My life has been absolutely crazy since I last posted!!!! Let's talk about it :)
So...I did not start the school year as a teacher, I did not get offered any position. I decided the next best bet would be to be a building sub (which is a substitute that is assigned to one building permanently and comes to work every day and fills in where needed). They got a COVID-related emergency grant to pay them more, since no one was outsiders to come into buildings to sub. I was happily accepted back at the school I was at last year and was excited to take this on and get more experience (so I could be taken more seriously as a teacher rather than a paraprofessional).
Now begins the rollarcoaster that was September 2020.
Now begins the rollarcoaster that was September 2020.
I got asked by the deputy superindendent via my principal to be a 1st grade distance teacher for my school and 2 other closeby schools! When I asked about pay increase and those details, I got told by someone in human resources that a building sub cannot be a distance teacher (even though I was licensed). So I resigned to the fact that I would be a building sub and hopefully considered for the 2nd grade teacher position that would be open at the end of the year.
Then, the middle of the week before kids were due to return, I was informed that one of the preschool teachers put in her 2 weeks and would be transitioning me to the position with her remaining time (they couldn't give me the position because I needed a SPED license). So I helped the teacher prepare her at home bags of materials, contacted the students' parents and told them of the switch, and met the students on Friday and Monday to give them these bags.
Monday night, I recieved a call from my prinicpal saying the deputy superintendent once again asked if I would be a 1st grade distance teacher, this time for 3 other schools. My first thought was "for real this time?" and I said as such. My prinicpal laughed and agreed that this has been a crazy rollercoaster. She said it was for real.
Tuesday comes and I go to work as normal, principal asks if I've been given any direction (NOPE) and told me I should email deputy super. I got the shock of being told "yes, thank you for agreeing to take the position, you will be based at this other school, the principal is already aware, get your things and head over. My prinicpal called the other principal to confirm. So I had about 15/20 minutes, I gathered my things and said some select goodbyes and plugged the new school into my GPS (and got lost, cuz they are in a new building and I got the wrong address from google lol)
Arrive at new school and I already know the principal :) she says that they are finalizing where to put me but the counselor will give me a tour. This happened (the school is pretty big) but the counselor and I both found it crazy that I was arriving and kids start online TOMORROW!!! I get my office and my laptop set up and just go in autopilot mind figuring out what I had to get done for the kiddos: importing them into Google Classroom, checking my list and making sure it was accurate, probably setting up the parent communication app, and oh yeah figuring out what on earth to do for their first day!
Because I'm writing this a year and a half later, I'll spare you all the boring details of how my first year teaching and teaching first grade online went, but here are some highlights:
- worked with an amazing team of teachers who were always ready to help
- worked with an amazingly fantastic teaching and learning specialist who sat with me every day
- made my best school friend, who was the ESL teacher I worked with (had 7 English learners)
- made bags of materials monthly for parents to pickup so the kiddos had some semblance of normal
- did well on my observations
- felt the most myself I have felt in the education system
- wore Friday minnie ears and no one batted an eye
- also my principal liked me so much, she had me interview for an open position at the school :)
Then, the middle of the week before kids were due to return, I was informed that one of the preschool teachers put in her 2 weeks and would be transitioning me to the position with her remaining time (they couldn't give me the position because I needed a SPED license). So I helped the teacher prepare her at home bags of materials, contacted the students' parents and told them of the switch, and met the students on Friday and Monday to give them these bags.
Monday night, I recieved a call from my prinicpal saying the deputy superintendent once again asked if I would be a 1st grade distance teacher, this time for 3 other schools. My first thought was "for real this time?" and I said as such. My prinicpal laughed and agreed that this has been a crazy rollercoaster. She said it was for real.
Tuesday comes and I go to work as normal, principal asks if I've been given any direction (NOPE) and told me I should email deputy super. I got the shock of being told "yes, thank you for agreeing to take the position, you will be based at this other school, the principal is already aware, get your things and head over. My prinicpal called the other principal to confirm. So I had about 15/20 minutes, I gathered my things and said some select goodbyes and plugged the new school into my GPS (and got lost, cuz they are in a new building and I got the wrong address from google lol)
Arrive at new school and I already know the principal :) she says that they are finalizing where to put me but the counselor will give me a tour. This happened (the school is pretty big) but the counselor and I both found it crazy that I was arriving and kids start online TOMORROW!!! I get my office and my laptop set up and just go in autopilot mind figuring out what I had to get done for the kiddos: importing them into Google Classroom, checking my list and making sure it was accurate, probably setting up the parent communication app, and oh yeah figuring out what on earth to do for their first day!
Because I'm writing this a year and a half later, I'll spare you all the boring details of how my first year teaching and teaching first grade online went, but here are some highlights:
- worked with an amazing team of teachers who were always ready to help
- worked with an amazingly fantastic teaching and learning specialist who sat with me every day
- made my best school friend, who was the ESL teacher I worked with (had 7 English learners)
- made bags of materials monthly for parents to pickup so the kiddos had some semblance of normal
- did well on my observations
- felt the most myself I have felt in the education system
- wore Friday minnie ears and no one batted an eye
- also my principal liked me so much, she had me interview for an open position at the school :)
September 2021 and I am preparing my first classroom! I am a preschool teacher now and loving it more than I thought I would.
We also got our first house in March, so we were pretty busy. I finally got my first tattoo last year and it is the acronym for everything happens for a reason, because it really does.
Needless to say, all of this is why I have not posted in awhile (I started this post last February and its New Years 2022!)
PS: I'm no longer a twenty-something, I'm like a real adult...ahhhhhh lol
We also got our first house in March, so we were pretty busy. I finally got my first tattoo last year and it is the acronym for everything happens for a reason, because it really does.
Needless to say, all of this is why I have not posted in awhile (I started this post last February and its New Years 2022!)
PS: I'm no longer a twenty-something, I'm like a real adult...ahhhhhh lol