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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in
Teaching Community's LiveJournal:
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| Friday, May 25th, 2012 | 8:41 am
[whyintellectual]
 |
Job Opening: Private School: Delray Beach, Florida
Hi everyone. My school is currently looking for a computer and web design teacher. I am copying the info I was emailed yesterday. You can ask questions here below but if it is about the actual position please email the department Head Kim Needle. Her email is included in the message. If you want the attachments please leave your email address. If you know someone in this field feel free to send them the information as well. "Here is a little script about the job that we have open here at American Heritage School Boca/Delray for next school year. Hours about 7:50 till about 3:45 - school hours are 8:15 - 3:15. Teacher Contract/Schedule. Salary ranges depending on years of experience and degree, but typically about 36K if he/she gets credit for his/her "computer/video years of service", it will be more plus unlimited free Tuition. (k-12) Looking to hire a teacher that is motivating, innovative, creative and flexible to teach in our Computer Department next year. Definitely want someone that will consider AHS like a second home and be here long term. Classes scheduled for 2012-2013 are: 8th Grade Computers (about 22 students and usually work off of the iLife Suite) - Semester Class - attaching a rough sketch from two years ago 2 Digital Connection Classes (Photo and Video Editing using both iLife and Adobe Suites - some Final Cut knowledge would be great as well -usually about 10 - 15 students in each class) - Semester Classes E-Commerce (about 10-15 students per class) - Semester Class Web Design (H) - I am attaching a sample Sem 1 Exam - Year Long Class Film (H) - discuss Film Creation and analyze/critique movies. I have complete scope and sequence for this class as well. Looking to hire immediately for the 2012-2013 School Year. New Teacher Training would begin August 16th, 2012. Attaching Computer Department Outline. Send your resume to kim.needle@ahschool.com |
| Thursday, May 24th, 2012 | 12:02 pm
[trixiebella]
 |
Leadership
Hi all. I'm looking for some advice for next year. I'm a first year lower elementary teacher in a team of 8 mixed experience teachers. Two of them are leaving this year for other schools, including our team leader. Today, completely out of the blue, I was asked by admin to take over the job. I'm extremely flattered and excited, but I'm already getting a lot of very vocal friction from the teacher that everyone just assumed would be asked. I spoke with her and thanked her for all the help shes provided me with, etc, and she was just.....not happy. I suppose I'm just looking for advice on having this position, and maintaining a good, respectful relationship with your team, despite it all. Posted via LiveJournal app for iPhone. |
| Wednesday, May 23rd, 2012 | 9:26 pm
[xsilverblue25]
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Question about Second Interview
I had an interview yesterday, and I was called back after 3 hours to come back for a second interview. For context, I interviewed with the team I would be working with first, then met with 2 other administrators. One of the administrators called me back and asked me to come in tomorrow. I was told by her that the team wanted to see me interact with the kids and to observe how they teach. She told me that I would not be teaching a lesson, but that "they wanted to see me around the kids." Then today, I got an email from one of the teachers telling me that they wanted to talk with me in an informal setting. Since they are doing re-testing, she said we would spend part of our time together outside and that "I SHOULD FEEL FREEL TO DRESS APPROPRIATELY". Questions: 1. What, exactly, should I wear since we will be outside during the hottest part of the day? 2. What are they expecting me to do tomorrow?! 3. Is any of this a good sign or a bad sign? Thanks in advance, and I'm sorry of the long post! |
| Saturday, April 28th, 2012 | 2:53 pm
[padrejose]
 |
I teach Spanish to Native Speakers in 7/8 grade. Students have to test into the class to be part of it. ( TL;DR )Now I am making recommendations for next year and I need to say what students should be in the 8th grade class. If any students should not continue on to 8th grade Spanish I have to talk to the parents and get their okay before not allowing them in the class. Problem is, I cannot get in contact with Rodrigo's parents. I don't exactly know how to word the letter. I was thinking of explaining that maybe another encore class would be more beneficial to him, but I seriously don't know what to say and since it will be in writing I want to make sure nothing comes off wrong. Thanks for any help! :) |
