I'm in DC for the weekend for a private school placement firm's conference. As a Religion major, my job options--especially in teaching--are pretty self-selective. Day Schools aren't interested, and since i haven't gotten the right papers signed, most Catholic schools won't look my way either. Unfortunately, having graduated from a conservative fundamentalist Christian high school, I don't really want to go that direction either.
But today, I fell in love. Have you ever had one of those interviews that made you want to scream, "just give me the job, I can promise you I'll be fabulous!"? That happened today. My 3:30pm interview (my last of the day) was with an all-girls, 4-12, Episcopal school. For me, it was the perfect storm of teaching style, mission, gender-make up and belief.
After weeks of cover letters and luke-warm phone call responses, I struck gold today. I remembered why I wanted to be a teacher and how much I enjoy it.
This day was not only a much-needed inspiration in the often dull and exhausting life of job-searching, I was also able to hone some job-conference-attending skills, which I now share with you:
(1) Think of 2 or 3 experiences or skills you have the dovetail with their mission statement or something unique you see in the job description (I zeroed in on "interfaith" and "student-focused pedagogy"; offering my experience as a religion columnist and a tutor as examples of how fabulously I embodied their ideals).
(2) Do not underestimate the power of closing your eyes and leaning your head back for 10 minutes (i found a great seat near the bathrooms that allowed for un-observed snoozing).
Job Conferences
Food for Thought
I read an article by Dr. Sears that said that bananas are excellent brain-food. They enrich the brain with nutrition required for brain stimulation and growth.
So, here's a favorite recipe for a favorite food: banana pudding! It's easy enough for those busy with careers to make in a flash, and convenient enough for college students living the dorm life to throw together for friends.
Take a break from studying and eat your bananas!
Uncooked Banana Pudding
Submitted on www.allrecipes.com by Leanne
Ingredients:
8 ounces of sour cream
1 (8 ounce) container of frozen whipped topping (i.e., CoolWhip), thawed
1 (5 ounce) package of instant vanilla pudding mix
2 cups whole milk
1 (16 ounce) package of vanilla wafers
4 ripe bananas, peeled and sliced
Directions:
1. In a large bowl combine sour cream, whipped topping, pudding mix and milk. Stir well.
2. Once combined, fold in the bananas.
3. In the bottom of a bowl (preferably glass) place a layer of vanilla wafers. Pour some of the pudding mixture on top. Top with wafers and repeat the layering process until all of the pudding mixture is used.
4. Top with whole or crushed vanilla wafers.
5. Refrigerate until served. Enjoy!
Fire Drills, Tornado Drills... Now Intruder Drills...
An article in the New York Times today exposes a sad sign of the times. Teachers are now being trained in lock-down drills, in procedures to bus kids home in the middle of the day, and even how to respond to media who could flock to the school in the event of an.... event.
Q & A
Question: I am considering a career in school counseling but I am having trouble finding programs in my area. How do I find them and determine which is the best for me?
- Kasey of Hull, Massachusetts
Answer: School counselors usually have to complete a graduate (or master’s) program in order to become certified to start working. These standards vary from state to state, with California among the most lenient, requiring only an undergraduate’s degree. You can check on your state’s guidelines here.
National associations also help to keep standards high by requiring that all counselors belonging to them (which include a great percentage of those currently employed) hold master’s degrees and a minimum number of logged hours of personal experience or apprenticeship. Some of the most revered are American School Counselor Association, National Board for School Counselors, and the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP).
CACREP has a list of campuses with counseling programs that have earned accreditation, some of which even include online and distance-learning formats. Check out that list of programs here. Be sure to visit the website for programs that have lost accredited standing. If you have some time before beginning your degree, check out the list of programs currently vying for accreditation.
Sometimes the best knowledge comes from someone already employed in the field. Contact a school and ask to speak to the guidance counselor. You will probably find that they are more than willing to help. That’s the kind it takes for the job!
Best of luck!
Think I’ve missed something that could help Kasey? Share your knowledge. Post a comment.
