Progress on job searching
I'm still processing the three job interviews I had yesterday. Not one of them is a "dream job," but what if my "dream job" doesn't come through?
The first interview was for Chino Valley High just northwest of Prescott, a place I've heard about but never visited. Wanting to save me a 4-5 hour drive, we did the interview just like any other teaching job interview (with a panel and canned questions) only via webcam instead of in person.It went very well, and they seemed very inclined to offer me the position, only the principal has to check references and calculate salary to make a solid offer. It looks likely to pay about what my base salary is now ($38,285 not counting Prop 301 and CDP monies), and they'd even toss in a sign-on bonus to help with moving costs. Now that's something I've never heard of for teaching positions, and it makes me feel all warm and tingly inside at the very consideration. For the life of me, I cannot recall what the position would be, though I'm fairly certain it would involve only one prep. Oh, and they're on a 4-day week with 144 (?) days with seven periods (one of which would be a plan period, of course). Still sounds like less work than I already do except 5-7 days a week here. It's an improvement even if not for salary purposes, and I'm still unsure about that.
Then I drove to Coolidge, which is a pretty dusty nondescript town that has little to offer except perhaps its proximity to Casa Grande and Phoenix burbs like Chandler, San Tan, and Queen Creek. You know how you see those huge signs when you enter a small town: "Welcome to Paulding, Home of the Panthers," or "Tucson, Home of the Wildcats." Well, when you arrive at Coolidge after miles and miles of dusty and flat (albeit often irrigated agricultural) desert, you are welcomed by a sign reading, "Coolidge, Home of the Casa Grande Ruins." I realize this refers to a national monument, but that's not where my mind went, as well you may imagine. "Ruins" for a mascot? Seems about right. The school is nearly brand new, well-designed, and pretty well-equipped, unlike many charter schools I've seen and heard about. That interview when exceptionally well, and I immediately fell into a friendly and inspired rapport with the principal and assistant principal. I had a lot of questions, though I completed failed to ask about retirement plans, since I don't think charters can pay into ASRS. I need to fire off an email before Monday, I guess. Because they are a charter run by local administrators, there is no governing board and no salary schedule; they can offer whatever they feel is appropriate and do not need to have anything approved by anyone else to make an offer, and so the principal made an offer of $40k. Of course, I'm interested, though now I'm wondering if, like Chino Valley, this would be just a lateral move as far as salary goes. There are lots of other ways that it would be an improvement -- a collaborative environment, parental support, access to Title I funding, and a bunch of other considerations. I think I would fit in well and would be very happy there, but... well, it is Coolidge. I could maybe find a small house to rent in town, but if it's affordable, it's probably a dump, and all the apartments (those that are not income-based, that is) would be 20-40 minutes away. *sigh*
Finally, I made my way back to Tucson and the Westward Look Resort, where the head of the Basis school in Flagstaff was at meetings and wanted to meet with me before she headed back to Flagstaff. I met with her and a gentleman whose name I do not recall who shares responsibility for the school -- apparently they have an administrative head and an educational head, which is a nice arrangement. (Most principals try to wear both hats and seldom balance the two effectively.) She seemed pretty agreeable by telephone and email, but when we met in person, I was pretty uncomfortable. It's hard to put my finger on it, but neither she nor the gentleman ever smiled or reacted in any warm sense at all throughout our 40-60 minute conversation. Just. Deadpan. Before long, I was having trouble making eye contact and getting fidgety, and a couple of times I just sort of lost track of where I was headed in responding to a question. Nothing like a derailment with an unsmiling interviewer to make me lose confidence in myself and question my expertise. I did answer honestly about assuming duties for extracurricular activities -- admitting that my experience may be limited with (for example) debate, but I'm very interested and willing to learn whatever I need to handle it. I don't think she was buying any of it. She also had me worried when discussing curriculum. I know it's rigorous at Basis, but I got the sense she was trying to tell me I was going to have to do what I'm told, and I started to wonder if teaching there would be restrictive and not allow me to exercise any creativity or be flexible. All in all, it just didn't feel right for me. I suspect they'll be contacting me to tell me they're not entertaining me as a viable candidate, but if they are, I have no idea what the next step in the process will be. A lesson demo? I did hand off my writing samples and list of references at the end; she never asked me for them, which I suspect speaks volumes.
