I was now a credentialed teacher, but for the first semester after the charter school experience, I worked as a daily substitute. Came December, though, I was ready for a full time job. As bad as teaching is, subbing is even worse, and the phone calls in the early hours of the morning gave me anxiety attacks. I sent resumes everywhere and was called, at last. I was interviewed, offered a job, and accepted it, all on Christmas Eve, and started the day after the New Year. These were support math classes for students who failed first semester algebra; an additional math lesson.
I had a supportive administrator backing me up, two excellent math coaches, young, capable, and very nice, and a dean who was decisively with me. I have never had such an excellent support before or since that position, yet another failure. For one week the students were great and even told me how much they liked my teaching. The math coaches, however, just smiled, knowingly, and promised– it will get worse… And it did… On the second week, students were testing their power, on the third week I was sending students to the dean on a regular basis, on the fourth week they hated me and made my life miserable. And, although the support team had never abandoned me, as it often happens, I felt a complete failure… At the end of the semester I was offered a full time position, but after few more short assignments that, luckily, ended before it got real bad, I left, unwilling to commit to a permanent position. For a while I worked as a daily sub. I also tried private schools, Adult Education, tutoring - private and through agencies. But, in December, I updated my resume and sent it to every school within a reasonable driving distance.
An unfamiliar school called me for an interview, and I immediately liked it and its staff; but I was contemplating teaching a higher math that was out of my comfort zone. My son suggested that all I need is to be one page ahead of my students… and I will forever be thankful for his advice. While stressing to the top of my ability, I had the best teaching experience, ever. This was exactly what I thought teaching should be – simplifying complicated concepts for students who strive to understand. Answering questions for learners who actually care to know, seeing the light in their eyes… These two math analysis classes will forever be the jewel of my teaching!
I was asked to return on the next school year, to temporarily replace a teacher on maternity leave. As the holidays drew nearer and no replacement came yet, the position seemed permanent enough, but right after the holidays vacation, only few weeks before the semester end, four out of my five classes were switched; new students and new subjects… My evaluation at the end of that year was so bad that I thought my teaching career is over not only in this school, but in the entire country… I fought fiercely against its unfairness and was promised that it will be reversed. I don’t think it ever did but, surprisingly, I was offered a full time position for the following year.
I had a full time job, teaching dream subjects! Yes, I had to travel between four different rooms, not having my own, and had a terrible geometry class that was assigned to the worst location, but I believed I would manage with time. Three weeks into the school year I was called to be told by the principal that due to low enrollment, my position is being cut… This was painful! Starting to feel successful, believing that this time will be OK. I also had to leave a great group of fellow teachers; the kindest, smartest, funniest and most frustrated group that you will ever meet…
Next, I took an assignment at a school whose principal sounded nice, and for few days I thought I found the right place, but two weeks later, after my cell phone was stolen twice, I left. They wanted me to stay but could not give me a key to my classroom, or to the nearest bathroom, and with two – 2 hours blocks back to back, and a very short passing time, it meant 4 hours without bathroom break. Add to that a very difficult student population, not very accommodating administration, and… no teachers’ cafeteria (stand in line with students…), I decided not to stay there beyond the 2 weeks for which I was committed.
Additional experiences: Over the course of experimenting with education venues I came across so many types of alternative education settings – from continuation schools, adult schools and home schooling that the public education offers, all the way to different sorts of private schools and tutoring institutions, many of which are contracted by the district to provide education services. Millions of dollars are spent on private tutoring agencies to assist under privileged students, with questionable benefits to the students, but undeniable profits to the institutions. With the trend of privatizing education, it, apparently, became a profitable business, but produces, in my opinion, very poor results…
Through years of experience and volume of experiences, there were only very few institutions that really impressed me, however, one element of education never failed to impress me - the… teachers!
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