Inspiration
In the spirit of senioritis (from which i am suffering mightily), I thought my readers would appreciate a few film suggestions that might just inspire you enough to writer a cover letter for one of your teaching opportunities after the end titles... or make another bag of popcorn and pop in another...
(1) Freedom Writers (McDreamy--you can't go wrong)
(2) Matilda
(3) School of Rock
(4) Dead Poet's Society
(5) Mr. Holland's Opus
(6) Mona Lisa Smile
(7) Sister Act 2
My list makes me realize that music teachers are disproportionately represented. Anyone have good films for physics/science/math teachers?
It’s Easy Bein’ Green: The Environmentally-Friendly Classroom
In the spirit of St. Patty’s Day let’s talk green. Share these tips with fellow teachers and you’ll be blessed with the gift of insightful gab, without even having to kiss the blarney stone!
- Get out!
-Leave the classroom and get today’s “indoor generation” outside!
-Take students outside for more than just experiments that apply to natural science courses. Consider taking your students outside for reading time, stretching exercises and more.
-Always take advantage of pleasant weather by opening windows to let fresh air in.
-Grow some creative energy: reawaken the senses by inviting students to turn their desks to face windows. They will see the sun, trees or lawns instead of concrete walls.
- Bring the outdoors in…
-Decorate your classrooms with aquariums, plants, terrariums and more!
-Don’t stop there! Bring snow and icicles inside during the winter in tubs or coolers for examination.
-Research and teach your students about the early versions of tools that they may use in today’s classroom and how they were found in nature. For example, an art teacher may find it inspires students to use “natural paints” made from leaves, mud and flowers for their next creation.
- Eat green!
-So many kids these days don’t connect the food they eat with the farms that grow it. Help students to understand their local environment by teaching them about seasonal fruits, vegetables, plants and flowers. Consider sharing your favorite recipes for seasonal fruits and veggies with them or taking a field trip to a local nursery, farm or farmer’s market. They will gain a first-hand appreciation for farming and land conservation practices.
-Encourage students and parents to pack lunches in re-usable dishes instead of disposable products. For older students, help them to motivate fellow students in other classes to do the same by creating awareness bulletin boards or posters from recycled paper.
- Teach about nature…
-Help students to start a compost pile on school grounds.
-Start a gardening club for recreation or competition!
-Nearly every subject in school has been influenced by nature. Think about how you can incorporate the changing seasons or other natural elements in everything that you teach. Ask students how the weather has impacted historical events, scientific discoveries and the role it plays in the literature they read!
- Do your part!
-Allow kids to submit papers and homework in electronic formats to cut back on paper.
-Don’t mandate the research papers be accompanied by paper copies of the sources that were used. Allow electronic copies or do your own investigating from bibliographic information provided by students.
-Partner with fellow teachers to help kids cut back on overlapping supplies. For example, students can be encouraged to purchase a day planner at the beginning of the school year and teachers can offer a syllabus on a chalkboard, email or overhead projector that can be entered into the day planner instead of handing out countless paper copies.
-Encourage students to work with pencils with graphite that can be renewed instead of one-use pencils. Do you part by setting a good example.
-Reward students who come up with environmentally-friendly solutions and approaches.
Students learn best from teachers who are passionate about what they do. So remember to keep green thinking at the forefront of your classroom by always asking yourself and your students, “Is this the smartest, or greenest, way to do this?”
Traveling Job
Education, being a teacher, isn't the most glamorous job on the market--but that's not why we teach. We teach because we love children or we happen to be great communicators or we really wanted to be able to take summers off.
My latest crazy idea: Teach in Croatia.
Teaching in Croatia sounds pretty glam to me. I was fortunate enough to visit this up-and-coming country while studying abroad last summer; i fell in love with the landscape and the vibe of the seaside cities. When I realized that trips to Europe may be very very very far in the future on the salary I anticipate, I remembered that I (and YOU) have a very valuable asset: We are native English speakers.
www.eslemployment.com offers up-to-date requests for ESL teachers around the globe--you can search by country or region; this site tracks both school teaching jobs and private tutoring, from Berlitz to the upper-class Turkish family.
