What? Washington jobs?

I was shocked to see that several districts in Washington have teaching jobs posted!  So far, I have found jobs on Spokane, Tacoma, Olympia, and Northshore school districts!  That is pretty amazing considering the terrible budget situations that the state is facing in relation to education.  But that is part of this surprise in the limbo between college and career - you never know when jobs will come up, especially this year!

The Job Search

The job search in on in full force!  I am looking nationwide to find a potential job for next year and the future.  Though there are quite a few jobs posted so far that I have applied for, I haven't got any calls or interviews from my work.  It is slightly discouraging to think that I am putting in a lot of time and effort into these applications, and yet, they are not yielding anything so far.  However, I do know that this is all part of the process of finding a teaching job.  The districts don't just let anyone in (which is great, don't get me wrong!) but with so many teachers out of a job at this point in life, it makes a novice teacher, like myself, have a hard time competing.  

I am holding out though that there is that job out there... that one that is my dream job and the perfect fit socially and financially for me.  It may take some time to find and it may (and likely will be) a struggle to find it but it is out there and I will find it when it is the perfect time.  The waiting is the hard part!  :)  

Wow...

Well time definitely soared right past me.  Graduation was great... the weather was perfect and the ceremony was good and quick (which was nice since the gym was getting pretty hot with all of us crammed in there :) ).  Then there was our last week at school at LU.  It went so fast it was hard to keep track of everything.  On the last day I was doing great.  The kids gave me a ton of gifts which was so sweet of them.  Then it was time for them to leave and I was bombarded with hugs which, again, was so sweet.  Then, I look up and one of my students was crying because she was sad to leave me.  Well at that point, there wasn't any hope for me anymore.  :)  I started tearing up with the kids!  I had four little girls and one little boy so upset that I was leaving and not going to be back next year.  It was touching though that they thought so much of me as their teacher that they were so visibly upset that I wasn't going to be a part of their schooling.  Which is very true.  There is a slim chance that I will be in their lives anymore.  The district is probably going to be backfilling jobs with those people who got RIFs (which is absolutely the most fair thing to do) and jobs in Washington aren't plentiful.  

So now that school is out the job hunt is on!  I have applied to work in some districts in Texas in the greater Dallas area.  I am going to put in my applications for some jobs in Maryland in Rockville (an area about 30 minutes from Washington DC) this weekend.  I have been doing a lot of research on these schools there and it would be an amazing experience to work over there.  The schools serve students from 161 countries in the world and with DC, New York, Pennsylvania, etc. so close to the schools it is so easy to take amazing field trips with the kids.  PLUS, they have a TON of intermediate jobs open right now so that is always a plus too.  :)  I am just going to keep my eye out for open positions that interest me in the country since I am not tied down to one area in particular.  The only bad thing is the waiting game that I have to play now with my applications.  I know that I have submitted the materials that I need to, so not knowing if people are looking and not interested, or not looking yet is a hard process to go through.  :)  But worst case scenario I will sub for a year or so in the Skagit Valley area and wait until something comes up.

My perfect job is out there and waiting for me.  It might not be evident right away but I know it is there and I will find it.  I just have to keep trying, be positive, and enjoy the journey that I have to take in life to find that job.  There are few things that I am certain of these days, but one thing I know is that everything will work out.  

The Big Day

Tomorrow is my graduation day.... wow has life really snuck up on me!

I graduate from WWU with my Bachelor's at 12:30 pm.  My goodness.  I can't believe that five years has gone by with my college education and now I am thrown out into the real world.  The job search is on in full force and I am looking nationwide.  I am excited for the adventure of life ahead of me and eager to see what is going to be my next step in life.

I will post pictures of the graduation tomorrow!  :)

The final two weeks

This quarter has absolutely flown by.  I cannot already believe that we are in the final two weeks of school already.  This week will be eventful though.  Thursday is the big field trip to the zoo which means and hour and a half bus ride!  :)  I am really looking forward to it though because I haven't been to the zoo in many many years so it will be fun to go back.  Also, some of my extended family is coming into town throughout the week because on Saturday (June 13th) I am graduating from college.  That is absolutely exciting, terrifying and just plain weird all at the same time.  