Next Wednesday I have an interview with San Lorenzo Valley High, which is the position that I really covet: 0.4 English, 0.6 Digital Literacy. I will have a writing prompt which will be sent to me at 8:40 and I have to complete before a 9:10 Skype interview. Contrary to what I'd been told before the lesson plan and presentation may be a bit problematic: "Please provide a link of a 10 minute video of you teaching a High School English Lesson incorporating technology tools, please provide an appropriate Lesson Plan with the video." It'll have to be a hypothetical demo; I have no way to plan and record 10 minutes of a lesson with school out and no students. I'm thinking of adapting a plan I used a few years ago where students debated an issue using Wikispaces, but maybe I should fall back on my virtual literature circle work since I had five years, collaboration, and workshop presentations to work out kinks. It would be a long plan (6-9 weeks), but I was thinking I could create a Prezi wherein I introduce and provide an overview of the project for students. If nothing else, I will finally get to dip my toe into Prezi and create one for myself; so far, I haven't actually created my own Prezi, though I've had some students use it. I really do need to play around with it. I'm thinking I might be able somehow to click through it using Jing or something (I think Jing limits me to a 3-minute presentation for the free version) while I narrate through it and make a video of it. I don't want to just use PowerPoint with narration, but that's sort of what I'm thinking. Hm. I'm open to ideas, so if you've read this far and you have suggestions or feedback -- or if you'd like to help me brainstorm, let me know.
I'm going to head down to the D-M U-Haul store to see if I can snag some specialty boxes for things like flat-screen TVs, pictures, etc. Time for a break from working at the puter.
The first interview was for Chino Valley High just northwest of Prescott, a place I've heard about but never visited. Wanting to save me a 4-5 hour drive, we did the interview just like any other teaching job interview (with a panel and canned questions) only via webcam instead of in person.It went very well, and they seemed very inclined to offer me the position, only the principal has to check references and calculate salary to make a solid offer. It looks likely to pay about what my base salary is now ($38,285 not counting Prop 301 and CDP monies), and they'd even toss in a sign-on bonus to help with moving costs. Now that's something I've never heard of for teaching positions, and it makes me feel all warm and tingly inside at the very consideration. For the life of me, I cannot recall what the position would be, though I'm fairly certain it would involve only one prep. Oh, and they're on a 4-day week with 144 (?) days with seven periods (one of which would be a plan period, of course). Still sounds like less work than I already do except 5-7 days a week here. It's an improvement even if not for salary purposes, and I'm still unsure about that.
