Interview Updates

Within the past week I have had three interviews in some VERY nice school districts! First off, it is a total confidence booster that these schools are interested in me to begin with, and if I can get a job with one of them for my first classroom? Would be amazing!

Second, between the three I think I did alright. Some were pretty intense and had some really hard questions, but that is the point of interviewing so that they can see who I am and how I really feel. I have not heard back from any just yet (still can be a good thing) and I know two of the districts that I interviewed with are doing more interviews this week. I am hoping I can at least know either way within the next week. I would love to get a job before we get into summer, and I am just getting super antsy right now!

I think at a later date I will post some of the questions I have been asked to help others prepare for future interviews, but I am trying not to name districts so I don't want to give anything away by posting the questions they asked. I also will post examples of anything else that I am asked to bring/make for an interview. The sooner I can get a job, the better!

Job Hunt Looking Up

I have great things to report this week!

Last time I posted how I had finished a hard copy of my portfolio to bring with me to my job interviews. I finished this before I went on vacation, just in case I was contacted for an interview and I was! I had my very first interview last Thursday. Since it was right after I came back from vacation I was nervous I was not prepared enough. The initial interview was broken down into 2 parts: a writing sample and an interview with 2 principals. I thought I did well on the writing part, but I was so nervous for the interview! I thought I didn't do very well, because I felt like I blanked out when they asked me some questions. But I tried to stay calm, and do my best. I didn't leave very confident, but the next day I was contacted to come back for a second interview! This was very good news for me, because it is a nice school district that I could see myself staying in for a long time.

Now this week I have another interview with a school that I met with at the job fair I went to. That interview is Wednesday, and my second interview is on Friday so this will be a busy week! I also found out that there was a job posting at my old school that I student taught at. I think I have a good chance of interviewing for that one as well. It is for a different grade than I was in, but the teachers in that grade level I really felt I got along well with so that would be AMAZING if I could teach at my old school! This is the nicest school I have ever been in, and I love so many things about it, it would be a dream come true if I could work there!

Right now I'm gathering more info about the school districts I am interviewing with this week, and coming up with sample questions I might be asked and try to write out what I would respond with. That way I won't blank out during a question again! Wish me luck for this week, I hope I have more good news to update you on next week.

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!

Beginning to Prep for Job Fairs

This past week I did not sub as much because I have two job fairs coming up that I am trying to prep for. I finished by brochure to pass out during the fairs (see previous posts). I have begun to ask mentors, peers, colleagues for advice on how I should prepare myself. I have also been going through the books that have influenced my teaching styles, highlighting and marking pages that I feel have great points that I can talk about during interviews. This next week in addition to reading my books, I also plan on researching the school districts that are attending the fairs. By researching the districts I look more prepared, and know which ones I should go to first instead of being surprised at which schools show up. This next week I do plan on subbing more, but hopefully I will still be able to prep as much as I can so I can be ready!

Brochure

I think I am finally satisfied with my brochure. This will be what I plan on passing out at upcoming job fairs, unless I change my mind again! Any feedback would be great, thank you.
brochure.pdf

Getting Ready

Last week I had almost another full week of subbing, but we had a surprise snow day! All week I was in the same grade but in different districts each day. It was really surprising the different levels of independence and maturity each class had. Two of the classes I was really surprised at how needy these classes were, I would think that at the ages these classes were at they should be more independent than they were showing. I'm not sure if it was because there was a sub in the room or if this was normal behavior for these classes. I think this just goes to show what different schools/teachers are capable of.

I was able to finish my brochure this weekend! I still am sure that I will need to do some editing before I start passing them out, but any feedback would be helpful! While preparing my brochure, I was doing research on books that will help me with teaching and I ended up purchasing two books by Robert Marzano. I bought them for relatively cheap prices, I can't wait for them to come in so I can start reading more!

I still have not had much luck with job postings, but it is still early in the year so hopefully things will start showing up soon!


brochure.pdf