Right now I am waiting for the SECOND year in a row to find out what I will be doing this fall. I am trying to do this as patiently as possible, but as a human and sinner, my patience only lasts for so long before having doubts again. Thank the Lord that His patience is not like ours!!
Let me rewind to tell you how I got to this point as you have just read about my year in review. After teaching a year in the school district of Philadelphia, I was one of 3000 employees to get laid off in June. Since then, I have applied everywhere I got a lead from and have filled out so many applications it is pathetic. Mixed with that the Lord gave me some things to occupy my time and mind, which was a HUGE blessing and made the summer pass at light speed. I was able to counsel at WHBC Day camp for a week, cook chicken at the Farmer's Fair, go to the beach a couple days, and write like 600 multiple choice math questions for an online school.
This brings us to the month of August, the time when waiting becomes even harder and hope starts to wain and trusting God goes into overdrive while having constant trust battles between the logical and spiritual sides of your brain. It is within this time frame that tears fall, as prayers are lifted to the Lord while a heaviness hangs on your heart and mind when left alone to think too much. It is this time of year that tricking yourself into thinking that you have a classroom and must prepare for that classroom is a necessary thing to keep your mind and body busy. (PS... Much creativity came out of this time and will be useful for later experiences and did help prepare for the interview process) It is this time of year that the clock moves slower and faster at the same time. Slower in the fact that it seems like forever when someone is supposed to call you about a position and faster as you on the computer for hours desperately trying to convince someone that you would be a good fit for their school. It is this time of year when you start to see time as an hourglass that is getting very low as Labor Day weekend approaches and some schools are already having their first days and you just check them off of your list as being a possibility for a full time job for the year. It is this time of year that many struggle with being positive.
It is will all of these thoughts and feelings that change in an instant when the phone rings, in hope that someone may want to offer you an interview or job. Last Wednesday, I received a phone call while shopping for school supplies in Staples... A Phone call that came from DELAWARE. Thoughts rushed through my mind of who do I know in Delaware or Should I answer this, It could be a sales call. Good thing I answered it because it was a charter school looking to give me an interview. I was so excited, that I wanted to cry. It was the first call I had gotten all summer and gave me hope that not everyone had made their decisions already and that there was still time to get a job for the school year. Thursday at 5pm I was at the school and writing an introduction letter of what could be given out to the students and parents as a way to introduce me as their teacher and let them get to know me before the school year got started. It was then time for me to teach a lesson to the principal and two other ladies. It seemed to go well and they were writing all over their papers as I taught. My confidence started to build as my nervousness subsided. Questions and Answers were then flying back and forth and papers were getting filled with answers and separate papers needed to be started as much was being written down. When I looked at the clock as I was walking out the door it read 6:30 pm. My interview had been 1.5 hours. That's a long and hopeful interview. They said they needed the weekend to think about it and I was on my way home. I was excited and content that it had gone well and whatever came out of it was what was supposed to come out of it and if I did not get the job, then there was still some reason that I had to go to that interview.
It is Monday Afternoon After the Weekend of thought, when WAITING is becoming especially hard as I just want to know and start planning or know and move on with my day. I keep thinking and wondering what kind of a day they have had and when the fauculty would have had time to think about it and whether I should call and ask how the decision making process is going, BUT I know that I need to wait and not pester.
I am trying to wait PATIENTLY, but excitement and nervousness is getting the better of me right now and the Hope and Desiree to have a job is overwhelming me.
So here I am still waiting... I guess I should start doing something else again... to get my mind off of the fact that it is almost 3.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Saturday, August 6, 2011
By the End of the Year...
By the end of the year, I loved those students even more. Even though some days they REALLY tested my love and patience. It was going on their class trip and the formal dance that they got to know me as a person and started getting comfortable and able to talk to me about anything, somethings I asked them not to tell me because as a teacher, I shouldn't know those things. It was field day that simple yellow tee-shirts and fabric markers became a craze and a buzz around my classroom. I had never seen my students so pumped about an activity and I was right behind them having them sign my shirt and cheering them on every step of the way.
It wasn't until the end of the year when I had the students do course evaluations for me and write me recommendation letters, that I finally got a small glimpse of the impact that I made in one year. Here are the five that I received. I cried the first time I read these as I was able to praise God that I touched someones life this year. And not just one, but at least five.
I can give 5 reasons you should hire her.
1. She's cool, calm, and nice.
2. She always stays on task.
3. She will give your students all of the attention they need.
4. She will be one of the best math teachers that you will ever have.
Best math teacher up for grabs.
DE
To whom this may concern:
You should hire Mrs. Thatcher because:
1. She's a good teacher.
2. Have great discipline when needed to student.
3. Have a great train of thought.
She is a god teacher even though I had times when I had a problem with her it got resolved. She's nice and funny. Gives too much homework in my opinion. In her eyes more work can help your grade get higher. She wants students to get what they deserve.
