**This is incredibly long, so if you scan through it, I won't be offended, haha**
It's about time I update this blog with my latest adventure, if you want to call it that. Part of why I haven't updated here is because I was crazy busy with my new job teaching fifth grade at a charter school here in Salt Lake. The week long training on the method of teaching called Direct Instruction was overwhelming, to say the least. Only part of it was actually training on Direct Instruction, the rest was training on other subjects. It was intense and even after all the training I had no idea what I was doing. I had some great co-workers who helped me put together my classroom and my schedule so that I could be ready for the first day of school. The other 5th grade teacher was very helpful in showing me what I needed so that I could teach the first units of all the subjects and she also set up my gradebook for me.
I remember being nervous for the first day of school and I felt like the kids knew more about how things should go than I did and they really did! Those first couple of weeks the kids were like angels and I am so grateful for that. Then after about a month or so, things started getting a little more difficult class management wise, so I asked questions and tried different things.
Coaches came in to observe me and help me with classroom management and teaching. I learned a lot from them. They gave me very good feedback and I did my best to apply what they told me to do. It took me a little while to change my attitude when it came to submitting to the fact that I would not have a life outside of work. That was hard for me. I realized that if I was to be the kind of teacher that was expected of me, I needed to work really hard to learn all the material for each of the subjects so that I would be prepared to teach every day. If that meant staying at school until almost 10 pm, then I'd do it, and I did. I learned that it takes me time, a lot of time, to figure out the best way to do things and make those adaptations. I had to figure out how to use my limited preparation time during the school day so that I could get prepared for subjects and not have to always take home ALL of the books.
In this school I had my homeroom class with various subjects and then I had a spelling class (teaching phonograms and spelling rules), math class (teaching 6th grade math), and a reading class. I had to learn how to prepare for each of those classes and figure out how to actually teach the lessons in those classes. That was probably the most difficult thing to do. All classes at APA teach using Direct Instruction which is a very fast pace choral response type of instruction. I actually really like DI. I love how I can get instant feedback and help the kids study the material as I have them repeat the information. It's supposed to be very fast, but I had a hard time with that. I learned the DI cues, which are words and phrases to elicit the children's choral responses. In Spelling and Reading, I just couldn't keep the pace up and manage the class at the same time. Spelling was my most difficult subject to teach because it was all new to me and there was a certain way I was supposed to teach it and it had to be fast. Reading was my next hardest subject, but once I figured out somethings, I was able to make it through the lessons. I felt like I was progressing there, even though I was still a little behind in it.
My favorite subject to teach was history. I may not have been perfect at DI, but the kids were engaged and they did awesome on the test! I loved telling the story and the kids asking questions that told me they were learning. We also had fun jingles that we sang to help them remember the people we were talking about. I didn't make them up, someone else did, but I loved them.
I mentioned the coaches. I was observed by coaches a lot and they gave me feedback which I tried to apply. Everyone who knows me knows that I get defensive at first when I'm corrected, but I am getting better at that, too!! Anyway, sometime at the beginning of September I met with the director to make the goals of being prepared to teach and having 100% participation. I did everything in my power and ability to meet those goals and I was told by coaches I was improving. Coaches came and gave me more feedback, even more positive than before. At the end of September, they switched the instructor in my classroom and things got a little crazy, but I still did what I thought I was supposed to do. I was having to learn the curriculum as I taught it, so I was going through it a little slower than veteran teachers, but I was still teaching everything that was required. I think I was about a week behind in a of couple subjects.
The week after the switched my instructor, they told me that they were going to be video taping me teaching for "demo" purposes. I knew better than that, though, so it really made me nervous and definitely affected my teaching. After the initial day of recording, one of the IT guys asked if I'd deleted the recording, which shocked me because I absolutely did not even go near the computer that was recording me. He said that they'd have to record me again that day. In retrospect, I wonder if it didn't actually get deleted and if they just wanted to see my reaction or something. I felt that I did much better teaching on the second day, but after being recorded, the main school director came to observe me in one of my classes. It of course wasn't my best class for her to observe and she did make me nervous, although I at the time really didn't think it was really that big of a deal that she was there. I had no idea they were thinking of firing me.
I spent time Conference weekend to get myself ready for the coming week and I felt like I was prepared and make a lot of progress on the goals I'd set with them. However, they thought differently. I had no idea that they were going to fire me until right after school on Friday the director asked me to come to her office and I walked in to see the HR director, then I knew. They said that they expected me to be at a certain place by the end of the term and I wasn't there. They said that they understood going from preschool to fifth grade is a learning curve, but that maybe teaching at that school the curve was too steep for me. They said that I don't have an authoritative presence in the classroom. That point was kind of unfair in my opinion mainly because the day before me and the other 5th grade teacher and the director had talked about how all the 5th graders this year were very difficult to manage and we came up with strategies of how we can manage the classes. I immediately started to implement those things on Friday, but then I was fired. She also said that it was concerning that I was having to learn the curriculum and thus not really teaching the kids to mastery because I didn't know the material myself. I talked briefly with a co-worker in the parking lot before I left and she said that she thinks they probably had a certain negative opinion of me and my abilities to teach from the beginning and it stuck and I couldn't change it no matter how hard I worked.
