Find Teaching Jobs

Looking for your First (or Next) Teaching Job?

Finding a job in today’s economic environment is a daunting task at best. With the nationwide cuts in school funding and local school budget shortfalls, for many teachers the task is downright Herculean.

There are dozens of books, web sites that offer suggestions and tips for teacher job applicants.

I would like to recommend the Job Search Handbook for Educators published by AAEE, The American Association for Employment in Education, Inc. This excellent handbook, published in the late spring annually, provide a wealth of information for the job seeker. Readers will find articles on topics ranging from how to dress for an interview, resume preparation, preparing demonstration lessons and even teaching abroad. A number of the advertisers are school districts that are actively recruiting.

The Job Search Handbook is available at many university career centers and colleges of education. Individuals seeking a copy can order one through www.aaee.org. The cost is $15.

An excellent book that has been a perennial job-seeker favorite is What Color is Your Parachute by Richard Bolles. While not specifically geared to teachers, Bolles prepares the reader to  go on an exhaustive and thorough search of all avenues possible l to land a solid job.

http://teacher-teacher.net/ Is another solid  site for  K- 12 teaching jobs. This site not  only  provides links to domestic teaching openings but also has links to overseas job opportunities

http://www.dodea.edu/home/ The United Dates Department of Defense operates its own education program and employees teachers for schools that service children of US military personnel overseas. In addition to competitive salaries, there are a host of fringe benefits that include, medical care, a housing allowance, a pension program and in some cases transportation of personal belongings to the overseas site.

Other sites you may wish to investigate are www. teachingjobs.com which focuses solely on jobs by states. Additionally you may wish to visit www.educationworld.net which not only has a link to aid in your job search, but a library of public domain classis ( i.e., Call of the Wild)

Moving Up to Post Secondary Education

If you are considering a switch to college teaching, I would want to recommend two web sites. http://www.higheredjobs.com/ allows the viewers to scan jobs by state, academic discipline or full or part time status.

The ultimate source for college teaching and administration jobs is the Chronicle of Higher Education. This periodical, published weekly is often available at community as well as university libraries. There is also an on line version. http://chronicle.com/section/Jobs/61/. This link will take you directly to the job search site.

April is Math Awareness Month

Math- April is Math Awareness Month

The last time I taught a math class, the film “Donald Duck in Mathemagic Land” was still quite popular. Produced in 1959, this Oscar nominated 27 minute film was probably of the best education films to come out of the Disney organization. It was supposed to be the best way to get young students interested in mathematics. The federal government was in a quandary after falling behind to the Soviets in the space race. The National Defense Education Act was enacted in an effort to get America students to catch up in the areas of math and science.

Here we are fifty years later and America school students are still behind in mathematics.

Think about it. Math is a required subject in almost every grade level. Math is always a tested subject on state assessment programs and is a high school graduation requirement. Math is an integral part of both the SAT and ACT exams. Math problems can also be found in placement test for the military.

Computers provided a major paradigm shift in how students approach math problems and opened up new avenues for teachers to teach new math skills as well as to reinforce previously learned skills.

I would like to share with some web sites that might be useful as classroom aids and in getting your students to like math.

Aplusmath.com offers a variety of helpful tools. Student can make their own flashcards and print out worksheets for all major mathematic principles. There is also a Homework Helper tool and as assortment of mathematic puzzles. ( www.aplusmath.com)

Another useful site is mathgoodies.com. This site provides interactive math instruction. mathgoodies.blogspot.com

Would You Want You For a Teacher?

Would You Want You For a Teacher?

As we approach the end of the school year it is time to reflect on you accomplishments. Was this your first year as a teacher? Or is this your final year as you approach retirement. Has teaching been your chosen career from the beginning or did you choose teaching a career change or to capstone a career in public service.

This is time for a little reflection.

ü  What goals did you set out to achieve?

ü  What have been your accomplishments?

ü  What have been your greatest disappointments?

ü  What were your failures?

ü  Have you created plans to make next year a better and more productive one?

ü  Are you considering leaving the profession because it was unfulfilling?

ü  Did you work to change the lives of your students in a positive way?

In reflecting on the 2010-2011 school year and your performance in the classroom ask you self this question. Would you want to be a student in your class?

If your answer to this question is no, it is time to do some serious soul searching about yourself and your commitment to the education profession. There may have been some circumstances way beyond your control.  Perhaps you are in a school with a high transiency rate and it was nearly impossible to have a core of students in your class every day. You were searching for a consistency that was never there. Maybe there was some tragedy in your class, a death in a student’s family for example that served as a distraction. But there are other issues that are teacher centered. Were you focused on making your students a success? Were you able to engage your class (es) in educational activities that were challenging, exciting in an enthusiastic manner?

It is not too early to begin thinking about the 2011-2012 school year. Prepare a list of the positives and negatives of this year. From that you can begin check list of things that you can do this summer to prepare for next year. It is extremely important to reinvigorate yourself and recharge your pedagogical batteries this summer so that you will all set to enter the next school year with an infectious zeal that will spread to your students.

National Library Week

Celebrate National Library Week April 10-16, 2011

B.O.O.K (Body of Organized Knowledge)

When we think of a library we usually think of books. But today’s libraries offer so much more. Students can gain access to the Internet what will open up infinite possibilities to explore and obtain information, much more than any school library could ever hope to hold.  Libraries often subscribe to periodicals when students can read about other points of view, see pictures of people and places from around the globe.

National Library Week, sponsored nationally by the American Library Association, is a great opportunity to arrange for a class trip to your school library or your community library. It is adventure when students can read the great classics (Mark Twain, Shakespeare) or read about the latest interest sites and games. Perhaps they can obtain a CD that will help them learn a new language. Books can expand the horizons of students, challenge their intellectual capabilities.