Sincerely,
CD
SA
You should hire Mrs. Thatched because she is a nice teacher, she cares for everyone in her class or outside of her class to do god things, she helps get their grade up by giving choices of what to do.
Mrs. Thatcher is a good teacher who loves all of us and cared for us like family.
To whom this may concern:
You should hire Mrs. Thatcher because she has given students and I choice projects and even extra credit assignments to those who need it. She also has shown us our grade throughout the semester. This helped me, as a student, know how I could bring up the grade and made me less anxious and worried about my grade. It also helped me know how I improved each time my grade went up. Mrs. Thatcher also has prepared me for my future. For example, we did an assignment for writing a check and this helps me know what lays ahead for me when I need to do a check. Lastly, Mrs. Thatcher should be hired because she also puts her time into teaching, helping me know what I am capable of doing for homework and tests. This is why Mrs. Thatcher should be hired.
Sincerely,
E P
To whom this may concern:
You should hire Mrs. Thatcher because she is a great math teacher also she knows how to work with kids. And she's good with what she do and she is one of the best teachers you'll ever have. Also she just don't give you work, she explains it and will give you an example on how to do it. Also one thing she doesn't do is yell like the other teachers. So you should hire her because she is the best teacher.
Sincerely,
BS
It wasn't until the end of the year when I had the students do course evaluations for me and write me recommendation letters, that I finally got a small glimpse of the impact that I made in one year. Here are the five that I received. I cried the first time I read these as I was able to praise God that I touched someones life this year. And not just one, but at least five.
I can give 5 reasons you should hire her.
1. She's cool, calm, and nice.
2. She always stays on task.
3. She will give your students all of the attention they need.
4. She will be one of the best math teachers that you will ever have.
Best math teacher up for grabs.
DE
To whom this may concern:
You should hire Mrs. Thatcher because:
1. She's a good teacher.
2. Have great discipline when needed to student.
3. Have a great train of thought.
She is a god teacher even though I had times when I had a problem with her it got resolved. She's nice and funny. Gives too much homework in my opinion. In her eyes more work can help your grade get higher. She wants students to get what they deserve.
Sincerely,
CD
SA
You should hire Mrs. Thatched because she is a nice teacher, she cares for everyone in her class or outside of her class to do god things, she helps get their grade up by giving choices of what to do.
Mrs. Thatcher is a good teacher who loves all of us and cared for us like family.
To whom this may concern:
You should hire Mrs. Thatcher because she has given students and I choice projects and even extra credit assignments to those who need it. She also has shown us our grade throughout the semester. This helped me, as a student, know how I could bring up the grade and made me less anxious and worried about my grade. It also helped me know how I improved each time my grade went up. Mrs. Thatcher also has prepared me for my future. For example, we did an assignment for writing a check and this helps me know what lays ahead for me when I need to do a check. Lastly, Mrs. Thatcher should be hired because she also puts her time into teaching, helping me know what I am capable of doing for homework and tests. This is why Mrs. Thatcher should be hired.
Sincerely,
E P
To whom this may concern:
You should hire Mrs. Thatcher because she is a great math teacher also she knows how to work with kids. And she's good with what she do and she is one of the best teachers you'll ever have. Also she just don't give you work, she explains it and will give you an example on how to do it. Also one thing she doesn't do is yell like the other teachers. So you should hire her because she is the best teacher.
Sincerely,
BS
Project Based Learning
It is amazing what students will do with pop-cicles, glue, markers, pieces of paper, and laptops. The rest of the year became about exploring different math concepts through projects. It all started with creating scale models from pictures, then building pop-cicle bridges from a scale drawing, to playing lemonade stand or coffee stand then creating a business plan and presenting it. These projects were what made the end of the year fun and made the students start succeeding so much more. It was with these projects that I got to know my students better and see what was important to them and how they interacted with each other. I had one class while they were doing presentations have other students go up to help struggling students. I got to see just how creative my students were, and it was a blessing.
PSSA Madness
The dreaded letters that every teacher... or I should say most teachers in PA have come to hate, yet must teach to. This was my first experience with the PSSA's. My school/class started reviewing different math concepts each week based on the topics of the PSSA in multiple choice form and taught test taking strategies starting in OCTOBER and these tests were not until MARCH. And these tests were not just one week, but an ENTIRE month. Needless to say we drilled students on the content, taught strategies till we as teachers were blue in the face, and gave incentives that, I thought, were way over the top [tvs, ipods, bikes...]. Well, I guess it sorta paid off as on each benchmark and predictive, my class was doing better and knowing the content. At the end of the year the teachers finally found out that for the FIRST time, our school had made AYP. Praise the Lord and my students did marvelously. Before the tests started in the mornings, I would try to play simon says and lead them in some yoga poses, which was always entertaining to watch 8th graders do and I also tried to make it the least stressful environment. Praying for them in the mornings during our moment of silence, encouraging them as their cheerleader before starting, and giving little pieces of candy half way through the test letting them know that they are almost done and they were doing a great job. Also during that month I started my season of projects as I had 90 minutes to just do a lesson now instead of all of this PSSA prep. It wasn't until now that students started coming out of the woodwork and were getting INVOLVED IN CLASS. This concept was so exciting for me, as I finally was getting a little glimpse of making it through to some of them.