| Wednesday, April 25th, 2012 | 10:28 am
[thellamaqueen]
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feeling hopeless
It's been 2 years now since I graduated with my teaching degree (certified in Secondary English and Sociology), and I am still looking for a teaching job... I went to a job fair yesterday and it was possibly the most frustrating experience of my life. I would say that about 95% of the other applicants at this job fair were fresh out of their student teaching placements, about to graduate next weekend. Each recruiter I sat down with seemed confused by the fact that I graduated a couple of years ago and was still searching for a job. One recruiter handed my resume back to me within about a minute and a half of me sitting down to talk to her (after waiting in line for 30 minutes!) Another told me that it would be extremely difficult for me to find a teaching job because it has been a year since I have worked in a school (I subbed for a year after I graduated, but it wasn't paying my bills so I'm working a non-teaching-related job right now). I guess what I'm here to say is that I'm feeling completely hopeless right now about the prospect of ever finding a teaching job. I LOVE teaching. I miss subbing and would still be doing it if the pay were better/more consistent/I didn't have a home to pay for and a family to worry about. I just don't know what to do right now. I have a good resume, I have solid letters of recommendation, I have experience subbing, teaching Saturday school, and coaching marching band. I got my degree at a school that is known in my area for producing high-quality teachers, but it seems like no matter how hard I try, it is just impossible. Does anybody have any advice? What can I change (other than quitting my job which I love and which pays my bills so that I can go back to subbing - that is just not an option) to give myself an edge? In 2 years I have only had three interviews... I must be doing something wrong. I am honestly frustrated to the point of tears over this. For what it's worth, I live in Michigan and kind of need to stay here at least for the next few years. |
| Monday, April 23rd, 2012 | 3:30 pm
[becksbooks]
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Walking in two worlds
I'm trying to create a lesson to go with Sherman Alexie's Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian for my 9th grade English class. One idea, based on something I found online, is to have students draw a picture of themselves with a line down the middle, showing the two worlds they walk in. This is based on an illustration in the book which shows a teenage boy as white and indian to illustrate the differences in the cultures. While the original drawing represents two different boys from divergent cultures, I want to have students draw something that illustrates the different aspects of their lives. Just as Junior had to switch between the world on the reservation and the world at Reardan, I want them to show how they switch between worlds. I want to give them several examples to get them started; I'm finding that I am having difficulty coming up with sample "worlds" to get them started. I know that if I am struggling, they likely will, too. Here's what I have come up with so far: Culture (Mexican/American or - as Alexie's drawing would label it - Mexican/White) Religion (religious/atheist or religion A/religion B) Personality at home/Personality at school In the class/on the field Kid (teen?)/young adult Can you think of other possibilities? I have a lot of students who are very motivated by music, so I'd like to include something musical, but I can't think of WHAT. Any suggestions are appreciated (as is feedback regarding lessons you have that worked well/flopped with this novel - it's the first time through for me, so while I'm excited, I also know that there are pitfalls in front of me!) |
| Thursday, April 19th, 2012 | 8:06 pm
[humascot97]
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Removing an item from employment history-NYS
I'm posting on behalf of my husband, who does not have an account. He's applying for a Director of Technology position at a K-12 private school. About 2 years ago, he worked in the same position for a K-8 that feeds students into the prospective employer, but did not part well from them. Knowing that the K-8 school is in somewhat constant contact with the prospective employer, is it a good idea to remove the K-8 school from his resume? The concern is that as soon as the prospective employer sees that school on the resume, that the K-8 school will be their first phone call and what they say has the potential to torpedo the prospect of his even getting an interview. Any and all advice would be appreciated. |
