May Have To Give Up The Dream And Go Back To Familiar Waters

I thought I could be a Teacher.  iTeachTEXAS told me that I could do it without having to go back to University and getting an Education Certification.

I swallowed the spiel hook line and sinker.  I actually thought that I could get an Alternative Certificate after performing an Internship at a school and join the ranks of Texas Educators.

To save some money (it would be $1200 fee from iTeachTEXAS to do an unpaid 12 week Student Teaching gig on top of my $4000+ program fee they already have charged), I opted to try and do a paid internship at a school district.  Almost one and a half years later, and lots of substituting under my belt, that dream of becoming a Teacher is on its last breath.

Is it the iTeachTEXAS program that is the issue here?  No it is the School Administrators (read School Principal here) that are stonewalling me at every turn.

As a Substitute Teacher my skills are in demand.  Principals at every school that I have worked at like it when I am there.  Do they even think of me when a permanent job comes open?  Hell no.  I feel like they see me as someone that is an outsider and has no business in being there as the Teacher of Record.  Like I said in earlier postings, it is all Lip Service.  String me along, dangle the bait in front of me and then keep it just out of reach.

Well, I am getting tired of this baiting.  It is time to search for other employment away from education.

Opportunities are coming my way that could be mine with a great interview.  I just hope that I can impress those folks enough to give me a chance.  Lord knows the Principals at all of the schools that I have worked at are not even going to glance at my resume.

More later.

Ciao,
Darrell

UPDATE - Aug16
Last week I interviewed for a teaching position with Aldine ISD.  Apparently they will take the plunge that Conroe ISD refuses to take where I am concerned.  If I am chosen, then some of my faith in the education system will be restored.
D.

Regular Teacher Contract Signing Day Has Come and Gone ... Time to Troll For a Spot Somewhere

Well, the date has come and gone for current teachers to sign their contracts for the 2016-17 school year.  It is time for me to troll the net for open positions at some of the Districts I would like to teach with this next school year.

So far, I have found a couple of interesting JH positions and have followed the protocol of informing the Principals of my desires.  Hopefully, there will be some action on those requests.

I have also been trying to return to my old field of employment in the mapping world.

It is in the GIS world that I have had the best luck in interviewing.  Just in the last two months, I have had more interviews than in the whole of the last year and a half.

Would my old line of work challenge me as much as teaching?  No, but then again, some of the positions that have been coming my way are a bit more complex than what I used to do in the GIS world.  I think that I am up for the task.

iTeachTEXAS sends me an email about three times a week with jobs across the State.  Many of them are not in my certification field or are just too far away to justify a move for so little recompense.

I am trying to make myself a bit more marketable by attempting the ESL again in a few weeks.  A study guide is here, right next to me, and I peruse it several times a week to see if there is anything I missed the first time I read it.  It is a dry, not quite Saharan dry, read and can be difficult to push through from time to time; but I persevere till the end of the chapter.

I can hope that this return to a career path from decades ago will bear fruit, but the odds are against that from what I can tell ... mostly the deafening silence from those principals that I have communicated with about their positions.

More later.

Ciao,
Darrell