i hadn't broken down and cried or something. the rest of the day went really well.
now the trick is, how to progress? what if something like this happens again? my
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
i like your ear, miss teacher!
today has been a tricky day - the weather is icky, and the children are touchy, restless, and lethargic. they also struggled to lay down for naps (as i am typing this, i have one such student perched on my lap!) however, the problem that i have been noticing for the past couple of days is a strange thing to complain about: compliments. my children love me and each other so much they feel the need to let everyone know about it. it is the sweetest thing to see a child walk into a classroom and have his/her peers say "hey, i love your shirt! i love your pants!" and i can't deny it totally brightens my day when a kid says they think my hair is beautiful or that my shoes are pretty. one little girl today saw i had a different water bottle than the day before and loudly cheered "you got a different water bottle, miss teacher! yay! it's new! yay!" totally great. so i absolutely do not want to discourage them from telling their teachers and friends that they appreciate them. the problem is when to do this.
for instance, today during morning circle (when i am talking and they should be listening) one of the children popped up and said "that is a really nice "4," miss teacher" (regarding what i had just written on the board). this spurred a string of 6-7 compliments from the other students, telling me they liked the other numbers and letters i had written, that they liked the shirt i was wearing, that they liked the braids the girl next to them had in their hair, etc. they compliment anything they can think of (yes, even "i like your ear"). i had to remind them that, lovely as it is to tell people you like things about them, circle time is not the right time to do this. we discussed other times that it would be nice to compliment their friends. they all nodded and smiled.
not a full minute later, one of them just had to tell me that they liked my headband. oh well, better that than being mean to each other?
for instance, today during morning circle (when i am talking and they should be listening) one of the children popped up and said "that is a really nice "4," miss teacher" (regarding what i had just written on the board). this spurred a string of 6-7 compliments from the other students, telling me they liked the other numbers and letters i had written, that they liked the shirt i was wearing, that they liked the braids the girl next to them had in their hair, etc. they compliment anything they can think of (yes, even "i like your ear"). i had to remind them that, lovely as it is to tell people you like things about them, circle time is not the right time to do this. we discussed other times that it would be nice to compliment their friends. they all nodded and smiled.
not a full minute later, one of them just had to tell me that they liked my headband. oh well, better that than being mean to each other?
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
phew!
this has been a crazy, crazy day. it all started yesterday when i discovered that our fantastic music teacher, who is great with my four-year-olds, said he wouldn't be in today. he asked if i'd rather entrust my kids to a sub who likely doesn't know what they are doing and/or how to work with little guys and/or how to do anything musical, or would i prefer to keep them in the room. i opted for the latter choice. being fairly musical, i figured i could run my own music lesson (plus, bonus! a couple mondays ago i had to sit through a whole day of how to run a music lesson!). then i found out that the other homeroom teacher would be out in the morning for an appointment, so i would be running morning circle time alone. womp womp. but i was ready. so ready.
i went straight home and practiced "puff the magic dragon" on my guitar to play it with the kids (they do that song in music, and know basically all of the words), and looked over the rhyme they were going to learn in morning circle. i was pumped. i got my stuff packed up and ready to roll, then hit the sack.
thank GOODNESS i was so prepared. and that the sun shines bright in my bedroom. and i'm naturally an early riser. because this fine morning, my alarm didn't go off. i woke up lazily, checked out my clock, saw it was 7:32 am, and my thought process went something like this: huh, really? 7:32? is it a saturday? it's going to be so nice today. should i go back to bed? get up? wasn't i going to do something? OH EXPLETIVE IT'S WEDNESDAY AND I SHOULD ALREADY BE AT SCHOOL! EXPLETIVE EXPLETIVE EXPLETIVE!
so i bolted out of bed, threw on whatever pants were closest to my hand, the shoes that were on the floor, the first clean shirt i could find, pulled a container of some kind of leftovers out of my fridge, threw my stuff in my bag, ran back to grab my guitar, and was out the door and at the school by 7:46.
i was still in "yikes yikes yikes why didn't i think to set my alarm i think i'm still tired but also totally jazzed about today" mode by the time morning circle came along, and (relief!) it went totally well! the kids listened, they enjoyed the rhyme, and during music they did exactly what i asked them to do. and seemed to have some fun. and pretty much rocked "puff the magic dragon." it was amazing.
future student teachers - the moral of this story is ALWAYS PLAN AHEAD. because you, too, may wake up late on a day where you are the only teacher around with 19 kids waiting to hear what you have in store for them.
i went straight home and practiced "puff the magic dragon" on my guitar to play it with the kids (they do that song in music, and know basically all of the words), and looked over the rhyme they were going to learn in morning circle. i was pumped. i got my stuff packed up and ready to roll, then hit the sack.
thank GOODNESS i was so prepared. and that the sun shines bright in my bedroom. and i'm naturally an early riser. because this fine morning, my alarm didn't go off. i woke up lazily, checked out my clock, saw it was 7:32 am, and my thought process went something like this: huh, really? 7:32? is it a saturday? it's going to be so nice today. should i go back to bed? get up? wasn't i going to do something? OH EXPLETIVE IT'S WEDNESDAY AND I SHOULD ALREADY BE AT SCHOOL! EXPLETIVE EXPLETIVE EXPLETIVE!
so i bolted out of bed, threw on whatever pants were closest to my hand, the shoes that were on the floor, the first clean shirt i could find, pulled a container of some kind of leftovers out of my fridge, threw my stuff in my bag, ran back to grab my guitar, and was out the door and at the school by 7:46.
i was still in "yikes yikes yikes why didn't i think to set my alarm i think i'm still tired but also totally jazzed about today" mode by the time morning circle came along, and (relief!) it went totally well! the kids listened, they enjoyed the rhyme, and during music they did exactly what i asked them to do. and seemed to have some fun. and pretty much rocked "puff the magic dragon." it was amazing.
future student teachers - the moral of this story is ALWAYS PLAN AHEAD. because you, too, may wake up late on a day where you are the only teacher around with 19 kids waiting to hear what you have in store for them.
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