Today's "Huh?" Moment
One of my teacher-friends had a flat tire and I ended up covering his classroom for 1st period. Another teacher-friend was going to cover, but she had a teamed class 1st period. I told her I'd take care of it and heard some surprising news. She had had enough run ins with our AP and was no longer supposed to report to her.
How in the world did that happen?
We only had a few minutes to talk, but one thing really stuck out as odd to me. The AP had asked the teacher for a loan.
A loan.
How's that for odd?
Maybe turning down the loan was what started whatever chain of events caused the teacher to have her chain of command switched.
Weird.
Interview Update
Interviews round 1, take 2 is coming up next Thursday. I got an email saying that my technical skills and portfolio all met their criteria, but my personal interview was not up to par. They wanted to give me another chance and listed a couple of dates and times.
It's discouraging and encouraging at the same time.
Obviously, I had hoped to be accepted right away. To be told I wasn't up to snuff on the interview isn't something most people would welcome. I felt like I established a good rapport with my interviewers, creamed the technical challenge, and my only worry was my portfolio. I felt like I'd done a "C+ Mike Job" or so due to time constraints with all the mayhem happening at home. I didn't have time to build a true webpage for the HTML part of the challenge. Instead, I made a quick webpage to access the different files in my portfolio and then put a link to my 'webpage file' that redirected back to my portfolio homepage. Half-ass, I know. I even left a little snarky comment under the link saying "This may look familiar..." I'd done the whole thing while getting dressed and ready for the interview. How's that for last minute?
The encouraging news is that they wanted me back for a second spin. I left the interview wondering if I had been too succinct. Instead of rattling off everything I knew how to do, I know I answered one question by stating I got a degree in computer science and I know or can learn to do anything they would need me to do on a computer without difficulty (The job mainly employs the Microsoft Office suite, so it's not like I was claiming to be able to create my own high-level programming language).
Anyway, they must have liked me enough to give me a second try, so I need to learn from this opportunity. I haven't done any interviews in years before this one, and it was a different format from what I'd expected. A mistake is only a failure if you don't learn from it. If I can sell myself more strongly this time, I'll be more prepared for interviewing with principals when I get to round two. Besides, if I make the pool it will mean that much more to me, because I stumbled on the way. I want this job. I know I would be good at it, and I'm getting burned out in the classroom.
There's a fire lit under my butt, and I will get past this interview.
The new question is: Do I use a personal day or call in sick? No one's talked to me about the 'uncertain' I checked off on my plans for next year. If I use a personal day, how would my AP react to "I'm going to an interview?" There's enough drama going on around the department. I don't want to become the focus of any of it, especially when this is just a preliminary interview to get into a candidate pool. I would prefer to know some of my options before I start laying my cards on the table.
A Thought on Parenting
When I was in school and had trouble with a teacher, my parents' response was "What are you going to do about it?" If I tried to argue about the unfairness of the situation, I'd hear something like "Life's tough," and "You'll have bosses or coworkers you won't get along with one day. How are you going to make it work?"
When a kid in my class repeatedly doesn't turn in any work, his mom doesn't respond to attempts to contact her, and he ends up failing my class why do I hear "What are you going to do about it?" I can't help but wonder if that kind of parenting is what raised the Michigan woman who won $500k lump sum after taxes from the lottery and was still planning on using government aid for food stamps.
Thought #2 and I'm Done.
One of my co-teachers was going into a parent conference the other day. There was a kid on her team that was raising ruckus across all curriculums. He'd caused trouble throughout the year until he finally did something big enough to find himself in AIA.
His parents were furious.
Every time the student has done something he's gotten in trouble for, the parents have contacted the teacher or school to dispute it. My co-teacher said something to me that struck me as absolute truth. "Really, I feel sorry for them in several years. They're creating a monster. He'll be Hell when he's older."
All adults were kids once. Did you always tell the absolute truth? I know I didn't. Even though I didn't outright fabricate stories, if I thought I was going to be in trouble I always found a way to justify what I'd done or at least put the best possible spin on the situation. It always amazes me when parents are willing to accept whatever their children say as fact as these parents were.
They're kids. You're their parents, not their peers. Support your child, but make sure you read between the lines and ask questions. If one teacher has trouble with your kid, it may be the teacher. If all of his teachers have something to say? It's probably your kid. It's not an indictment of your parenting. Get over it and help the teachers deal with it before you have a real problem on your hands down the line.
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