Portfolio Done/First Interview

I do have a few updates I would love to share!

So last week my county had Spring Break, so this allowed me time to work on a hard copy of my portfolio. I spent a really long time working on it, and I am pretty happy with how it turned out. I had a hard time trying to decide what exactly to put in, and how much was needed because I have not had any professional interviews yet so I am not 100% sure what employers are looking for (plus it seems like everyone always wants something different!). When I first finished it, there were over 150 pages...yikes! I had put all of my lesson plans in, and examples of student work, but I decided to cut back to just the lessons I had done while in the College of Education at GV since those were my best pieces. I cut it back to 92 pages. I was able to get it printed off today, and I plan on going out tomorrow to get everything bound together nicely. The examples I have seen have all been in binders, so I am hoping by doing something different it will help me to stand out. So far I just have two copies printed off because it was expensive to get it done. Hopefully I will not have to do any more and I will be all set for my first interview!

Last week I was contacted by one district I talked to at the job fair, and was asked to schedule a screening interview! I have no idea how many more people were invited as well, but I think this is a good start in the right direction. I also was able to find a few more jobs to apply for, but there were only those that covered a large group for like K-5 positions not a single classroom. I have been told May is the hiring season for most schools, and I would love to get a job before summer starts that would be wonderful! Wish me luck on my first interview!

Here is a few pages out of my portfolio, just to give you an idea of what's included:



If you need more tips on the rest of what I have included in my portfolio please feel free to contact me! I just wanted to show the type of theme I had made. This took me a very long time to get it where I was happy with it, so please I would appreciate it if you used this as a guide and not just copy my words. Again, if you would like more info please just ask!

Job Fairs

Last week I was able to attend two job fairs this week at local universities. I think overall they went well, but I know there were job fairs each day last week at different universities each day so I was going up against who knows how many other teachers for the same districts. I think some interviews went well, and some not as well but overall I think I did ok. I brought with me my resume attached to my brochure to hand to employers, and I also printed off copies of my transcripts and letters of rec just in case, but I didn't end up handing them out at all. After the job fairs were over I sent out handwritten thank you notes to the people I interviewed with, so hopefully that will help me stand out a little bit! I have been checking many district websites since then, and I'm hoping more job postings will start popping up soon. Only time will tell, but I'm hoping to get something locked in soon before the summer starts! Wish me luck!