Job Search

So, I've been done with student teaching for almost three months now (hard to believe!). And I've gotten pretty comfortable with the subbing groove. Don't get me wrong, subbing is a great gig, and I love getting to peek into all of the different classrooms. However, I'm at that point where I would like a full (or part) time job for next year. I'd like to have the promise of income, benefits, etc. I'd also like to be able to go to bed each night knowing whether or not I will be working the next day. And, I'd like to work with the same group of students so that I could build relationships and perhaps make a difference. 

The job market, however, is a little discouraging. People are full of stories about district cutbacks, teacher layoffs, and the ever helpful story about a niece, cousin, dog's next door neighbor's son's wife, etc that has a degree in Special Ed and has been looking for a job for the last three years and cannot find one (always an upper, thanks for that). 

I'm trying to stay positive. I know that schools are beginning to post vacancies, and new ones are showing up every day. I check those listings several times a day, I tune into all the rumors about districts that are and might be hiring, and I'm applying for every job that is posted within an hour and a half from here.

The applications themselves are daunting. They should have had a class on what to expect from a district application. At least five open answer questions about discipline, lesson planning, students, educational philosophy, IEPs, transition, differentiated instruction, behavior management, and theories of education, more than one that I've had to google. (And not to sound snotty, but seriously, if in four years of teacher training at one of the best teacher training colleges in the Midwest, I didn't come across the theory, not even a mention of it, can it really be that important? I've spent hours flipping through binders from classes, looking for materials to include in my portfolio.

My interview clothes are hanging up and ready to go. I'm tweaking my professional portfolio and studying interview questions. I'm waiting for that phone to ring, and it sits silent.

It cheers me a little that I've yet to apply for a job that I'm super excited for. I've applied for some good jobs, but nothing that makes me think, "man, I have to get this job." I know I just have to be patient and wait...and wait...and wait...

Maybe I'll go check the postings another time.

An Omen of Doom?

So I casted on for the Yggdrasil Blanket, a wedding gift for a dear, dear friend. I've been worrying that the project is too big, too complicated, or too hard for me to complete in time, but I figured that I would never know until I tried.

I sat myself down on the couch, with my yarn, needles, and pattern. the cast on method was one that I had never done before, but I read the directions carefully, reversed them to meet my left-handed needs and gave it a go...and failed.

So, I took a deep breath, re-read the directions and tried again...another fail.

Well, maybe I was making a mistake while reversing the directions. Now, I can knit both right and left handedly (though I'm pretty sure that handedly is not a word), I'm just much more comfortable and faster knitting left handed, but no matter, I'll just cast on with my right hand and do it that way. I re-read the directions one more time, took another breath...and failed.

Okay, at this point, I'm forced to admit there is a problem, so I got up, switched the laundry and cracked open a diet coke. Now my head is cleared, and the whites are in the dryer (important as husband informed me this morning he needs some clean socks) and I have some caffeine, I can do this. This time, I manage to get yarn onto the needles and it looks sort of like what it is supposed to, but I'm not convinced that it is correct.  Time to head to the internet for some advice.

After about ten minutes of research I find a less complicated cast on that seems to serve the same purpose. I give it a go and...presto! The yarn is on the needles and looks like it is supposed to. I do a little happy dance and knit a couple of rows.

Now, while knitting I'm beginning to worry that I may be in over my head. This feeling increases when I go to enter the project into Ravelry, where suggested tags include "lock-me-up-in-the-looney-bin," "biting-off-more-than-I-can-chew," "in-over-my-head," and "I-hope-to-finish-before-I-die."

This may be the point in the movie where everybody knows the hero should just turn back now, get a massage and live to fight another day, but the hero stupidly plods onward into danger. Let's hope I can emerge victorious.