| Thursday, March 29th, 2012 | 12:49 pm
[amarra_jade]
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TEFL resume
Would anyone with experience teaching English abroad care to comment on my resume? I'm looking to get a job in Korea. ( My resume )I wasn't sure how much of my work experience to include since none of it involves teaching, but I thought it would be a good idea to at least list the writing jobs, and I went ahead and listed the retail jobs too so I wouldn't have two huge gaps. Should I keep those or take them out? Also, I'm registered as a substitute teacher in my local school district, but haven't actually had a chance to sub yet -- would it be okay to list that? Any comments, especially constructive criticism, would be much appreciated. |
| Wednesday, March 28th, 2012 | 8:38 pm
[ravin_raven]
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Part-time teaching
After posting last week about application woes, I have been able to scrounge up the monies for my license and I bought a nice interview outfit, just in case... Today I received an e-mail from one school, asking me to interview. Super exciting! It's at an all-girls Catholic school similar in many respects to the one I attended myself. The job is part time, which is a bit of a bummer, but it's at a great school so I can't really complain. Does anyone here teach part time (or know anyone who does)? If so, what is it like (hours, preps, etc.)? The Internet has been less than helpful so far. ETA: According to the principal, the position is teaching 2 classes one semester, 3 the next (or vice versa). Current Mood:  hopeful |
| Sunday, March 25th, 2012 | 11:09 pm
[ekaterinn]
 |
Canadian Teachers
Hi, all! A dear friend of mine is working on her Master's in Teaching at University of Toronto and needs a few Canadian teachers to respond to a quick 16-question email interview. I know we have lots of teachers from Canada in this community, so I told her I would post a request here for her. In her own words: I am looking for Canadian teachers who: value multiculturalism in teaching; prioritize issues of diversity in their literacy programs; are currently teaching or have taught units of study related to diversity and social justice. Your involvement in this study will include participating in a 16-question e-mail interview. This interview will include questions including how you select multicultural resources and the ways in which you use these resources to develop critical skills within your literacy program. Your specific responses will be kept confidential and your identity will remain anonymous, as pseudonyms will be used in any written report or presentation arising from this study. Please e-mail me if you are interested in participating, and I will send along a more detailed description of the project. I am deeply grateful to anyone willing to take the time to be part of this study. Sincerely, M. Snyder meredith.snyder@utoronto.ca |
11:18 am
[whyintellectual]
|
SpringBoard from College Board
Does anyone work with Springboard from the College Board? Our sister school is going to use the program as a trial this year and see what they think of it. I went to the website but found very little information. From the video links the classes look as if they are run similarly to what my department already does. I think they just use the same strategies and call them different names. If anyone has experience with springboard please let me know your thoughts. |
| Thursday, March 22nd, 2012 | 11:08 am
[ravin_raven]
 |
Contacting schools about applications
Like many others, I'm still looking for a teaching job. I've sent out more applications than I can remember at this point, some as far back as January. Few job postings in my area had any sort of due date, which is frustrating because I'm left wondering for weeks if I'll even get called for an interview. More often then not, schools don't contact people when they are not selected - occasionally I'll get a mass e-mail along the lines of, "We had 342 applications for one position...". I was wondering if anyone had any advice about contacting schools regarding applications. How soon is it okay to follow up? I'm a natural worrier and the anxiety is really getting to me. Thanks in advance! |
| Wednesday, March 21st, 2012 | 5:43 pm
[sylphslider]
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thanks!