The awesome thing about these jobs is that you don't have to commit to a permanent move abroad, most programs are 9-24 months long--enough to get a flavor of the country and invest in the community, but you won't forget what a Big Mac tastes like!
How It All Relates
Sometimes life throws us a curveball. We face things that we just didn’t want to deal with. Maybe you start the day in perfect health, intent on the task at hand, and end up taking the proverbial nail to the finger. Perhaps someone retaliates when it is not fair. Still, maybe you suffer a loss but are spared something bigger.
Post II: Food Poisoning
Without even knowing it I learned a big lesson. I couldn’t help the girl that needed cheering up, but I knew someone that could. I helped her (and with no credit to myself, since I didn’t know that was what I was doing at the time) by turning over the problem to someone who could help and who had answers. Teaching is like that. Sometimes we don’t have all of the answers or simply aren’t the right person for the job. The best teacher will remember that she can’t solve everything herself. Bottom line: ask for help when you need to.
Post III: It’s All Fun and Games, Until It Involves a Nail Gun
We all live life differently and at varying paces. Some friends of the same age may be settled down with families, further into their careers or working on post-graduate degrees already. Like my brother-in-law in the story we don’t all get to play at the same time. He had to finish up his job and he was dedicated to it. Still, even with the best intentions, crummy things happen sometimes. While they can certainly throw us for a loop they shouldn’t ever knock us off course. We have to finish the race, no matter how bumpy the road. Bottom line: dedication and adversity are important in every part of life.
Post IV: What a Wreck
Above all, don’t forget to count your blessings when things seem their worse. Sometimes we loose a job, fail a class or just have a stressful day with unrelenting students. There is a silver lining. Sometimes you just have to step out of the situation, get out of the car, and look at the bigger picture to find it. Bottom line: we are bigger than our troubles, so count your blessings.
**quick interruption for a new tip!**
I hate to break up my collegue's week of stories (i'm really excited for the last installment--what on earth these have to do with education??), but I wanted to share a quick tip I stumbled upon this morning...
I'm spending my spring break in a coffee shop writing cover letters for schools all over the country. I'm a pro @ cut-and-paste. Now, I thought of another way to steal ideas (legally) to make one's job easier: THE MISSION STATEMENT. Use it as a sort of outline--make a list of the key words or concepts and mold your letter around them. Highlight experiences that align well with their buzz words.
Some recent examples have included a school that emphasized the importance of community service, a school that prides itself on adjusting curriculum to each student's needs, and a school that makes leadership "an integral part" of each student's experience. Most schools might be the same in execution, but if they realize you've taken the time to really learn about what drives their education, you'll be worth that second look.
Part IV: What A Wreck
Driving to meet some friends for dinner, I saw a horrible wreck. It’s one of those things that maybe you see a half-dozen times in your life and it never gets any more familiar.
A garbage truck ran a red light smashing into the side of a Jeep Grand Cherokee.
The Jeep was demolished from behind the driver’s door. It looked as if a giant hand had picked up a toy made of Silly Putty and twisted it at its center. The back half of the vehicle was so distorted that it was completely unrecognizable.
Outside of the car sat a woman on the ground. She was weeping. The sight of her crying so hard made my stomach turn. My first thoughts went to whom and how many were in the back seat.
Her tears, though, were for who was not in the back seat – her children. She was so relieved that she hadn’t picked them up yet. So overjoyed, looking at her totaled car, that she was spared the horror of their certain deaths had it been ten minutes later, that she couldn’t contain her emotions.
Watching her over the next few minutes, it was apparent that the car, which was beautiful and at most two years old, meant nothing to her as she considered again and again in her mind the alternative to the situation. If the garbage truck ran the light just three seconds earlier, she would be under its front wheels. Three seconds later, she would have avoided it altogether. Ten minutes later, it would have claimed her offspring. The car, the only thing injured in the whole event, had absolutely no value to her at this moment. She only thought of what mattered most.