Then I drove to Coolidge, which is a pretty dusty nondescript town that has little to offer except perhaps its proximity to Casa Grande and Phoenix burbs like Chandler, San Tan, and Queen Creek. You know how you see those huge signs when you enter a small town: "Welcome to Paulding, Home of the Panthers," or "Tucson, Home of the Wildcats." Well, when you arrive at Coolidge after miles and miles of dusty and flat (albeit often irrigated agricultural) desert, you are welcomed by a sign reading, "Coolidge, Home of the Casa Grande Ruins." I realize this refers to a national monument, but that's not where my mind went, as well you may imagine. "Ruins" for a mascot? Seems about right. The school is nearly brand new, well-designed, and pretty well-equipped, unlike many charter schools I've seen and heard about. That interview when exceptionally well, and I immediately fell into a friendly and inspired rapport with the principal and assistant principal. I had a lot of questions, though I completed failed to ask about retirement plans, since I don't think charters can pay into ASRS. I need to fire off an email before Monday, I guess. Because they are a charter run by local administrators, there is no governing board and no salary schedule; they can offer whatever they feel is appropriate and do not need to have anything approved by anyone else to make an offer, and so the principal made an offer of $40k. Of course, I'm interested, though now I'm wondering if, like Chino Valley, this would be just a lateral move as far as salary goes. There are lots of other ways that it would be an improvement -- a collaborative environment, parental support, access to Title I funding, and a bunch of other considerations. I think I would fit in well and would be very happy there, but... well, it is Coolidge. I could maybe find a small house to rent in town, but if it's affordable, it's probably a dump, and all the apartments (those that are not income-based, that is) would be 20-40 minutes away. *sigh*
Finally, I made my way back to Tucson and the Westward Look Resort, where the head of the Basis school in Flagstaff was at meetings and wanted to meet with me before she headed back to Flagstaff. I met with her and a gentleman whose name I do not recall who shares responsibility for the school -- apparently they have an administrative head and an educational head, which is a nice arrangement. (Most principals try to wear both hats and seldom balance the two effectively.) She seemed pretty agreeable by telephone and email, but when we met in person, I was pretty uncomfortable. It's hard to put my finger on it, but neither she nor the gentleman ever smiled or reacted in any warm sense at all throughout our 40-60 minute conversation. Just. Deadpan. Before long, I was having trouble making eye contact and getting fidgety, and a couple of times I just sort of lost track of where I was headed in responding to a question. Nothing like a derailment with an unsmiling interviewer to make me lose confidence in myself and question my expertise. I did answer honestly about assuming duties for extracurricular activities -- admitting that my experience may be limited with (for example) debate, but I'm very interested and willing to learn whatever I need to handle it. I don't think she was buying any of it. She also had me worried when discussing curriculum. I know it's rigorous at Basis, but I got the sense she was trying to tell me I was going to have to do what I'm told, and I started to wonder if teaching there would be restrictive and not allow me to exercise any creativity or be flexible. All in all, it just didn't feel right for me. I suspect they'll be contacting me to tell me they're not entertaining me as a viable candidate, but if they are, I have no idea what the next step in the process will be. A lesson demo? I did hand off my writing samples and list of references at the end; she never asked me for them, which I suspect speaks volumes.
Next Wednesday I have an interview with San Lorenzo Valley High, which is the position that I really covet: 0.4 English, 0.6 Digital Literacy. I will have a writing prompt which will be sent to me at 8:40 and I have to complete before a 9:10 Skype interview. Contrary to what I'd been told before the lesson plan and presentation may be a bit problematic: "Please provide a link of a 10 minute video of you teaching a High School English Lesson incorporating technology tools, please provide an appropriate Lesson Plan with the video." It'll have to be a hypothetical demo; I have no way to plan and record 10 minutes of a lesson with school out and no students. I'm thinking of adapting a plan I used a few years ago where students debated an issue using Wikispaces, but maybe I should fall back on my virtual literature circle work since I had five years, collaboration, and workshop presentations to work out kinks. It would be a long plan (6-9 weeks), but I was thinking I could create a Prezi wherein I introduce and provide an overview of the project for students. If nothing else, I will finally get to dip my toe into Prezi and create one for myself; so far, I haven't actually created my own Prezi, though I've had some students use it. I really do need to play around with it. I'm thinking I might be able somehow to click through it using Jing or something (I think Jing limits me to a 3-minute presentation for the free version) while I narrate through it and make a video of it. I don't want to just use PowerPoint with narration, but that's sort of what I'm thinking. Hm. I'm open to ideas, so if you've read this far and you have suggestions or feedback -- or if you'd like to help me brainstorm, let me know.
I'm going to head down to the D-M U-Haul store to see if I can snag some specialty boxes for things like flat-screen TVs, pictures, etc. Time for a break from working at the puter.