07-04-14 11:12 PM

Singelli is Offline

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Singelli

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I don't quite remember what forum it was in but a little over a month ago, I posted about a job interview that I had done. It was a very tedious task and I was almost certain that I would not get the job. I will not tell all the details since I have written it up elsewhere, but because I feel weird starting off with no prior information, let me at least sum up a few things.

Last summer, I had to go through a workshop... It's something teachers have to do quite often and usually it's pretty annoying and usually it is a complete waste of time. However I actually really enjoyed the workshop that I had to attend. The workshop was about many things that dealt mainly in lesson planning. You see lesson planning is a task that most teachers (at least in my school) really hate. Being a teacher is a lot of work and ... as though it is not enough to constantly worry about kids and parents and coworkers, teachers have to grade papers, write lessons, design tests... and did I mention grade papers? It really is a two person job, if not more. And as we sat through that workshop, a lot of really great resources were given to us. It was then that I learned people actually got paid to write lesson plans for this site. I kept wondering how someone goes about finding a job like that. I even told one of the ladies sitting in the room with me that splitting the teaching career into two paths would make either just as endurable. It would be awesome if teachers could just teach for example, or grade papers and write lesson plans. As a standalone tasks, they wouldn't really be so bad.

Anyhow, a board of education has always seemed a lot like Congress to me. There are a lot of roles, a lot of ladders, and a lot of politics. One of those roles is called a program specialist. A program specialist is someone basically who is in charge of all teachers under that subject across the whole city or district. So the math program specialist would be in charge of overseeing what all the math teachers teach, what professional developments they are going to, etcetera etcetera. I don't know everything they do, but I'm sure you have a good enough idea from that small list; they're big wigs. Anyways this lady came into my classroom and asked me how I would feel about working outside of the classroom. I was thrilled, thinking back to that workshop from last summer. The interview went terrible, my resume was horrible, and everything that could go wrong during an interview... went wrong. However I wasn't really stressed about it. It's no secret that I've been stressed every year of teaching nearly, and each year gets worse than the last. I have been telling family and friends alike for quite some time now what I would love to take one year off from teaching. Just one year to relax and set my mind straight. Therefore, there was a small piece of me that hoped that I get this job. However I did not go out and seek this job, so I didn't feel like it was something I had to get. I felt like it was an opportunity which had very little probability of being seen through. I knew that my job was not in danger as a math teacher. Even if my current school managed to finally get rid of me, there are always schools hiring math teachers. Probably even math teachers that come with a bad reputation.

Well, I know there are many of you in this community who do not have a faith in God. Nonetheless, I have full confidence that God wanted me to have this job. Not only were the interviews terrible and my resume horrible, but there were several amazing aspects of this transition which have made it impossible for me to deny God's hand. ?First let me say that my new job is not writing lesson plans. I don't want to confuse anyone, but it is very similar to what I experienced last summer. It's so similar in fact, that it's hard for me to describe the difference. Before I attempt to describe my new role to all of you though, I'd like to take the time to tell you why I am so amazed to be in my new position.

Over 200 teachers applied, but only 12 we're actually hired. I am one of those 12. We're all women and I and the only white one. (That isn't necessarily very important but I do find it interesting.) The things that I do think are important to mention are my our ages and experiences. I am 27... in fact, I only recently turned 27. The next youngest lady of our group is 36. The whole team has ages ranging between 36 and 68. I am clearly the baby of the group. Not only this, but all of the other women are far more experienced. I have taught at one school for 6 years. I've never done anything amazing, I've never gone out of my way, and I've never even hosted any clubs...at least, not enough to make it worthwhile or to make it worth mentioning. Aside from myself, the least experienced person on our team has 9 years experience. However, when I am speaking about experience, I am talking about classroom experience. She has had many more affluent jobs before she was a teacher. All of the other teachers on the other hand, have experience in the teaching field ranging anywhere from 12 years to 38 years. They've taught in the classrooms AND served in the educational field through other educational related jobs. Many of them have doctorates (I only have a master's degree), and some are even National Board Certified.

Now, how in the world did I end up in this position? I know there had to have been many more applicants which were far more experienced than I am. I can only shake my head in amazement and wonder what I did to get here. I was most likely the least qualified, the youngest, and the least impressive.

But you know what? I couldn't be happier. I have been in this job for about 3 weeks. We write something that is a little broader than a lesson plan. Each one of us is in charge of a certain subject in certain grade levels. For example I am in charge of all high school math. There is another teacher in charge of all middle school math. Then there are teachers which are in charge of different grades for elementary school. Due to the way that we are split up, I actually have the most work. The number of curriculum guides I have to write far surpasses anyone else

Basically, what we do is write things called curriculum guides. These curriculum guides are designed so that any teacher in our district can pick one up, open it, in write a lesson plan. The idea is that every teacher across the district will be teaching the same thing, using the same strategies, and following the same basic principles. There are 24,000 high school students in our district. I have no idea about the other grade levels. That's a lot of kids.... and a lot of teachers. Our team of 12 has been put in a position of extreme responsibility. The education of these children is quite literally in our hands. During one of the first days of our orientation, the third top dog (I can never remember her title, but basically she'd be like.... whoever is under the vice president) had a long chat with us. She told us to consider the fact that teachers always complain that the people at the Board of Education were never in a classroom. Then she looked at all of us and asked where we had been over the last several years. She reminded us that she is taking our experience and knowledge as teachers, and putting a new kind of respect to the title. Since we know the nuances of the classroom and we have apparently been judged as some of the best teachers, we will help train the other teachers on how to operate their classrooms and how to get the curriculum out to the students.

