Teachers/Educators Thread • Page 21

College Thread • forum.chorus.fm

 

How did I miss this! Thank you

 

The first week and a half went so smoothly.

And then this week happened. An impromptu wrestling match, which is basically, as close as my school would get to a real fight, food being thrown around the lunchroom, kid farting repeatedly in acting class to the point where the class implodes. Just so much stupid shit that’s a reflection of COVID and how the kids don’t have the foundation of decorum and norms because things have been so haywire the past few years. So, so draining to deal with. Thank god for the long weekend - hopefully the new year brings a swift adjustment!

 

Yay for the 3 day weekend

 

Do you guys also get a 3 dayer for Rosh Hashanah?

 

Hell yeah. And then next Wednesday for Yom Kippur too

 

I’ve had two students who dropped out reach out to me this week. One who dropped out in 2018 and one who dropped out this summer. Both were a bummer, but it felt really good to have them express their “thanks”… in so many words. Both were kids with shitty reputations in the school who I grew to love having in class. Smartass, angry, conflicted kids who would express their opinions on a daily basis that I guess couldn’t in other classes. Both are going for unions that will pay them a ton more than I get.

Anyway, if you’re struggling and have kids who drop out, just know that you could be the one teacher that cared about them and set them up for success outside of the fucked up school system.

 

One of my students with a 504 has a mom that is constantly emailing and asking the same questions, has already demanded two 504 meetings tthis year, and the amount of attention and accommodations she wants for her kid scream IEP over 504 for me. And she really has some weird ass requests for how she wants her son dealt with.

 

Making groups for group projects is so fun and interesting and also excruciating (depending on the class and behavioral issues). But I'm putting my groups together now and trying to find the right balance of academic ability and social groups and mixing it up by sex/race/etc is like a puzzle trying to solve. There's groups I want to mix up but at the same time don't think it's a good fit. Like for example I've got 4 boys in this class that I would say are probably my so called "nerds", aka they're just all really fucking smart and also not super social. 3 of them are REALLY quiet actually. so I put those 4 together because I think they'd all be comfortable with each other and get along well. But then there's my smart soccer bro jock type boys and I'm tempted to put two of them with two of the aforementioned kids, but I worry about the strong type a personalities of the smart soccer boys overpowering and intimidating the other two boys and etc. And then I have my mixed gender groups and I'm like trying to figure out who is and isn't comfortable working with boys or girls and etc. Like I'm tempted to put some of my socially awkward boys and girls in mixed gender groups since it'll get them to talk to people they might not otherwise and etc. And of course the ever tempting ability to play matchmaker with the kids you know totally like each other but don't admit it lol. And of course doing all of this while also trying to keep some friends groups together so they don't feel totally lost and awkward.

And as usual I have that one wildcard group where I couldn't fit them all in somewhere else so they're my hodgepodge group that I think will gel well when forced to work together. I actually have two groups like that because one kid in that class has some anxiety issues so I asked him who he was comfortable with and he gave me a name so I had to shift some things around and now his group feels a bit random but I think it'll work.

It's much harder doing this with the lower level classes where the behavioral issues are much more severe and the work ethic is non-existent for so many of them (not to mention the frequent absences).

 

Hey everyone! I am in my final semester and I've been casting a fairly wide net with my job applications. I attended a career fair where I was interviewed by a pair of vice principals. This lead to an interview with the principal and the literacy coordinator. Now I have an interview at the same school with members of the English department. This is a good sign, right? Does anyone have experience/advice for a third interview? This is my first time applying for a professional job, so this interview process is a bit new to me.

 

Third interview? They already like you. Work within yourself, your strengths. Not an English teacher, so I'll just add in I'm rooting for you!

 

That's a pretty intense interview process! I suck at interviewing, but I'd say have a sample lesson ready to go somewhere down the line. If they're putting you through that many rounds, I'd assume they'd want to see how you'd do with a sample class at some point.

Philly and the surrounding burbs (that used to be incredibly competitive) are so desperate for teachers that I've heard of people getting jobs after a phone interview in the past few months.

 

lol right! My principal needs a Special Education Teacher at a pretty decent suburban school outside philly. I've tried to find a few people but she's basically told me, I need someone, anyone, find me anyone! Position's still open.

 

Is this a position in a public school?

 

Yeah, Austin ISD is hiring pretty much anyone with a clean background and a pulse right now.

 

Yes.

 

I'd never think it's a bad thing to move to another round of an interview process...that just seems overly long.

Hope you get it.

 

Yeah we all knew the teacher shortage was coming, but the pandemic realllllllly accelerated it.

 

I’ve got a number of positions open for high school in Baltimore. Could potentially include housing. Send a dm if you might be good!

programming/digital tech
Chemistry
Bio
Physics
Math
Art

Edit: I should note most of these are a result of internal promotions/movement - people aren’t jumping ship!

 

College professor here. Pretty excited summers here even tho I still have to work a bit.

 

This weekend I went for a bicycle ride with some alumni. I don’t know if cycling with alumni makes me more Professor Slughorn from Harry Potter or Professor Yurabay from I Think You Should Leave, but either way.

 

It's a win, every time! Any time you've had enough of an impact on students that they want to stay in touch and even hang out, it says you did your job really, really well.

 

Not going to lie. I get a little teary eyed every graduation. And few things make me happier than when alumni send me projects and final products they’ve done years later. Hell I’m wearing a T-shirt right now that one of my alumni from 5 years ago made and left in my pourch Saturday night with a bag full of stuff they’ve made since graduating.

 

Last day tomorrow, whew. Students were done last Friday. A much better year for me than last year overall. And I got my 2nd shout out in 3 years from a graduation speech. Gonna miss this class of seniors but they were my laziest bunch so far. My freshmen continue to be annoying but fun, much better/calmer group this year compared to last.