I wrote a couple months ago, asking for tips on how to efficiently hand papers back to students, and got many good suggestions. I implemented the filing cabinet one. I had a random filing cabinet in my room, so I hauled it near the door. Then I gave each kid a slip of paper to write first name and last initial, and I got myself a TA. The TA put the name papers in file folders, then organized the drawer. Now when I grade I put the finished grading into period out-boxes and my TA files the papers according to student name and period. I also have folders for "absent" where I write kid's names on work they missed and put it in the file folder, and I have folders for "no name" where those papers go. Kids know they can check through either folder at will. I can't check out my textbooks at my school, so I write my unit tests based on the notes and assignments that kids have turned in for a grade. We have a unit test on Friday, so yesterday I had my kids line up in alpha order and I went through the filing cabinet and emptied out each file by student. They got packets of stuff to study for the test (or recycle). I had their stuff all in one spot so I could grab sample students and photocopy them for Beginning Teacher Support A-something. It worked beautifully. So, thanks to whoever it was who gave me that idea. I really appreciate it. :) |
8:02 pm
[evearound]
 |
More explanations to my Teacher Professional Leave
Where am I at? Well today it is March 21st. I started this at the end of last year. What have I done since early December? Well, I had my six weeks holiday which consisted of moving house but this blog is not about how possums are waking me up at half three in the morning or how I have a jungle in the backyard that needs clearing. No, this is about me as a teacher. I’ll give you a run down – quickly. Dec 2011 – An e5 immersion day. http://www.education.vic.gov.au/proflearning/e5/ PLATO day 1 - http://www.acep.net.au/plato/ SUMMER HOLIDAYS – Moving house and truckloads of painting and new flooring! Feb 1st – New school year PLATO day 2 PLATO day 3 Walker Learning Approach Professional Development Day Kath Murdoch Inquiry PD Planning day with other TPL particpants. To be fair to my avid readers…ok…to be fair, that doesn’t really tell you a lot. Hopefully you will actually click on the links but in case you don’t, in fear that you may not be able to get back here, I’ll try and do some basic summarising – very simple (to be honest, I just want to get up to telling what I am doing now). TPL has to encompass the e5 model. The e5 is an instructional model for teachers to use to see what it entails to be one cracking teacher. It is supposed to be used as a reflective tool for practitioners to ‘assess’ themselves and give themselves further goals. These bits - metacognitive capacity, the higher order thinking of my students and providing and structuring inquiry – of my question come from the e5 model. PLATO basically keeps the TPL participants on track. They make sure we have a question, that we are going about a purposeful investigation which aims to improve student outcomes. These days, to be honest, have been spot on. Day 3 of PLATO was broken into – Checking progress, managing your inquiry, reflective practice and e5. The greatest thing to come out of that day for me was the project management side of things. To really think about the accountability, the baseline, measuring improvements, reflecting on what I am doing was something that I had kept putting off. I know what I want, big idea, but I hadn’t stepped it out. That has changed. It seems that I should talk more about the PD’s but that will come as I unpack what I’m doing. Blog 3 will explore the baseline data I collected about myself as a teacher from my current lot of kids and start explaining the changes I have already started to make. Current Mood:  energetic |
| Sunday, March 11th, 2012 | 4:50 pm
[mishaphappens]
 |
Banned book site?
As I was preparing for the next few weeks, I decided I should go get the copies of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from storage. But when I went down there, I found that there was not a single one. I realized that the previous teacher must have never taught the book, which is shocking to say the least. But then I wondered if there was a reason. Could it, perhaps, be banned at my school? No one seemed to know a thing about it when I asked around. Is there a place where I can check to see if there are banned books? I don't want to get into trouble without doing my research. I live in Montana, if that helps at all. Thank you for your time! |
| Thursday, March 8th, 2012 | 11:34 pm
[crizzles]
 |
Teaching overseas?
