Step 16: The hunt

The topic of job hunting has been at the forefront of my mind this week; so, since I assume you, too, hope to someday find a teaching job, I'll fill you in on the ways that I have been beginning to pursue next steps with help from the Teacher Education Program.

My plans for next year are somewhat complicated right now based on personal arrangements that will be up in the air for another month or so. That said, I am starting to feel the pressure to at least start to polish my resume, begin applications, and network like crazy! On Tuesday, a representative from the School District of Philadelphia (SDP) visited our cohort to present on their application process for new teachers. While my classmates have aspirations across the country, the majority hope to stay here in Philadelphia, and many plan to apply to the district. It was really helpful to put a face to one of the readers in an otherwise intimidating process, and it was encouraging to hear that the District desires to move up the hiring timeline to secure new teachers sooner than they have in the past. SDP operates through a process called "site selection," in which the District screens applications and creates a list of eligible candidates; hiring is then turned over to principals to fill their own schools' openings. From our end, this means that we first must be "approved" by the district, and then convince individual principals that they want us on their teams. In order to facilitate connections between principals and new teachers, the District will host a variety of networking events, the first of which took place on Thursday.

While I am excited about pursuing work in the district, this week I also attended a hiring event for independent schools across the country. I have been grappling for a while with how the idea of working for a private school fits into my larger goal of improving the quality of education available to ALL students, even those whose families cannot pay for it. This spring, I believe that the private school that I am student teaching in is the best place for me to develop my own skills, such that I might be the best teacher for my students in the future. After this year, however, I believe I will still have a lot of learning to do, so I think that I am open to working in any environment where I can be most successful as I work through the multitude of struggles faced by novice teachers. Anyhow, I digress. On Saturday, I had the opportunity to speak with school leaders about my own desires as well as training as a teacher. I was pleased to realize that the curriculum and methods that I have been exposed to in both my student teaching and Penn classes were extremely relevant to what they were looking for. From Lucy Caulkins' Readers' and Writers' Workshop, to Guided Reading and Everyday Math, I was able to describe my own experiences with the programs that they use, and set myself apart as a prepared applicant as a result!

While I still have a long way to go to finding a job, this week did give me confidence that the program is setting me up well for the search. And as a first (necessary) step, I'm happy to report that I passed my credentialing test on Friday, too!