The Turning Point
It has been a full marking period and the second is coming to a close. I am stressed out and barely surviving. I have tried so many methods of procedures and discipline that haven't worked. Many of my students are failing and I am spending so much time and effort that I didn't leave any time for me or really Aaron in my schedule. Others even started noticing my state of being and thankfully intervened. Christmas Vacation was AMAZING and so necessary as I had not had time to reflect on anything or think about myself.
- I realized, that I was not going to reach every student because every student DID NOT WANT TO BE REACHED. I never thought those words would come out of my mouth as a PBU grad who knows that all children are created by God, loved by God, and given a curious nature from God.
- I realized, that I cannot create every experience from scratch. I need to start working with others and using the book materials given to me.
- I cannot keep killing myself trying to make students learn. I need to restructure my class and have less of a focus on the daily tasks and more of an overall did they learn the concept focus. I also do not need to Grade-Grade every single piece of paper. Effort grades help the faithful students and give me less grading.
- I also realized I needed an outlet to vent my stress. Therefore, I joined a gym and a Zumba class. Best thing for me!!
Getting used to my new school.
Well it was the Tuesday after Labor day, Aaron and I were staying with friends because we didn't have an apartment and couldn't commute to Philly each day from Pen Argyl. I had loaded up my car with all of the teaching supplies I owned and thought I would need to set up my classroom on the first day of school and rolled up to the building with my little cart not knowing where to go and the school looking like a concrete version of a mutilated mushroom you might fight in Mario Brothers.
I got in, met the Principal briefly who gave me to someone else, John Austerberry. They had no idea that I was coming. The school district had forgotten to tell them. Oops, but anyway, they were glad to see me because they didn't think they would be having a teacher for that section. I had no classes all morning and John helped me set up my room crudely and get through planning a lesson to teach that afternoon. What a whirlwind.
THEN.... the students came in. It was exciting and new and challenging as many discipline strategies were fading before my eyes. Thankfully John was there to help me out those first couple days.
Late nights staying trying to get everything organized became a habit for the first several weeks as I walked around in a fog thinking about how much I had to catch up on. Other co-workers had a high/low on me that I would last 1 week possible 2, but they didn't know me. I was determined to succeed. Even if it was the death of me, because I loved teaching.
I got in, met the Principal briefly who gave me to someone else, John Austerberry. They had no idea that I was coming. The school district had forgotten to tell them. Oops, but anyway, they were glad to see me because they didn't think they would be having a teacher for that section. I had no classes all morning and John helped me set up my room crudely and get through planning a lesson to teach that afternoon. What a whirlwind.
THEN.... the students came in. It was exciting and new and challenging as many discipline strategies were fading before my eyes. Thankfully John was there to help me out those first couple days.
Late nights staying trying to get everything organized became a habit for the first several weeks as I walked around in a fog thinking about how much I had to catch up on. Other co-workers had a high/low on me that I would last 1 week possible 2, but they didn't know me. I was determined to succeed. Even if it was the death of me, because I loved teaching.
Getting the job for my First year of teaching... In Review
It all started with an email stating there was a job fair in Philadelphia and all you had to do was sign up for the initial interview. I held on to the email and last minute decided to go, thinking that this would be great practice for when I did actually get an interview because I didn't feel called to teach in the city.
April 10th came and I got dressed in my power-suit, had copies of my resume in hand, had all of my clearances, and they were in a nice teacher bag. I arrived at 440 Broad st and realized that what I had gotten myself into was a lot bigger than anticipated as I had a hard time finding a parking spot and the place was crawling with people in business attire and brief cases. As I walked inside there were so many people and booths; it looked like a big craft show. A man told me where I needed to go and as I walked there I marveled at the amount of people standing in line with resume's in hand waiting for opportunities to talk to different schools and realized I had only brought 2 resumes, because I thought I was just going for an interview. I sat outside the office and was told to fill out a bunch of paperwork as I saw person after person coming out of the office crying. I started to get anxious. I was calling people and texting them as I did not know phone numbers that they were asking me on the paper I was filling out and thought I would never finish all of this paperwork before they called my name.
