Really Could Use Some Advice

So sometime in October one of my coworkers, who works in the activities department at the nursing home, fell and seriously hurt herself. I've pretty much taken her hours while she's been gone because they were very short handed in that department. It's not a bad job to have...in fact, I enjoy the fact that I get to walk around the facility wheeling residents to and from activities instead of sitting behind a desk all day. I also enjoy getting to know the residents...a lot more than I thought I would enjoy it. So this coming Friday is the last day this woman can be on worker's comp. We are pretty sure she will not be able to return to work. So in lieu of hiring someone from outside the facility, they have offered me her job.

Obviously it's not definite until she hears the final word regarding her condition. But as of last week her doctor said she was not able to return to work. I highly doubt she'd be miraculously cured in one week unless she was just playing the system.

I am having difficulties deciding if I should take the job or not.

The Up Side: Frankly, it'd be nice to have a steady job...one where I know the day before if I'd be working the next day or not. I do not enjoy getting called at 6 in the morning to sub...it's very difficult to make plans when you never know what your day is going to be like. I also get a pay increase which won't be a huge increase, but it'd be about $300 more a month than what I'm getting now which is much needed right now. And like I said....I enjoy seeing the residents and getting to know them and talking to them. I do NOT enjoy doing their nails...but I could suck it up.

The Down Side: There is pretty much no way that I could sub for the remainder of the year if Iaccept this full time job in the activities department. Even though I dislike being called in the morning to sub, I don't dislike working with the kids and teaching class. I'd love to be a teacher some day. I don't want it to look bad that I stopped subbing all of a sudden....especially if I try to get a teaching job in the future. But what am I supposed to do? Subbing once a week does NOTHING for my pocket book!! Even though it's great experience, I fear it may have to take a back seat for awhile until I pay off some bills and get a little bit more fiancially stable. Then maybe I'd be able to focus more on subbing and getting into a school.

I think I'll probably stop subbing and take the job with the activities department.....I just need someone to tell me that I'm doing the right thing.....I just don't want to screw up royally. *sigh* This is not an easy situation to be in....and it sucks that there wasn't a class about this in college. It could've been called: What to do when you can't find a job in your field? Or: Life Management 101 or: Good Decision Making 101

A little direction would be great, but I have no idea what to do right now.....

Another Interview!!!

Well, this new cover letter I've been using seems to do the trick. I applied for another long term sub jub and heard back to schedule an interview.

I have a lot going for me for this one. First of all, it's in a grade I have a lot of experience in. Also, it is at a school district where I sub already so I'm familiar with the classroom management styles and the way the school runs. And finally, the school district uses a math program, Every Day Mathematics, that I have experience in using. So I went into the interview pretty confident.

I had the interview yesterday. It was kind of intense. They had six people in there interviewing me. They apparently are having an adminstration class and the students had to particiapte in an interview. I wasn't expecting so many questions about how I would assess things...I was expecting this like, "Why do you want to be a teacher?" or "What would you do if...." or other questions about classroom mangagement and questions about my background. But there weren't so many of those kinds of questions...a lot of ones about what kind of different teaching strategies I would use.

Also, even though I have experience using the everyday math program, the teacher I'd be taking over for (who, incidently, was one of the people interviewing me) is the language arts teacher. I didn't have as much experience in language arts as I did with math, but I think I did okay thinking on my feet.

Not so sure about how this will go. I didn't feel horrible about it like I did with the other one (which by the way, I didn't get), but I don't have that feeling of "Definitely aced that!" either....so I dunno...we'll have to see.

But these last couple interviews got me really fired up about my education. So much time was wasted on these stupid student work samples and electronic portfolios. No one has been the slightest bit interested in reading any of it. I brought my student work sample from student teaching to both of the interviews, but they said it wasn't necessary. What was the point of doing it then? I wish they would have spent more time on interview tips and etiquette which would actually have been useful. We could have had a whole class on job searching where we could have learned what should and shouldn't go into a cover letter, what interviewers are look for, but more importantly PRACTICE interviewing. They should definitely consider making that change at IUP. Maybe I should write a letter.

I got an interview!!

So, recently, there was an ad for a long term sub at a school near where I live. I decided to try for it. I hadn't been getting any calls or anything from anywhere I applied to so my mom suggested I rewrite my cover letter and resume. We spent hours on it, so finally I just took the chance and sent it out with the changes.

Well, it must have been exactly what I needed because I heard back from the school that week and they scheduled an interview. I did it this afternoon.

I was so nervous. It was the first interview I had done before (for teaching anyway) so I had no idea what to expect. I spent hours reading an article about questions they typically ask and the article listed examples of what NOT to say and what TO say. So I was feeling pretty good about myself.

But of all those questions I spent so many hours formulating answers to....they only asked one of them at the interview. They didn't ask any others. I had no idea what to say. And I also forgot to come up with questions to ask. On the fly, I decided to ask about the mission statement. I couldn't find it anywhere. When I asked they said, "Oh...it's on the school district's website." I definitely didn't see it. So then I tried to redeem myself for sounding dumb and asked what kind of curriculum they use..they refused to tell me. So I tried to compliment the principal's tie....he was not amused.

So anyway, I don't feel that I really did very well. The interviewers seemed really unfriendly, they didn't even ask how I was doing when I introduced myself....and they made me feel really dumb when I asked questions. They didn't seem interested in my answers at all. My theory is that they already had someone in mind and were just doing this as a formality. I'm pretty sure I didn't get the job. We'll have to see when they send the letter in a few weeks.