I've been playing with the idea of teaching overseas for awhile now. I'm newly certified (k-6 with French) and i've been subbing since October, but no full-time experience as of yet. My partner and I are on the same page - we would both be up for moving away for a couple years and experiencing a different culture, but we'd like to make at least a little bit of money while doing so. A few friends of mine have had experiences teaching in Asia (mostly Korea), so they are a potential source of further information, but my partner and I both rather the idea of going somewhere different, preferably something in Europe. I've been doing a bit of research but it seems like all the opportunities I would be interested in requires considerable experience and a lot of up-front costs. I was just wondering if anyone has any recommendations on agencies/websites/forums that cater to North American teachers who want to teach overseas, other than Asia. Any suggestions/advice/ideas? :) Edit - i'm located in NL Canada, and can't travel for fairs, but am interested in hearing about any online fairs. And my partner is not a teacher. |
| Saturday, March 3rd, 2012 | 12:20 pm
[melly_issa]
 |
Building Community in a New School
So I'm considering applying for a job at a school that is opening this fall near to my house. Have any of you opened a school before? How do you build a sense of community with a bunch of kids coming from different schools? I'm at the Jr. high (7-9) level if that makes a difference. Posted via LiveJournal app for iPad. |
| Monday, February 27th, 2012 | 4:37 pm
[elven_ranger]
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Need help for Masters research - calling any history or drama teachers (UK)
I am now into the final research project for my Masters of Education degree, and have hit a snag. I have to interview, or send qualitative (write your opinions rather than tick the pretty boxes!) questionnaires to, an absolute minimum of four drama/ performing arts teachers, and the same number of history teachers. Ideally they would be secondary or further education teachers, and they need to be based in the UK. ( Read more... ) |
| Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012 | 7:37 pm
[anandimide]
 |
I work in a Vietnamese primary school, and my manager has been contemplating adding some sort of cognitive test for incoming first graders ("to make sure there's nothing wrong with their brains," she fumblingly explained to me). From what I gather she's envisioning something that could be slotted in among their eye checks & height-&-weight assessments & so on, but it seems she herself doesn't know exactly what she's looking for... Maybe it's a long shot, but does anyone know of a very simple assessment she might be able to use, or of any free resources that might help her create one? I'm not trained as a "real" teacher (only EFL) & my education in child development consists of a lecture on the Piaget scale which I attended a decade ago. The first graders are six when they come in, & while some of them have gone to preschool & kindergarten many others have no previous schooling at all... Some of them can print perfectly & others have to be taught how to hold a pencil. I've had a couple kids who are clearly cognitively or developmentally challenged & no one knows what to do with them (or has any time to do it anyway). It seems like it would be really useful to have at least a crude method of identifying possible challenges, but I'm wary of suggesting anything because I know I'm in well over my head here... I very briefly had one student whom my Vietnamese assistant whispered had "something wrong with his brain" & everyone would just leave him alone to do his own thing in the corner, which doesn't seem very useful to me. So if my manager does implement some sort of assessment I really hope it will be something that minimizes the risk of a kid being erroneously pigeonholed as "mentally defective" & hopefully also provides some workable suggestions for approaching challenges--or at least emphasizes the fact that a variation from the norm isn't a diagnosis of disability. Anyway, apologies for the vagueness of my question... Any thoughts would be much appreciated. |
| Tuesday, February 21st, 2012 | 5:38 pm
[chris4short]
 |
Spanish Class - HS
I am an English teacher who has gone back to subbing because of downsizing. We recently lost our Spanish Teacher, and I am sure I will be subbing in there for a while. Problem is, I don't speak Spanish. Thankfully, the classes were watching Selena, and the English teacher in me asked them to summarize the scenes. In English because they don't know enough Spanish to survive, and also because I would have no clue what they said. I am looking for some easy activities, and have found some online which seem easy and fun. I have a lesson plan that was left from the previous teacher, and was told we would "continue through the book" - so I know there are some activities I could tie into what they will be learning, but I haven't looked at the books yet. I just started subbing in Spanish today, but have taught for 3 years in English. I know some of the activities I did in English Class would be the same, but I am looking how to best learn and re-enforce a new language. I work at a low-income area, and have always gone above and beyond for my students. It is High School Spanish, 1-3, but most of my students can't speak it. Any easy (for a SSL - Spanish as a Second Language!) projects would help! |
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