Students can also get an opportunity to learn what a fantastic resource a librarian can.  She or he is not just a resource for the sources for your next term paper or book report.

Suggested Activities:

§  Great opportunity for a Read- A- Thon.

§  Have students dress up as their favorite literary character.

§   Hold library trivia contest.

§  Scavenger hunt (Who can find the oldest book in the library, the most books by one author).

§  Invite a local author to speak about their work and what it takes to write a book.

§  Have students “write and publish” a book and donate it to the library.

Libraries are in integral part of any school’s curriculum and community libraries should be a focal point of a town. They can provide outreach services such as assistance with a career search, getting into college, and tax preparation information.

Get involved! Happy National Library Week!

Teachers and Social Networking Sites

Beware of the “Drunken Pirate!”

Stacey Snyder was a 25 year old senior education major at Millersville University in Pennsylvania and was assigned to Conestoga Valley High School for her student teaching. During that time Snyder posted a photo of herself on MySpace clad in a pirate hat with a cup in her hand. She labeled the photo “Drunken Pirate” and told her students at the school about her web page. When school and university officials learned of Snyder’s MySpace photo, they took action. Conestoga High School terminated her student teaching assignment and the university refused to issue her education degree and did not recommend her for Pennsylvania state certification.  Snyder sued the university, claiming that her First Amendment rights had been violated. The case, Stacey Snyder, Plaintiff v. Millersville University (No. 07-1660) was heard in US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on December 3^rd, 2008. The court ruled in favor of the university.

I share this story with you as more and more school districts are checking social networking sites of both current and prospective employees. Numerous other civil liberties cases involving teachers had made their way through the courts since the 1970’s. The essence of many if these cases is that teachers, by nature of their work are held to higher ethical standards than the general population. They have been entrusted with the lives and education of America’s youth and as such need to present a high moral and ethical posture in the public eye.  Social networking sites like Face Book, MySpace, YouTube, LinkedIn, etc are not private.  Additionally, most posts in cyberspace are permanent and cannot usually be “unposted.”

At the university where I worked, the director of the Student Services Center developed a PowerPoint presentation about the dangers of teachers (or student teachers) posting material on social networking sites. If anything, please let this blog post be a reminder to you to clean up your social networking sites and to not invite your students to “visit” your pages. In this current politically charged environment, which is so hostile to teachers and the teaching profession, do not give the attackers any more ammunition.

A complete posting of the court decision can be found at:

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/Decision%202008.12.03.pdf

Teaching about the Civil War

Civil War Sesquicentennial

April 12, 2011 will mark the 150th anniversary of the firing on Fort Sumter, SC, launching the beginning of the long and bloody American Civil War. The war that pitted family members against each other ended in the loss of over 600,000 lives, making it the deadliest war in US history. For the next four years, reenactments of battles, commemorations at battlefields and new exhibitions will take place across the country. These events will create excellent teachable moments to provide lessons about the war, as well as the economic and social impact it placed on the country. There will be numerous opportunities for students of all grade levels to explore this significant part of our history. There will be opportunities to focus not just on maps and dates, but music and literature as well.

There is also an abundance of information available through the Internet. A good place to start is the site

www.teachinghistory.org

One of the most outstanding web sites that I have reviewed has been created by The National Archives. The site www.Docsteach.org  has a wealth of primary sources that can be used with the readily available tools to create specific lessons that address such learning skills as sequencing of events, data interpretation, as well as map reading and interpretation skills. You should spend a great deal of time with this site (5 stars).

Another site worth viewing is www.civilwar.com.

Planning a field trip? The web site www.civilwartravelers.com is an excellent source of information about battlefield, historical monuments and markers as well as forts. The information is organized by state. A great resource if you and your students are up for a planning an excursion.

Books to Read

If you are to read only one book about the Civil War, I would strongly recommend James McPherson’s Pulitzer Prize winner, Battle Cry of Freedom. Originally published in 1988, this volume is the definitive work on the topic, by one of America’s most notable historians.

( Photo credit- Library of Congress  LC B811-465A)

Testing Time in America

It’s all about the test.

 Call it whatever you want- Iowa test of Basic Skills, California Achievement Test, FCAT, HSPT, etc. If it’s spring it must be testing season. Many of you have been prepping your students since the first day of school. Other may have been” pushing “your students as the testing dates draw near.  The high stakes tests have wide reaching implications. For a school district, test scores are used as litmus test to determine whether a school has met its AYP (yearly progress) according to the guidelines of the No Child Left Behind Act. For some teachers, their salary increments or even their jobs may hinge on the outcomes of their students performance on statewide assessment tests.

( As of this date, the state of Florida is trying to implement such a program)

For the students, testing is a time of fear and anxiety, for in some instances it may determine promotion to the next grade or inclusion in such programs as gifted and talented. Some students get physically sick as a result of the stress placed on them by testing.

What can teachers do to aid their students in becoming successful test takers? And more philosophically what can teachers do to demonstrate that learning is more than just preparing for the test? In some schools many programs have been cut (art, music, any subject not on test) to make time for test preparation.

An excellent article that evaluates both sides of the high stakes testing argument was written by Alina Saminsky. The article entitled “High Stakes Standardized Testing: a Panacea or a Pest?” The article can be retrieved from www.studentpulsed.com

http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3192 (Scholastic on line- Prepare students for standardized tests)

Probably one the most dynamic and vocal opponents to standardized testing is Alfie Kohn. I strongly recommend that you read his article “Standardized Testing and its Victims” that appeared in the September 27^th, 2000 issue of Education Week http://www.alfiekohn.org/teaching/edweek/staiv.htm

As always your comments and input are welcome.