Cell Phone Issues and Playing Piano

My phone is dying. As in I can hear other people, but they can't hear me. Thus, tomorrow I am buying a new phone. On my own plan. I'm a big girl now! I tie my own shoes and everything. (I have yet to find the source of that statement. I know it was referred to in Hercules but I heard it somewhere else and the web has failed me so far to reveal the source.)

And in reference to the piano: I played piano in Sacrament Meeting on Sunday. It wasn't perfect, but it went well. I need to get better at more hymns. One day I want to own a grand piano. When I move out on my own to go teach I think I'll bring my keyboard. I really don't like playing on keyboards - especially because mine doesn't have weighted keys - but it will have to do. I'm going to have to find out what I did with the power cord and the stand that go with it though... that might be a difficulty.

I'm Hired!

I have been hired to teach first grade in a school that houses K-3. I will be the only new teacher which allows me to access all the other teachers as a resource! I'm pretty excited. It will be quite the switch from fifth and sixth graders to first graders, but I think I'm ready for it.

First grade, here I come!

To Interview or Not to Interview... That is the Question

Well no news yet on the last interview. I called on Monday to see what the status was and they hadn't made a decision yet.

I just got a call from another elementary school way down south and to the east, near Four Corners. They scheduled me for an interview at 1:00 and want me to bring a ten minute lesson plan to the interview. I looked it up and it's a seven hour drive to get there. That means leaving at like 6 in the morning or leaving Sunday and finding a place to stay halfway. I know that opportunities to interview are scarce these days, but I don't know that I want to interview with this one. It's a small community and doesn't have what I want in my personal interactions with people. I'm sure the community is great, but I don't think it's for me. However, I don't know if I should go down and interview for the experience and then end up declining the job, because I don't think it would be best if I took it, or if I should decline the interview so I don't spend the time and money getting there and have them spend time and money on me when I really don't think there's a possibility of me taking the job.

Yes, I want a job. And yes I appreciate that they want me to interview, but it doesn't feel right. I want a job that puts in a good area with people I know that can support me and with experiences that I can grow from. Granted I don't know whether this job could give me that, but it seems highly unlikely that I would be happy there. And me being unhappy will not work well with the kids. And yet maybe that's where I need to go.

The question is: Am I being resistant because I don't know what's ahead? Or is this really not the job for me and I should let it pass by because something better is coming? It's these times that I just want to scream because I want to make right choice and I don't know how to do it.

Interview

I had an interview with East Midvale Elementary yesterday. It went really well. And I'll hear from them by Friday! I could know if I have a job this week! AHH!

Another Interview Down, Another Scheduled

My interview with Canyons went great. Although it was a bit hard to find and it snowed. It snowed for my last interview too. So plan for snow on April 16 when I interview with Davis.

My six year old student told me I was one of her favorite teachers today. That makes me happy. She works really hard, too. And I got to teach place value today! She picked up so quickly. I'm proud of her. She said it was too hard at first, then we talked about 100's, 10's and 1's and she got it really quickly. And she wants to help me find and put away materials. She's progressing really well.

Huntington Day 4

I really like my job. I worked with a 6 year old today. She's struggling with her phonics and gets distracted easily, but she wants to learn. And she does pretty well. It's always a challenge balancing learning and fun with kids, but it's great. I enjoy working with all the different ages with their different interests and abilities and personalities. There's a middle school boy who is pretty fun to work with. He'll push your limits, but he's pretty good at doing his work. And a fifth grade boy who can get laughing so hard I have to walk away to get him to do his work or else he'll just keep laughing. I love it. Kids are amazing.

Day Three - Getting the Hang of It

Some of the tricks I'm picking up from Huntington:
Separate books and put them in binders with sleeves. Then use dry erase markers. It saves on paper big time!
When first meeting students ask what you should know about them: can they wiggle their ears, do they collect things, aside from just what a sports do they like and what movies are their favorites

I saw a student borrowing in subtraction in the longest way ever. I don't know who came up with it, but it takes way too much time and confuses him in the process. Instead of beginning at the right side of the number he automatically started borrowing from the left and then would carry. So he was having to add and subtract. It made things so much more difficult. Teachers out there, please don't confuse your students like that. We had to undo his strategy and reteach for quite a chunk of time today.

The same student and I came up with a strategy in reading because he isn't getting the correct vowel sound: try it out in the word then read the whole sentence. Novel concept to a fifth grader who is struggling. He's proud of his growth already, though. He said his mom was right about Huntington. His scores have already gone up. I was so happy to hear that.

Interview

I had my interview with Jordan today. It went really well. I'm pleased with it. Now they pass my name on to the principals. I can look up the schools with openings, too, and contact them on my own. So it's looking good, especially because I'm not picky about the grade I teach which gives me many more opportunities. I will keep you posted!

First Day at Huntington

Pretty smooth first day at Huntington. I worked with a fifth grader, an eighth grader, and a third grader. I had seen the fifth grade boy before when I went in for my interview. The third grade girl and I share our name so she thought that was cool, although she likes to play hide and seek. Every time I went to get a new workbook she was under the desk and around the corner.

Th supervisor said I did really well for my first day juggling things. She said it didn't go so smoothly for some of the others. I think that's my teaching training behind me. I can juggle monitoring a student, their engagement, their work, and grade pretty well at once.

I go back in on Friday. Maybe I'll work with some new kids, maybe the same ones. The kids are consistent in time, but the teachers aren't, yet. We're still figuring it all out since the center very recently opened. For a first day it went very smoothly.

Happenings

I was hired on Wednesday as a Tutor for the Huntington Learning Center. It's a part time job, but something that will keep me working with kids and in practice with academics. I should hear from them in the next couple days to start setting up my schedule. What I like about the center is that they offer one on one tutoring for the children who come in and teach the skills they need to succeed, not just to get their homework done. The philosophy sounds a lot like my work at the Writing Center at WWU.

This week I also have an interview with a school district and another interview scheduled for the first week of April. As of yet I do not have three letters of recommendation from teachers at Lincoln, but I do have two student letters, two parent letters, and a letter from my mentor. I also have a notebook full of lesson plans I have used. I just need to order my placement file with my student teaching evals to give to the district as well.

The Job Hunt

I have moved to Utah and obtained my teaching license with my reading endorsement in this state as well. In the past few weeks I have killed a forest filling out applications and have two interviews scheduled in the next couple weeks and hoping to schedule a few more. At this point I have no preference for grade level, but I am really hoping that wherever I am hired I have a mentor teacher to get me through the first year. Leading a full class completely on my own is going to be quite the step and I don't think I'll be able to do it smoothly and could really use an experienced teacher's support to help me through.

If any of my Woodring cohort is still reading this, how is the hunt going? Any success yet? I hope so. I hope I'll stay in contact with you for quite awhile and share our stories.

As soon as I am hired I will let you know. In the meantime I'll probably be exploring all those links I have posted on here. I have some experience with some of them and want to get some more experience with others.

Good luck with the job hunt!

Ms. Jessica McKell