Check Out Thursday’s Post for…
Part V: It’s All Relative (How These Events Really Relate to Education)
Part III: It's All Fun and Games, Until It Involves a Nail Gun
Note: This is a gross story. You’ve been warned.
A group of my family and friends gathered, while my brother-in-law finished up the rough-framing of a room in a basement.
We were all making up for lost time, eating pizza and laughing so loudly that our voices boomed in the bare, underground room. My brother-in-law tried to join in the fun, but had to concentrate on quickly finishing up his work so that he could join us. As he measured, cut and nailed, we reminisced.
Suddenly, we heard a groan. It was one of those sounds that one instantly recognizes.
It wasn’t a scream. It wasn’t a cry. It was subtle and quiet, but as loud to the human ear as a jackhammer. The groan was common and instinctually we all knew what it meant.
Pain – absolute and deep – pain.
Never have heads turned so quickly in one direction.
Standing there, leaning against the last board that he’d nailed in place, my brother-in-law’s normally deep-olive-complexioned face was ghastly empty and pale. Glancing over, we could see that his pinky finger was stuck to the same board, by a nail from the pneumatic nail gun that hung in his other hand. A little trickle of blood slowly spilt down over his knuckle and made its way to his elbow, falling off onto the concrete floor before it reached its destination.
Most amazingly, the nail didn’t go through his finger. It actually ricocheted off a knot in the board and came out the side to find his fingernail. Punching a hole the size of a rough nail through the cuticle and flesh of his pinky finger, the nail did little more than hang his finger on the board, not actually holding it with any permanence.
It was within the same hour that he returned to work, finishing what he had started. The basement framing was completed with that same afternoon. His finger, though it remained sore and bled for quite a while, has already begun to heal quite well, though the fingernail will be forever damaged.
Check Out Wednesday’s Post for…
Part IV: What A Wreck
Check Out Thursday’s Post for…
Part V: It’s All Relative (How These Events Really Relate to Education)
Part II – Food Poisoning
Part II – Food Poisoning
I tried to do something nice this week. I went to the store to pick up balloons and a card for someone in my life that was feeling a little down. I pulled into the parking lot of the strip mall with a smile on my face, knowing how happy my little good deed was going to make someone else. I parked my car and opened the driver’s side door only to blurt out in total disgust, “Oh! Gross!” at what I saw on the car next to me.
Unfortunately, the owner of the vehicle was also walking up to it, just at that very moment. Whatever good deed points I had hoped to earn were taken away with that single comment overheard.
“Thanks,” the young teenage girl sarcastically remarked.
Already not in her good favor, I just went ahead and pried, “What happened?”
“Well,” she started, “I guess that I deserved it. I wasn’t a very good friend.”
I stared, not able to take my eyes off of the little white car.
“I think that can be said of both parties involved.” I observed, staring at the car.
“No, it was my fault. I was the bad friend.” She continued to tell me all about her terrible week, and the disappointing things she had done to a dear friend, standing right there in the parking lot next to her car that was now drawing stares from a number of people walking through the lot. I tried to offer some advice but felt that I hadn’t succeeded. At the end of the conversation, she thanked me and I wished her well. She began to walk into the grocery store while I headed off to the party supply store.
Inside, the clerk inquired about the car parked next to mine, saying that she could see us talking through the oversized windows that lined the front of the store. I told her that the girl was having a rough time with friends. “High school girl stuff, ya’ know? Sounds like she’s had a rough few days.” The clerk smiled sympathetically and I walked out the door, balloons in hand. I decided to head next door to the coffee shop before wrapping up my shopping trip.
Leaving the café, as I approached our vehicles, side by side, I saw three balloons floating up from the side-view mirror. I walked around the adjacent car, covered from front to back in rotting food – Spaghetti O’s, bologna, peanut butter and jelly open-faced sandwiches, French toast, ketchup, mustard, eggs, cupcakes, you name it – that were not only stinking, but had also completely froze to the vehicle. I noticed a little card attached to the balloon bouquet. “Hope your day looks brighter.” I looked up to see the clerk from the party supply store quickly stepping through the door of her store, not looking back.
