- Last June, I was offered a job at a cluster magnet middle school in way south Chicago. It was a tiny school (30 kids per grade), and I was going to teach 6th grade reading/language arts/social studies, and language arts for 7th and 8th also. I was excited about the job, the school was excited to have me. About two months after accepting the job, I found out that the Illinois State Board of Education and Chicago Public Schools would not permit me to take it because, though I was certified to teach English, I was not certified to teach middle school. The Board of Education also seemed to think I needed to complete student teaching in the state. An exchange of many letters ensued.
- A week before school started in September, I was -- though without my complete knowledge -- offered a job at a highly respected, nationally ranked public high school in Lincoln Park. No one told me when to report for the first day. No one there seemed to know who I was. I had no contract. No one knew what I was teaching, and by the time they did decide (the day before students started), they didn't realize I had no background to teach drama. I was assigned to seven classroom over seven periods of the day and had a department chair from hell. I resigned my position after the first teaching day. I don't know if I officially could quit, because I'm not sure at that point if I'd officially been hired.
- I reinquired into a position I'd applied to in June. It was a job running a tutoring program at a church a block from our apartment. It paid pretty well. It seemed exciting. No one ever seemed to return my phone calls, and they didn't finally offer the position to anyone until October.
- I nannied for about five months. It was an okay experience, but I was glad when it was over.
- I've been working full-time as a part-time employee for a test prep company since around March. I really like the company and the people I work with, though they're often very disorganized. The drawbacks, aside from the non-salaried aspect, are that I teach evenings and weekends, which are about the only time Wes is ever free, and I spend a lot of time each day running from one place to another to meet tutoring students (who are forever canceling at the last minute) and teach classes.
- This spring, I applied to three teaching jobs -- two for middle school positions at well-respected private schools, and one for a college counselor position at an all-girls charter school.
- I interviewed at one of the private schools, was invited back for a second all-day interview, and felt it went okay -- no strong indication either way. Then I heard nothing -- absolutely nothing. I even emailed the head of the middle school three weeks later to say I was still very interested, still very eager, and could he just let me know where they were in the process. Two months -- EIGHT WEEKS -- after the all-day interview, the school sent a letter to let me know they had offered the job to someone else. Shocker!
- I interviewed at the other private school. The woman I interviewed with seemed terribly interested and said they'd definitely be in touch for a second interview. Never heard a thing. Never followed up.
So finally I interviewed for the college counselor position about three or four weeks ago. But when I got in for the interview, the co-director of the school mentioned they had a humanities position available that I'd fit really well. Was I interested? Well, sure. So I developed a unit for them to look over, emailed letters of recommendations and existing materials I'd developed. I went in for a second interview and was told I'd hear by Tuesday. On Thursday, yesterday, the other co-director called me to see if I could come in again today. She'd been busy with end-of-the-year stuff when I was there previously, so we'd had little time to talk. We had a nice discussion, and she offered me the job. I'm elated over the position. It's a lot of work, but as Wes pointed out, it no more than I was doing before, and now I have colleagues that work just as hard and with the same goals in mind.
All told, I think I've probably applied for 25-30 jobs and sent out an additional 25-30 packets of teaching portfolios since we found out we were coming to Chicago last June. And now, finally, I have a job. I don't write about my work on the blog because it's bad form and in my case would break student's privacy rights. But I just wanted to share that I have a job and that it seems great. It's all all-girls charter school here in Chicago, about 5 years old, and houses 325 7-12 graders. Their goal is to get the girls to college. And they do!
For now, I'm going to look over the materials I got today, try to process all that has to happen in the next six weeks as I prepare for school, and take my husband out for dinner. I just got a big raise!
