How to get that Job!

If you are student teacher right now and life hasn't been crazy yet it's about to reach hurricane speeds real quick! I loved my student teaching experience, but the second month is when it started to pick up the pace and it just kept getting faster until the end. As if you are not being pulled in a million directions already, you now need to start thinking about the job hunt- your ultimate goal! From my job search experience during student teaching, I have a few tips to help reduce stress and make it an enjoyable experience. I was hired into my current position by the second week of April (I am a spring graduate) and had 4 other offers sitting on the table and still 2 requests for interviews. Graduating with a job was amazing! UNC students have the perk of being regarded as the cream of the crop, so here are some helpful hints from my experience to capitalize on that perception.

1. Complete your Student Teaching Requirements ASAP
I intentionally planned it so that I had all of my required student teaching work mostly done by the teacher fair. I had all of my observations complete, data collected, and was just finishing up on the last touches to my work sample by the time I started interviewing. This was essential for two reasons: I had no other pressures besides interviews and I had evidence to show future employers.

2. Bring Extras of Everything to Every Interview
Of course I brought extra resumes (I printed off 20), but I also printed off extra copies of my very best lesson plans, sample materials, any ESL/CLD work, and my introduction letter (you know the one you wrote to introduce yourself to schools? Shorten it and make it crisper to give to employers mostly so they remember your face). I had MANY people ask me if they could take my work. One school district even asked a week later for my permission to copy and distribute the work to a teacher prep program at a school in CO Springs. Bringing extras of your very best work gives schools something to hold onto when they look back over candidates.

3. Research the Schools you are REALLY interested in
My current employer says that they knew they wanted to hire me as soon as I said "I have researched your school and know...". I interviewed with at least 10 districts, but I really only deeply researched the schools I was really interested in. Knowing demographics and history makes a difference in the interview, but don't feel the pressure to know about every school in a district!

4. Bring Evidence of Differentiation or Progress Monitoring (Data Collection)  
I got second interviews and offers because I could show in concrete ways how I use differentiation in my classroom and how data collection influenced my teaching. If you can work either into your interview you will stand out. Cherry Creek Schools was totally won over by my interview because of how well I incorporated this in my materials and our conversation.

5. You Can Turn Down an Offer
So I wouldn't share this tip to every field- but if you are mathematics endorsed you have a hot degree right now. I was so afraid to turn down offers, but I did. I even had a school call me back after I turned down an offer to counter offer me! However, I waited for my first choice to call me. I learned a lot about respectfully asking for a little time to consider the offer without making an employer feel like I was saying "I am not THAT interested". Only one school wanted me to be straight with them about my request for extra time, but most places very respectfully gave me the time while I fielded more offers and had more interviews.

And of course, have fun! This is exciting, and big, but so great to see your hard work pay off!

Next Missions Trip? Greeley Schools

Nearly 80% of my students, the kids I see everyday, live in poverty.
4 out of 5 don't have enough food to eat at home and rely on school breakfast and lunch.
Some students have greater access to drugs than to their working parents.

More Christians should be praying for Greeley.

Nearly 2 years ago I was called into Younglife ministry in the Greeley-Windsor region. 2 years ago when I asked kids about their families I didn't expect to hear about step parents, step siblings, half siblings, incarcerated relatives, or foster homes. Now, sadly, I am surprised when a kid describes a healthy, whole family.

In District 6 (the Greeley school district), 65% of all students live in poverty. I saw the poorest of the poor in Ecuador, and some of my kids are comparable. I encounter homelessness, parent-less, destitute children daily. On Friday I asked a student what her dreams were for the future and she said "drop out of school at 17 and get a real job". Kids should be asked to dream bigger than their situations.

I encounter Somali refugees everyday who are living in a culture so unfamiliar. Some of our students literally walked to America, walking thousands of miles before their families found a ship that could take them to the US. They couldn't care less about mathematics.

I am proud of the school I am currently student teaching at. They found mattresses for a family that has none. They bought shoes for kids who didn't have a single pair. The students have a heart for each other and want to make a difference. It is my prayer that more people walk into the messy lives of students and build positive relationships so that they know their biggest dreams could become reality.

I have a student who dreams of going to Harvard. One student wants to become a famous Youtuber. Another student hopes to go to the Denver Art Institute. I hope that I will be someone they know will always encourage them beyond their situations.  

 

The Sea of Uncertainty

In three months and one week I will be graduating with my BS in Mathematics. Four years of work, countless hoop jumping, and hours of learning come to this: The Sea of Uncertainty. I have been calling this next phase of life this for the last couple months because I think it captures exactly the sentiments of becoming an adult in this next phase of life. When you graduate from high school there is a general path you just know to follow; you go to college and get a degree. When you graduate from college there is no real direction. The next step is "get a job" but that could mean literally anything.

I have been dreaming lately. I have been dreaming about my life post-college. I have been reassured that I will have a job offer as a dual endorsed teacher in no time, but that is so open. Where will I work? Where will I live? The unanswerable questions are endless. And you know what, despite every bone in my plan-oriented body, I am okay without the answers right now.

I have always been provided for. The right opportunity always presents itself. Life unfolds at it is meant to be. This has been a journey for me, coming to a place of accepting that everything is unclear at this moment. I am a bit of a control freak about my life. I like things planned and neat. I like to map things out in my head and watch them unfold exactly as prescribed. However, I have learned to accept the fact that I can take steps to make things to go as I anticipate, but in reality not much is up to me. I can apply to districts I want to work in, but I can't give myself a job. My living situation will be determined by cost and location. I have no say in the people I work with or the students I will have. Hardly anything is in my control. But it is okay because life unfolds as it is intended and I can put my faith in the fact that things that are beyond my control are better that way. How could I ever joyful receive all the blessings that are intended for me if it was all up to me?

As I walk into the Sea of Uncertainty, for once in my life I am okay with not knowing the plan. I am okay not knowing where I will work or live. Not knowing when I will marry or what career steps I will take. I am okay with not having any clue what life will look like beyond August because I am sure that no matter how it all plays out, it will be exactly as it was intended to be.