********************************************************
Check Out Tuesday’s Post for…
Part III: It’s All Fun and Games, Until it Involves a Nail Gun…
Check Out Wednesday’s Post for…
Part IV: What A Wreck
Check Out Thursday’s Post for…
Part V: It’s All Relative (How These Events Really Relate to Education)
Part I: The Week
Part I – The Week
Since starting this blog, I have come to look at my world in a whole new way. Every day I take in everything that happens to me and think to myself, “Is there any possible way that I could relate this to education for my blog?” Most of the time, I try to draw parallels and fail after several absurd attempts.
This week though, so much has happened that I’d like to share it all with you. And, in the interest of your time, I’ll let you have it in installments. So, stay tuned.
Free Stuff for Teachers
There’s no such thing as a free lunch, right? But, how about a free poster detailing animal-friendly dissection alternatives?
Teachers can get all sorts of things for free, if they know where to look. Check out this website for links to free educational materials including books, posters and magazines.
Need something that isn't on the freebie list? Go here. The site iloveschools.com matches donors to teachers based upon what a good citizen is willing to donate and what a teacher needs for his or her classroom. Office Max sponsors a similar program. Details can be found at http://www.adoptaclassroom.com/. Check both programs out now. It never hurts to ask, right? So start wishing.
Many companies, like Staples, have incentive programs designed to help the purchases made by teachers add up to savings. You can earn points for your school while receiving special offers from the office supply chain. Register here.
Here’s another tip. When planning a field trip always ask if the teacher is given free admission. Often times, if you ask before your group’s arrival, the answer will be yes. Sometimes, museums, zoos and the like, will even offer a teacher free admission when they are not visiting on school business. Check with your local attractions. You may be able to head out to the zoo with friends on a summer afternoon and pay nothing.
Almost all museums have information on their website which can make planning your field trip and follow-up teaching time much easier. For example, check out the fantastic links on the website for Chicago’s Field Museum. Look up museums and galleries in your area to see if they offer such planning tools and seminars.
Know of a freebie? Please share it by commenting on this article.
Why I wanted to go to an all-boys school:
In my co-educational, private, Protestant Christian junior high school, the rumor often circulated that if a girl's parents paid twice the normal tuition, she could attend the all-boys Jesuit high school in our city, whose claim to fame was being the 4th-ranked school in the state.
Both of my brothers ended up attending St. John's Jesuit High School, but there was no comparable option academically for a girl in my particular area of the rural Midwest.
Leaving aside the obvious variable of a Jesuit education versus other private or public school options--how much did my brothers gain by graduating from a single-sex high school?
The New York Times published an article today about single-sex education systems in public schools; their effectiveness is proven not only on paper but in students' observable behavior day-to-day. This exhaustive 8-page article follows the transformation of a public junior high school in Alabama through one Dr. Sax's program for single-sex education success. His theory hinges on the biological differences in men's and women's (read: boys' and girls') brains and development. Boys don't hear as well; girls use more colors when drawing. Everything from teaching methods to classroom decor can be adjusted to better suit a particular sex. Of course there are opponents to this theory--they don't challenge the existence of difference, but the effect it should have on a school's teaching philosophy. Many fear that separating the sexes results in issues with social development and self-image.
What does this mean for educators who don't have the power to choose whether or not their classroom is single sex? It bears keeping in mind that girls and boys do learn differently--just as different personality types learn differently. Some children may be oral learners rather than visual learners, some may focus better in the afternoon than the morning. All these factors play in to what I've established (in my admittedly limited experience in the education field) as my teaching philosophy: adjust lessons to meet the student's needs.
A five-year-old girl that i tutored for a year had trouble writing from left to right--as a left-handed student, she figured she should be able to see what she was writing while she wrote. Her after-school care provider thought she had a learning disability and foisted her on me. After talking with my mom, I found that Kamrie had the same problem i did when i was 5--we lefties just don't naturally fit into the right-handed world. By using arrows and encouraging her with colored pencils and stickers (feeding her art habit), I coaxed her into conformity.