A woman then called out into the waiting area "Lauren Lieberman, you may come back now." That's me I thought as I grabbed all of my things and tried to compose myself. I sat down in a small cubical and waited for my interviewer to come meet me. He came and asked me only six questions as he wrote down my answers furiously. After these questions he excused himself from our meeting and went to "grade" my responses. Several minutes later he came back with more papers in his hand and explained to me that I had scored very high on the interview and asked me to fill out some more papers while he went to talk to someone. He then came back with more papers, this time telling me that the Philadelphia School District would like to offer me a middle years math position and that I did not have to write the essay because I scored so high on the interview. He then sent me with papers to another room to get processed and said "Congratulations." I was on a high. I was shaking and wanted to cry. I picked up the phone and called my parents; at first they thought something was wrong because I was crying. I then proceeded to call other friends and family to share my excitement with them.
May came and I was ready to apply for site selection. I kept trying, but was having difficulty and could not understand it. Come to find out, there was a placement freeze where newly employed people had to wait until all the positions were filled by the current teachers that wanted to shift. I was disappointed but hopeful.
After our wedding and honeymoon, I decided to start applying other places. I had sent out around 200 applications and resumes and had several more interviews all of which ended with, " We found someone that had more experience than you, I'm sorry." This started wearing on me and by August I was resigning myself to substituting at any school I could and living in my parents basement.
Friday before Labor day around 1:45 pm I got a phone call as I was working at Crayola that day asking me if I would like to take a position at the school across the street from Temple University? I replied yes and they asked me to be in Philadelphia on Broad st by 4:30. I started rushing around to find my boss and ask her if I could leave. All of my co-workers were like, "JUST GO!!" As I was rushing around, I got another phone call. "Ms Thatcher, I have another school in the northeast called Austin Meehan on Ryan Ave, would you rather work there?" I was so exited that school had been on my list as a good school. After that I was on my way to sign all of the papers so that I could start teaching on the first day of school. Excitement and praise to God for His goodness was all that could be thought of on that infamous trip down to Broad st the Friday before Labor day.
April 10th came and I got dressed in my power-suit, had copies of my resume in hand, had all of my clearances, and they were in a nice teacher bag. I arrived at 440 Broad st and realized that what I had gotten myself into was a lot bigger than anticipated as I had a hard time finding a parking spot and the place was crawling with people in business attire and brief cases. As I walked inside there were so many people and booths; it looked like a big craft show. A man told me where I needed to go and as I walked there I marveled at the amount of people standing in line with resume's in hand waiting for opportunities to talk to different schools and realized I had only brought 2 resumes, because I thought I was just going for an interview. I sat outside the office and was told to fill out a bunch of paperwork as I saw person after person coming out of the office crying. I started to get anxious. I was calling people and texting them as I did not know phone numbers that they were asking me on the paper I was filling out and thought I would never finish all of this paperwork before they called my name.
A woman then called out into the waiting area "Lauren Lieberman, you may come back now." That's me I thought as I grabbed all of my things and tried to compose myself. I sat down in a small cubical and waited for my interviewer to come meet me. He came and asked me only six questions as he wrote down my answers furiously. After these questions he excused himself from our meeting and went to "grade" my responses. Several minutes later he came back with more papers in his hand and explained to me that I had scored very high on the interview and asked me to fill out some more papers while he went to talk to someone. He then came back with more papers, this time telling me that the Philadelphia School District would like to offer me a middle years math position and that I did not have to write the essay because I scored so high on the interview. He then sent me with papers to another room to get processed and said "Congratulations." I was on a high. I was shaking and wanted to cry. I picked up the phone and called my parents; at first they thought something was wrong because I was crying. I then proceeded to call other friends and family to share my excitement with them.
May came and I was ready to apply for site selection. I kept trying, but was having difficulty and could not understand it. Come to find out, there was a placement freeze where newly employed people had to wait until all the positions were filled by the current teachers that wanted to shift. I was disappointed but hopeful.
After our wedding and honeymoon, I decided to start applying other places. I had sent out around 200 applications and resumes and had several more interviews all of which ended with, " We found someone that had more experience than you, I'm sorry." This started wearing on me and by August I was resigning myself to substituting at any school I could and living in my parents basement.
Friday before Labor day around 1:45 pm I got a phone call as I was working at Crayola that day asking me if I would like to take a position at the school across the street from Temple University? I replied yes and they asked me to be in Philadelphia on Broad st by 4:30. I started rushing around to find my boss and ask her if I could leave. All of my co-workers were like, "JUST GO!!" As I was rushing around, I got another phone call. "Ms Thatcher, I have another school in the northeast called Austin Meehan on Ryan Ave, would you rather work there?" I was so exited that school had been on my list as a good school. After that I was on my way to sign all of the papers so that I could start teaching on the first day of school. Excitement and praise to God for His goodness was all that could be thought of on that infamous trip down to Broad st the Friday before Labor day.
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