2004-12-02 - 10:04 a.m.
the end is near! i have exactly 6 and 1/2 assignments left for the semester.
1. revise teaching story
2. write short paper on gender in the classroom
3. finish journal entry on Feed (1/2)
4. write journal entry on Maus
5. write literature relationship paper
6. learning sciences take-home exam
7. learning sciences lesson plan
i would rank these items as anywhere from easy to tedious to somewhat pleasureable, or any combination of the three. nothing, i would say, will actually be difficult.
this is partially why i had my nervous breakdown a couple weeks ago about going to med school. i felt like my brain was decaying. this teacher education program is not challenging enough.
however, i decided that just because the program itself is not challenging, doesn't mean that i can't make the job challenging. the big thing is, i think, that i don't have my beloved literature courses anymore. but soon i will be teaching the beloved literature. the great thing about teaching is that its a perfect excuse to overstudy the topic. i always end up knowing and learning about ten times more than i'm actually able to teach to the class.
also, maybe i can get my master's degree in literature rather than education. i think it works that way, that i can pick just about any master's program, and still get the salary boost.
i went to a job fair for teachers yesterday. there were representatives from a bunch of wisconsin and illinois districts. i interviewed with sun prairie, just because they had this intense interview thing going on behind a screen. i wanted to feel what it is like to be under pressure. it wasn't really that bad. i was interviewed by a high school principal. i should have planned answers ahead of time - i have a list of "likely interview questions." but i did not plan at all. somehow, every question that he asked, i had about a million things to say in response. so i'm not worried about job interviews anymore.
some of the districts were really "pitching" their schools. like this guy from hillsdale, illinois. he had salaries posted. it was like 43,000 for new teachers, and close to 95,000 for teacher with master's degrees. i was like, holy shit, i thought i'd be at 50,000 around retirement age.
it kind of pisses me off. i know that milwaukee public schools start at around 30,000. thats so unjust to the kids. as a teacher, i will be doubly penalized for choosing to work in a poor school district. for one, i will get less money. additionally, i'll have to deal with students who are disgusted with school and with teachers who are lazy or too incompitant to get a job in a better district.
questions for my interviewers:
1. How does the school address issues of diversity?
2. Does the school follow inclusion or tracking policies?
3. How does the ELL program work?
4. How do teachers work with one another?
5. What kinds of afterschool clubs?
6. What support is there for LGBT?
7. How is the curriculum decided?
8. How are parents involved?
9. Is this school involved in service-learning?
10. Can you explain to me the steps involved to grow from novice status to master status?