There are other goals for what we are doing. Apparently some other school districts across the USA have tried to do exactly what we are doing. Houston, in fact did it so well that other schools of the United States have been trying to purchase their guides. The guides started out for sale at $100,000. I'm sure you can guess that it is the hope of our Board of Education that we can produce the same results. They are wanting us to write something so well and so helpful, that we can sell it just says Houston has been selling theirs. See, the district gets federal funding, but federal funding is very limited. It has to be spent in certain ways, and in certain places, and on certain things. If the Board of Education, on the other hand, can produce their own revenue, then they can spend it in any way that they wish to. This includes bonuses for teachers, food for meetings, student supplies... The list goes on. So like I said, this is a big responsibility.

Unfortunately, the Board of Education also wants to roll the curriculum out as fast as possible. That means that we need to have the first quarter of it written before teachers start teaching in August. A school year when split into four parts... is four groups of nine weeks. So us 12 teachers have to write curriculum guides for the first nine weeks due by the middle of July. Afterwards, we have to train all the teachers in our district on using the materials we have given them. In other words, the first deadline is incredibly tight. We have to do nine weeks of work in two and a half weeks. Once the first deadline is over though, we will have 9 weeks to write 9 weeks of material. The goal is to always remain 9 weeks ahead of the teachers so that they can be trained in time for each grading period.

Writing these curriculum guides can be pretty tough. We were given extensive training for two weeks, and I'm sure that there will be a lot of error the first time around. You see, we can't exactly just pull stuff from the Internet or from textbooks because it's very hard to get permission to do so. Not only that, but if we are to sell our guides, it would make no sense for people to buy stuff that's already printed elsewhere. So for the most part, we have to come up with our own unique ideas for all of our guides. For example, since I am doing all high school math, I am in charge of algebra, algebra 2, geometry, pre-calculus, a class called algebraic connections, calculus, and statistics. Over a course of nine weeks, each one of those classes covers about 4 units or chapters. This means, of course, that I have 28 units to write. All of us on the team have written a test for each unit, so that part is done. These units and these guides have to align with certain standards. I have to look at each chapter in each subject and come up with teaching strategies that I feel will be most effective. I have to write about accommodations, extensions, resources, materials, objectives, cool lesson plans or activities, unique ways to assess students, etcetera etcetera etcetera. On top of that, I have to write a short novel at the end of each guide which is designed to help teachers who are new to the job, or perhaps rusty on some of the concepts. Therefore, I have to go through each set of standards in each book or in each lesson and I have to ask myself what the teacher or student might do wrong. I then have to write about it and hope that the teachers will read that information and use it to their benefit. Essentially, there is a lot of power in my hands and I am being deemed as an expert for math in charge of our entire district.

I am very excited to continue in this job. I get a huge office all to myself. Somehow, I was lucky enough to end up with the biggest office. I have so much shelf space that I cannot even begin to fill it all, and my office looks pretty bare because it's too large to fill with trinkets or office supplies. It's on the fourth floor of the Central Office for the Board of Education and it looks over one of the few small parks in the city. I come in very early at 7:30 a.m. and I write. I write until 5:30 and I leave. I don't have to deal with bosses telling me that I can't do my job, I don't have to deal with being undermined, and I don't have to deal with crazy parents or unruly kids. I can just write. And best of all, I can write about math. I am so in love with my new job. It carries a new kind of stress because the deadlines are extremely important and tight, but I don't care. It is a stress that I can handle. It's exciting to have a say in what teachers do and it's a huge opportunity to make an impact on the education for our city.

Interestingly enough, I always told myself that I could never do an office job. I felt as though the atmosphere would be suffocating, and that I would never be able to enjoy it. I can't believe just how wrong I was. I'm a little sad to think that this job may only last 1 year and that at the conclusion of this year, I will have to move on and back into the classroom. Don't get me wrong... I absolutely adore teaching. I adore students. I just don't like having my hands tied behind my back and being told that I can't teach because I set high standards. Now, I'm getting the chance to set standards and not have my hands tied behind my back. There are no distractions, no demotivators, and no needs. I am praying that this job will be a continuous one. After all, our first draft is not going to be perfect. It's going to need adjustments and it can certainly be made better. We are not perfect and since this is such an experimental job that has never existed in our district before, there are sure to be kinks to work out. If our district can actually decide that this is the right thing to do, I pray that I get this job next year as well. I am very much looking forward to a years of peace and making an impact .... and having a say so in what gets taught and how it gets taught. I love to write, so this job is absolutely perfect for me! I just had to share my happiness with everyone. I love you and God bless.