Day Ninety-Six...The Chance of a Lifetime

So, as some of you know, I've been trying to get into a teaching job at a specific district here in the area. In fact, it's the same district in which I attended 4th through 12th grade. I graduated from this district and would LOVE...translation - it is my DREAM GOAL - to teach in the same district. What an amazing story...to come full-circle like that! Anyway, tomorrow I have my first opportunity. I'm interviewing for an ASL position at my former high school. Now wouldn't THAT be cool! I'd be teaching alongside some of my former teachers! What a trip! *Squeaking with delight* Yes, tomorrow I have an interview at 9am. And you wonder why I'm still up, not fast asleep? Because I'm SO nervous. I've had such crappy experiences thus far, I don't have the tools I need to be confident and to assert that I AM a good teacher. My track record says I'm not all that good. And sure, I'm not all that experienced, but I am good at what I do. I haven't gotten that one great opportunity to show what I can do without bashing my head into the wall.

Sigh...

So, I hope this is my foot in the door. It's only a .8 FTE (80% of a full time employee), but because of my masters degree and my experience, I am not starting out at base salary. So, I can survive quite well on 80% of my starting salary. In fact, I'll be making about $500 more a month than I'm making now.

And, if THIS position isn't my foot in the door, then I have 2 other opportunities. There's another .8 ASL position at another high school. I'd like that one, too. It's not quite as nice as my high school, but at least it's in the district.

But...

The one I REALLY want...

Is the full-time Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing teacher at the K-8 school where I did my internship in 2005. I would LOVE that job. I already know the principal, the program, the program manager, the students, the other teachers, the Interpreters, and the school...it would be a PERFECT FIT! Ultimately, that's where I want to work.

Sigh...

That job closes on June 11, I think. I'm going to mail a letter to the principal there and let her know I'm very interested. I'll do some name-dropping and see where it gets me.

Sigh...

In other news...

I'm going to Monmouth, OR on Saturday. I have a workshop I'm going to attend. It's about Assessment Tools in the ASL classroom. It'll be VERY informative. I'm also going to a 3-day workshop in the south-end in August. That'll be a thorough training on how to use the Master ASL curriculum. It's free to me because I'm part of the ASL Consortium. I'm working on getting my curriculum approved so that the students who earn a B or better in my high school class can get college credit to satisfy foreign language requirements or pre-req classes if they want to go into a Deafness-related career. Anyway, these 2 conferences/workshops should help me plan for next year, provided I get either of the ASL jobs.

So, right now, my career is very up-in-the-air feeling right now. I have paychecks through August and benefits through September, but after that...

Sigh...

I'll keep y'all posted!