Interviews, teaching, and me
Got a job interview for this Sunday, for an ESL teaching position for the summer. Yay! Also, a job that would (ideally) be just down the street from my house, just opened up and I'll be calling those people back tomorrow morning, hopefully to schedule an interview. It's to teach computer stuff to kids over the summer. I say "ideally" it would be down the street, because just one of the locations of this camp is at this church down the street, and I'm not sure how it works or if I'd get to choose which location where I work.
Anyway, two job opportunities is a good thing... good enough to keep my mood aloft when I've just received a rejection e-mail from one of the other jobs I've interviewed for (that was I really hoping for, but not convinced I'd done a great job at the interview, so I'm not surprised). Ah, well. I'm feeling slightly better about this whole teaching thing. I think that spring break just kinda put me in a funk, since I had all that stupid TPA work to do, and I was out of the classroom for two weeks. Being back this week felt good, and even though things have been slightly rough with getting the kids to listen/respect me/behave, I'm feeling more confident in my own ability to be consistent with them and realizing that not all the problems in the classroom are necessarily my fault. Unfortunately, the classes at this school are tracked, so the lower-achieving kids are all in a class together, and the higher-achieving kids are put in class together... and it creates this situation where I have like two classes that are awesome, one class that is cool sometimes, and then one class that is just awful and it constantly feels like I am having to beg them to listen to me and show respect. *sigh* This is not a situation I have created, but I am assigned to deal with it, so I'm just doing the best I can, and I feel like I'm doing a damn good job. I subbed today for all periods, and I felt good about my strategy of promising the kids 10 minutes of free time outside if they did their best work in class beforehand. It worked really well for one class, not as well for the other... but at least it meant that I didn't have to deal with having the kids inside for the whole period when they really just wanted to be outside. It's warm and the weather outside is very attractive, so they get restless and it's hard for them to focus when it's so warm inside.
My job interview this Sunday will have some sort of "SAT English placement" test I'll have to take, and more excitingly, I'll have to present a 5-10 minute mock lecture on a high school level English subject, so they can see my teaching style. *groan* I knew I would have to do this kind of interview sometime, but that doesn't mean I'll ever feel enthusiastic about it. I'm probably going to feel nervous and I really don't know what kind of material I should present. Oh, well. If I don't get the job, at least it's good interviewing experience, and at least I have seen myself teach on a video, so I know what I do well and what I can work on. I know I can work on feeling sure of what I am going to say, and not hesitating or sounding unsure of myself at all... I think I'll practice my lesson on Rudy beforehand. :P
I'm looking forward to this evening - I'm going down to Rudy's and we're going to swim in his pool. :) I just got this new swimsuit that I'm going to try out. Then, I'm going to DJ this evening at South Bay Fusion. :) I have some new music to try out, which will be fun.
Time to go shave my legs so I can wear a skirt. :)
Anyway, two job opportunities is a good thing... good enough to keep my mood aloft when I've just received a rejection e-mail from one of the other jobs I've interviewed for (that was I really hoping for, but not convinced I'd done a great job at the interview, so I'm not surprised). Ah, well. I'm feeling slightly better about this whole teaching thing. I think that spring break just kinda put me in a funk, since I had all that stupid TPA work to do, and I was out of the classroom for two weeks. Being back this week felt good, and even though things have been slightly rough with getting the kids to listen/respect me/behave, I'm feeling more confident in my own ability to be consistent with them and realizing that not all the problems in the classroom are necessarily my fault. Unfortunately, the classes at this school are tracked, so the lower-achieving kids are all in a class together, and the higher-achieving kids are put in class together... and it creates this situation where I have like two classes that are awesome, one class that is cool sometimes, and then one class that is just awful and it constantly feels like I am having to beg them to listen to me and show respect. *sigh* This is not a situation I have created, but I am assigned to deal with it, so I'm just doing the best I can, and I feel like I'm doing a damn good job. I subbed today for all periods, and I felt good about my strategy of promising the kids 10 minutes of free time outside if they did their best work in class beforehand. It worked really well for one class, not as well for the other... but at least it meant that I didn't have to deal with having the kids inside for the whole period when they really just wanted to be outside. It's warm and the weather outside is very attractive, so they get restless and it's hard for them to focus when it's so warm inside.
My job interview this Sunday will have some sort of "SAT English placement" test I'll have to take, and more excitingly, I'll have to present a 5-10 minute mock lecture on a high school level English subject, so they can see my teaching style. *groan* I knew I would have to do this kind of interview sometime, but that doesn't mean I'll ever feel enthusiastic about it. I'm probably going to feel nervous and I really don't know what kind of material I should present. Oh, well. If I don't get the job, at least it's good interviewing experience, and at least I have seen myself teach on a video, so I know what I do well and what I can work on. I know I can work on feeling sure of what I am going to say, and not hesitating or sounding unsure of myself at all... I think I'll practice my lesson on Rudy beforehand. :P
I'm looking forward to this evening - I'm going down to Rudy's and we're going to swim in his pool. :) I just got this new swimsuit that I'm going to try out. Then, I'm going to DJ this evening at South Bay Fusion. :) I have some new music to try out, which will be fun.
Time to go shave my legs so I can wear a skirt. :)