The Job Hunt

I'm sure many of my faithful readers are currently on the job hunt for a teaching position for the following school year.

If you are one of those people I want to tell you not to give up.

I know it isn't the sam for everyone but I substitute taught for most of May 2008 - June 2013.  It wasn't always easy and at one point I did (kind of) give up and took a few months off to travel the country and do some ministry work.  Thankfully by taking the break I was able to be excited about substitute teaching again once I came back (and provide you with many hilarious stories about these substitute teaching days).

I also know that it isn't easy to find a job.  I can really only speak of jobs in Canada (I've been told that it is pretty much the same story across the country and even into the USA).  It really sucks that we have to put ourselves through 5 years of university (which is what you are required to do here) and not even get full time employment when you are done.

Thankfully Ontario has started to recognize that there is a surplus of teachers out there (and a surplus of teachers without jobs) and has put a cap on its enrollment for teachers college.

Where I live they have started to put caps on class sizes which is opening up new classrooms.  Not only is this a benefit for anyone looking for a job but it is a benefit to teachers across the province - smaller class sizes (the cap is at 20 students)!

I found an article by Macleans that pretty much says all of this (and I think the comments with the article do a good job at telling what the situation is like across Canada.  You can find the article here

Do you need a place to vent because of your lack of a job?  What's the situation like where you are?  Do you choose to substitute teach or are you doing it while you wait for your own classroom?

A reader recently emailed me asking to write about my experiences as a substitute teacher as a way to teach her students about what we [the substitute teacher] go through every day.  It was a few pages long (I've had a lot of experiences as a substitute teacher) but you can look forward to reading it in a short series this summer.

Almost There

These photos have been making the rounds on Facebook (and maybe other social networking sites as well)

I'm definitely feeling a little (okay, a lot) worn out lately (so the purple minion and the 2nd owl).  

I'm losing sleep

I'm worried about assessments

I'm feeling like no matter how much thought I put into a lesson it won't be enough

 (it never is when you teach grade 8)

But today when venting to some friends I told them that I didn't want to think of this last month as "I just have to survive" but would rather enjoy it.  

Hopefully I can find a way to enjoy these last few weeks with my grade 8's 

... and in case you are worried that I'm not finding a way to enjoy my time with my grade 4's... don't be worried.. I often enjoy my time with them.  They are actually wonderful (substitutes tell me they are) and as a bonus I'll get to teach some of them again next year!

Anywho, I'm the praying kind (and as are many of my friends) so my request?  

Prayers for patience

So, what are your tricks to making the most of the last few weeks of school (we aren't finished school until the end of June here so I've got time)

Olympic Graphs

This is post is incredibly late!

During the Olympic Games we kept track of 5 countries and the medals they received (we chose to keep track of Canada, USA, Germany, Russia, and China).  We kept track of them by making bar graphs (keeping track of each countries gold, silver, and bronze medals) and then in the hallway we kept track of each countries total medal count with a pictograph.  

Why bar and pictographs?

Those are the only 2 graphs my grade 4's need to know this year.

After the olympics were over I brought them to the computer lab to learn about Microsoft Excel and we put the information from our bar graphs into there and printed out a graph.

Then we glued that graph onto a piece of construction paper and wrote a question that could be answered by looking at the graph.  Some students did some really complicated questions... some students did some pretty simple ones... I just let them come up with a question that they were capable of answering.

They wrote their question on a piece of white paper, folded it in half and wrote the answer the question on the inside (so that someone walking by could flip up the piece of paper to see the answer)

Here are some of my students graphs, questions, and answers

(we've since been working on showing our work)

Certification Map

It's that time of year (again).

Everyone and their mom (it seems) is trying to land one of those allusive teaching positions for the next school year.  

I'm lucky.  

For once I only had to go on one interview (and I think I only applied for about 6 jobs total) before getting offered a position.

For those of us still on the hunt (and maybe considering a move to another state) I came across a website called Certification Map

Here you will find a pretty thorough breakdown (in this Canadian's opinion) on what certification requirements you must meet for whatever state you want to teach in.

On their How to Become a Substitute Teacher page (because, let's be honest... you can move, apply, and still not get that job you are hoping for) you will find what kind of salary you can expect to earn in that state, prerequisite coursework that you will need to do, how to prepare, and tests you may have to take to teach there.

I looked into what I would need to do if I wanted to teach just north of the boarder from me and boy are there a lot of licenses!  I feel like the one I MIGHT meet is the "regular 2 or 5 year teaching license" after that there are only about 6 more that I would need to look into!  So glad to be teaching where I went to post secondary school!

I also checked out Hawaii (because that seems like a lovely place to have to substitute teach) and their process seemed a little less difficult.  Interview, a substiute teacher course (that can be taken online AND I actually think a substitute teaching course would be a good idea - for anywhere), and then just your application (which includes a TB test - is this a problem in Hawaii?)

Hopefully, all my substitute teacher friends south of the boarder are finding some success' this hiring season!

GOOD LUCK!