At least this week will hopefully have some more positive events happen than last week.  On Thursday as I was going home from LU I ended up in a collision that will likely total out my car.  Pretty scary but luckily everyone was fine.  It again makes me realize how much your personal life outside of school affects life at school.  Because my car was smashed, I was unable to get to LU to teach on Friday.  Thankfully Jnet was there to teach for me but something that I didn't even think about before that day was my transportation to school each day.  I take for granted the fact that I have a car that gets me to work, on time, every day.  Some of the students in my class are not so fortunate.  Their transportation is relying on other people to get them to school, hopefully on time, but if not, it is out of their control completely.  It is so weird to me how little things in life (though the crash wasn't exactly a little thing) can really jolt things into perspective.  

Wow!

I cannot believe it is already almost June!  I have been caught up in all of the end of the year preparation activities that I have totally neglected the blog!  

The job search is on!  I am looking at districts in Texas since the job market in Washington is bleak, to say the least.  I am just waiting on those last letters of rec to come in so I can officially submit my application and then I will cross my fingers and hope for the best.  That is the one thing about being in the teaching profession is the application process being so extensive.  I appreciate that schools are trying to find good educators but it is a bit daunting as a newcomer.  :)

I am working on keeping the kids learning as the weather gets nicer and the summer vacation creeps ever closer.  The one thing that is coming out right now is an increase in behavior issues that I have been dealing with.  Some of the students are starting to get nervous about the prospect of being in third grade next year and are deciding that pushing the limits and acting out are the ways to handle those anxious nerves.  As this starts to happen, I have been thinking ahead to next year when I will potentially have my own classroom and will have to deal with a similar set of issues (especially if I teach at 5th grade where students will transition to middle school).  But that also makes me nervous to have my own classroom in terms of a management system to use.  It is unlikely I will have MYD to fall back on again, since it doesn't seem like many schools use that program, so I will have to forge a new path for myself with classroom management.  This is one of the scariest things for me as a new teacher!  :)  I have begun my research on different management techniques and am excited but very nervous to have to try them out on a fresh group of kids!  :)

Overall things have been going fairly well though.  This coming Wednesday is my final evaluation date so I am officially done with observations and I graduate in 13 days.  WOW is life moving quickly.  A lot of major life changes happening all at once!  Graduating from college, trying to find my first real job, potentially moving half way across the country and moving out on my own!  Goodness, it is going to be a time to remember.  

Another whirlwind

Wow this has been quite a week!

I spent May 2 through May 5th in the Greater Dallas and Fort Worth Area which was fantastic.  I went down to research the school districts in the area, and actually ended up getting an interview which was completely unexpected but super exciting!  I didn't come back with a job but I am sure that the area is one that I would absolutely love teaching in!  We will see how the application process goes from here on out to see where that lands me.

Wednesday and Thursday I was back at LU.  I had a student leaning back in his chair, something that we have discussed several times, and tipped too far back, slamming his head on the table behind him.  My heart stopped at that point because I wasn't sure how bad he was hurt and had to continue to manage the rest of the students since this happened in the middle of my writing instruction.  Luckily he wasn't hurt too badly, aside from a headache, so a quick visit to the nurse helped him out.  Unfortunately, he started tipping back in his chair as soon as he got back to the classroom... apparently it was not enough of a smack to the head to drill that lesson in.  

Friday the second grade team had a professional day scheduled to go and visit another school to view their literacy block in the mornings.  It was really neat to be in another school and see how another group of second graders look.  They seemed so much smaller than mine!  :)  But it was really neat to see a whole new set of classrooms.  I took SO many notes while I was there and unfortunately I forgot my camera otherwise I would have been snapping away at the classroom!  

I am excited for this coming Friday because I am going to schedule some observations in other classrooms in the building.  It will be fun to see some others that I know and how different grades operate! :)