I just felt blindsided and like I was not being given a fair chance or enough time to really learn the ways of teaching there. It was the worst feeling to have thought of many ways I could adapt my teaching to help the kids and just have it stop suddenly. I felt like I was leaving something unfinished. It was humiliating to have to be escorted to my classroom by one of my directors and have him stand there watching me as I cried and packed up my things. All I wanted was time alone to process it and kind of say "goodbye" to my classroom, but with him there I couldn't do that. He then escorted me to my car. By looking at the dates on the pay stub of my last pay check I learned that they'd already decided to fire me before we had discussed the day before about things we could do as a team to manage the 5th graders better. Little did I know that they thought firing me was part of that solution. It really stinks.
Needless to say, that weekend stunk. Despite how I was feeling, I still went out on a date that I'd planned earlier that week. It was good because it was a fun activity and the guy is a good friend. That night I immediately started looking online for jobs via different sites I used during the summer to find a job. I also texted some friends and posted on facebook about looking for a job. I even emailed schools that had called me for interviews during the summer after I'd already accepted the new job. The hardest part was figuring how to explain why I was fired from my last job in a honest, but positive way.
A week ago (last Sunday), I got a facebook message from the parent of one of my preschoolers from about 4 years ago or so. The message had a screen shot of a conversation with one of her friends who is a teacher. He said that his school was actually looking for a 3rd grade teacher! He explained that the 3rd grade teacher had died suddenly the week or so before. He gave the contact information of the principal and then said to not mention that he is the one who told about the open position because he was sure that the position wasn't even posted yet because it had just barely happened.
I jumped on it and emailed the principal that day. On Monday I went to observe at a charter school in Draper that one of my friends works at. I took along my resume since they had an opening for a 5th grade teacher there. The principal allowed me to observe some classes, which was awesome. It was interesting to see how similar they were to APA, but they were not nearly as strict or uniform in regards to how teachers handled classroom management. That afternoon, I decided to stop by the school that had the 3rd grade teaching position open. I hoped to observe some classes there because it was a public school, which I knew would likely be very different than the charter schools I'd been in and seen. The principal wasn't there, so I couldn't observe, but I did leave my resume and a note expressing my desire to observe and apply for any open positions. I then stopped by another charter school that's by my house, but once again, the principal wasn't there, so I couldn't observe any classes.
On Tuesday I woke up to a phone call from the Granite School District HR department saying that the principal from the elementary school with the 3rd grade position wanted to interview me!! Whoohoo! She said to expect an email, which came right after I got off the phone. She wanted to interview me on the coming Monday. I replied asking if I could come in that day or on Monday to observe some classes because I knew it would help me. She replied saying to come at 3 pm and so as to not waste my time, she'd interview me at 3:30 PM. Sweet nectar!
When I got there, we talked in her office for a little bit. She explained about the teacher dying and how my email and my coming in the day before with my resume really served as a kind of wake up call, and without saying it, a kind of answer to prayer, for her to know that she needed to move on and fill the position. She was baffled at my timing, but I laughed inwardly knowing that I couldn't tell her that one of her teachers had told me about the opening and that's why I was there.
She then told me about how the previous week she'd talked to the kids about how they would have to get a new teacher. They wanted to be a part of the hiring process, so they made a list of the qualities they wanted in their new teacher. I wish I could remember what was on the list, but it was really cute. I looked at it and felt I qualified. :) Then the principal took me to the 3rd graders (the kids I would be teaching if I were to be hired) and they were given time to interview me. The first question was "Are you helpful?" Satisfied with my answer, the child then said that he would hire me. I was also asked if I was fun and if I would decorate the classroom for Halloween. For the last one, I looked at the principal and said I didn't know, I'd have to ask if I could do that. The principal was impressed with that one. They also asked if I'd taught 3rd grade before. At one point a child shouted out, "Our teacher DIED!!" We completely ignored it and afterwards the principal thanked me for not responding to it. I figure it wasn't the time to really talk about that.
I then was interviewed like normal by the principal and some of the other 3rd grade teachers. I was able to honestly talk about why I was fired and able to spin it in a positive way by focusing on how I didn't teach as quickly because I was more concerned about teaching the kids to mastery. The answers to the other questions came quickly and I am so grateful for that. The principal said I'd know by the next afternoon since they'd be going on fall break after that.
Well, I went on a hike the next morning thinking that if they called, it wouldn't be until the afternoon. But while I was on the hike, I thought I heard my cell phone. I don't normally have my sound on or answer it for that matter on hikes, but somehow I had turned it on and somehow I'd heard it while hiking. I'd missed the call and when I tried calling back, I had no signal. I decided to walk down a few feet to where I knew I'd heard it ring and try again. It worked! I called back and it was the principal asking if I'd like to teach at Taylorsville Elementary. Absolutely!! I couldn't believe it! She said I seemed like I would be a good fit with the other teachers on the team. I was in shock the rest of the hike and didn't want to tell anyone about it until I knew it was for real. Later that day, the HR person called and said I could come in to sign the paperwork. So, 24 hours after my interview, I already had a name badge and signed a contract. I accepted the position before I even knew the salary or benefits. When I saw the salary, I realized it was almost $5,000 more than what my salary was at APA. That means I will be making almost $12,000 more than what I was making when I worked at Head Start. It's so amazing how that works. This has been an incredibly rough road, but I know that the Lord has guided me and miraculously helped me each step of the way.
Now tomorrow is my first day teaching in a public school as a 3rd grade teacher and I am terrified!!! I'm sure I can do it, but considering all that's happened, my confidence is a little shaken. I feel like it's a miracle that I got a job so quickly, especially since it's the middle of October. God has a plan and I need to trust Him and have the faith that He has in me.
