I've Survived

So, I've survived the first week of in-service. Which means that I have been so tired to do much after school. No actual teaching has begun and I am anxious to start.

I have 1 1/2 bulletin boards done. And I have 3 more to go, with 2 of them big spaces. Everything should be done by Thursday for Meet the Teacher night.

I also signed myself up for a Teach American History Grant. I am still not sure what it all entails or what I have signed myself up for. But I love history, so it can't be that bad.

I am also very glad that I am working at Navasota ISD. From the people I have met, everyone really cares about the students and has made me feel really welcome. I know that there are tons of other teachers that I can turn to and they will help me. Which is much appreciated as a first year, alternative certification teacher.

I'll promise that I'll post more later. In case you care.

Dreaming

It has begun. Usually before I do something life changing/big, I start dreaming about it. Every year before I started school, I would dream. The night before my interview I had dreams about it. You get the picture. But these aren't good dreams. They're the kind that keep me awake because I think they are real and I start freaking out.

So, I've started to dream about the first day of school. And I mess everything up in them. I don't greet the students at the door, I end up yelling at them to be quiet, I mess up in front of the principal, I don't know answers to questions. It's horrible!

Now, as long as I don't have to wake up early the next day, these dreams aren't horrible. But I know that the night of August 22, I will have trouble falling asleep and staying asleep because I will be so excited and I'll dream all night long of messing everything up.

I have a plan. It means not taking a Sunday nap. We'll see how that goes.

(My first day of inservice is Tuesday!)

I can barely contain my excitement

I am not a overly emotional person. When I am excited about something, if you didn't know me you probably couldn't tell. There are few times in my life when I have been jumping up and down with joy. One was when my favorite roommate told me she was engaged. Another is now.

I GOT A TEACHING JOB! And I am freaking out, in a good way.

I guess it isn't official official yet. But I am going tomorrow to sign the contract.

Either way, I am still so happy. I can now end the freaking out, in the bad way.

I know I will be teaching either 4th or 5th grade, but I'll find out for sure tomorrow.

Hire Me!

Did you know that I am looking for a job? A teaching job?

Did you also know that I am the best employee ever?

And finally, did you know that my number one weakness is interviews?

I do not joke about any of those things. I really want to be a teacher. I have for a while now and I first posted about it here.

And I am the best employee anyone will ever had. It is one of the few things I can say with 100% confidence.

BUT... I am so horrible at interviews! I do my best when I can draw upon the experience I have had, because that is how I learn best. But guess what. I have 0 teaching-children-in-a-real-classroom experience. The closest I have is teaching 9 year olds in Sunday School.

The last two jobs I had I was second choice. At SM, I am pretty sure they only hired me because they were hiring Chris and felt sorry for me. They even put me in verification, ew. But that didn't last long and soon it was clear I was a superstar. (P.S. The HR person told me before I left I was the highest paid person in my department, and our pay was based on sales.)

At the BYU Bookstore, I was literally the second choice. They called to tell me they picked someone else. And then they called later in the week to say she didn't work out. And then I ended up being Employee of the Month in January 2007. My picture was hanging in the Bookstore and everything. (I can't believe I never got a picture of that.) Obviously, I was awesome.

My point is, there is always someone who looks better than me on paper and sounds better than me in an interview. But when it comes to actually doing the work and being awesome, I do that!

How do I know I will be good at teaching? I care about children and I want to help all children realize that they can be and do whatever they want. I want to teach them to be good people and to help others.
And I can manage a classroom. And I can differentiate instruction and find ways to involve all types of students in my classroom. And I follow instructions well from my supervisors. Tell me to do something else, try something else... I'll do it.

So if a principal stumbles on my page and doesn't find me arrogant based on this post (I promise I am not.) Give me a chance. You will not be sorry. You don't want to be the one who let me get away.

Test

I took a TEXES test on Friday. It's like the PRAXIS but for Texas. (Texas is awesome and has all of it's own tests). This one was for Elementary-Early Childhood to Sixth Grade.

I had taken a few practice question sets and failed all of them. I needed an 80% to pass and I got 69%s and 75%s.

I just got the results in.

And I got an 89% which is good enough! I am so stinking excited. This means that I could get hired to teach any of those grades right now if I wanted to. But I probably won't get a job until next year.

This is such a relief. While I would love to teach social studies and history (the other tests I have passed), those teaching jobs seem harder to come by. And they are reserved for coaches at some school districts.

Having this on my resume will make it so much easier to get a job. And honestly, I am warming up to the idea of teaching 4th or 5th grade. Primary is helping with that.

Resume

I was going through some old resumes at work and I came across a really special one. It was less than 100 words (including his contact information.) It included one job experience and his responsibility at that job was to help "fulfill his needs."

Here is the best part:

"Qualifications: My personality is more than amazing. Communicating with people is a breeze for me, I know not only will I benefit from this job, but I can help this job with a ton of saves."

Amazing. I think he would be an amazing employee, who would do an amazing job, and would help our company be amazing.

BTW, I don't know what a save is or how it relates to our company.

He goes to UVU, I am sure they have people who could help him with his resume. Or once again, maybe a simple google search on "Resumes."

Employment

I am currently trying to hire people at work. I thought I had all the positions filled, but people got other offers or weren't completely honest about when they could start.

I have looked at tons of resumes, called lots of people and done about a dozen of interviews with more to come. I start to notice patterns of things I dislike in prospective new hires.

If you are looking for a job, here are a few basic tips that might help you.

1. Learn how to create a resume. A simple google search brings up tons of sites that give tips for resumes. If you are still at a university, I am pretty sure most offer classes on creating a resume. Also, get a friend to proofread it.

2. A resume should only be one page long. When I have to go through 50+ resumes, I don't care that you have written a 3 page essay on why you want to work for our company. (True Story)

3. Don't put interests on a resume. Being interested in ballroom dancing and canoeing doesn't matter to me when I am hiring for a sales position.

4. Please don't put every single job you have ever had on a resume, especially if it doesn't apply. Again, I don't care that you have been part of a dance company for 10 years and include every production that you have been in. Again, this is a sales position.

5. When someone calls to schedule an interview, don't ask if they can call you back later because you aren't sure if you want the job. Why submit a resume if you aren't sure?!

6. Don't ask if you should dress up for the interview. Just do it.

7. Don't ask the secretary of the company to print off your resume. Come prepared. There's something called Kinkos where you can take a jump drive and print off anything.

8. In the interview, don't say that you will just be in the current position until something better comes along.

9. Prepare for standard interview questions. "What are you weaknesses?..."

10. Don't call the company a million times after they didn't offer you a job.

11. Don't expect a company to hold a job for you when you tell them you are entertaining other offers. Especially when it is a small business.

Those are a few of my gripes. It is so easy to look and act presentable so just do it. You are trying to sell yourself and coming off as sloppy and unprepared is annoying.