Good joke society- I can't get a teaching job

The BBQ Pit
61

Interestingly (well, to me, anyway), I used to live in Tennessee, now live in Connecticut, and used to teach, too. (I taught college-level chemistry and physics for seven years at a military academy prep school.)

I absolutely loved teaching. It was probably the best job I’ve ever had, and I was good at it, too. I received two awards for “Science Instructor of the Year,” and one for overall “Instructor of the Year.”

However, I ultimately decided to not make teaching a career after I got out of the military. My reasons included:[ol]
[li]Teachers aren’t paid very well, and are not typically rewarded for performance. Promotions and retention are dominated by seniority. (Like many other professions traditionally the province of women [including nursing], salaries have lagged those of professions requiring comparable training, either because women traditionally accepted lower pay or because administrators decided that teachers didn’t “deserve” any higher pay because they supposedly were not the sole earner in the household.)[/li][li]Around here, at the end of the school year, the teachers with the least seniority routinely get pink slips. They then spend months over the summer wondering if their contracts will be renewed.[/li][li]Teachers are not particularly respected, not by students, not by their parents, and not by administrators. It’s amazing to me how many people think that anybody can teach, much less teach well.[/li][li]The method of training new teachers is a mess. Prospective teachers get far too little subject-matter training, and far too much pedagogical theory backed up by little or no research indicating that the latest teaching fad actually improves teaching.[/li][li]The whole concept of tenure is an abomination, a concept that has no place outside of a research institution, yet it hangs on to keep long-serving poor performers in place.[/ol][/li]
To the point of the OP, though. Schools are funded by local and state governments, and local and state revenues are in the toilet lately. Therefore education budgets are cut, so the least-senior teachers get laid off, new teachers don’t get hired, and class sizes increase. In just a few districts across the country (including Washington, D.C.), administrators are actually making the effort to lay off the poorest performers instead of the ones with the least seniority, so there is hope, I guess.

I didn’t mean for this post to be so much of a rant–please accept my apologies. I will say that the job market is rough right now, particularly in the public sector, but things will turn around eventually.

I second the advice that others have made regarding substitute teaching. Also, have you considered teaching at a private or charter school?

62

IANAT, but I feel very strongly that pushing out as many applications as humanly possible (I believe you said 100?) compromises the quality of the applications. I think you’d be better off focusing extensively on a few positions at a time – finding out what the school environment is like, what the job expectations are, etc, and then tailoring each cover letter and resumé as carefully as possible to that specific job.

I haven’t had to apply to too many jobs yet, and I’m in a different field, but I’ve never been turned down for a single job with that approach. Employers aren’t interested in knowing if you can be a good teacher – they’re interested in knowing if you can be a good teacher for their school. Make them believe you were made for the position they have open.

I know the economy is tough, especially for teachers, but you chose a rewarding profession. I think eventually you will see a positive outcome.

63

I’m sorry you are having this problem. A friend of mine called me last night and said that although she just graduated this past summer with a degree in teaching (teaching business something or other, I am not sure) she was asking about talking to my dad about a job with the city, as she could not find a job anywhere.

I doubt it is you, but more the economy. As others here have said, get your foot in the door with substituting and hang on for as long as you can before giving up. You didn’t pick a bad career or fall for “the big lie” (that one is reserved for “it doesn’t matter what your degree is in, as long as you have one you can get a job”). You just happened to graduate in a field that is suffering an unfortunate cut back right now. Good luck with the job search! Have you pushed private schools? There seems to be (only in my experience, which is not a lot) that many of the teachers (again, in my kids’ school) work not because they have to, but because they want to. That means there are always people dropping out to have babies or play golf or watch shiny things. This year my son’s teacher is someone that was a substitute last year. Just a thought.

64

Shit that sucks. Have you tried private schools?

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This isn’t a good time to be looking for work anywhere…it’s that just teaching is supposed to be one of the more recession-proof occupations. Turns it out’s more recession-resistant, but when things get really, really bad it’s not as safe a job as everyone thought.

-Joe

66

Right now no job is safe.

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Eh, that’s nothin’. I have a friggin’ P. H. D. (not to mention a BSc and an MA) and there’s nothing but the odd adjunct gig available here and there in my field. And that includes being willing to move to any old liberal arts college town out in the buttfuck boonies across the whole damn country, plus Canada. Tenure track is to dream…

So now I am a corporate ho. Writing training manuals on a subject utterly unrelated to any of my degrees.

OK, so it actually turns out to be not a bad paying gig, being a corporate ho, and the work is sort of interesting, even oddly challenging. But let’s not digress.

68

Similar story here. I’ve got three degrees, published work, experience and qualifications up the wazoo…and no freaking chance of FT work in my current profession.
Working hard is no guarantee of anything these days.

69

I have not read all the responses, but have read the OP. So excuse me if this question has been answered.

Are you saying that there are “over 100 teaching jobs” open, within an hour’s drive of your residence? In today’s economy, I’m constantly hearing about teachers getting laid off left and right, and I’m not hearing about any exceptions to that? What’s happening in Tennessee to enable them to be doing so much hiring?

70

Well, in the Jackson, MS area there aren’t that many teach jobs available, and it is very much who you know. But move to some of the shitty hellholes in the Delta (Greenville, Greenwood, Belzoni, etc) and they’re desperate. They’ll also hire anyone who isn’t currently serving time for murdering a student*.

-Joe

*(possible exaggeration)

71

If youre　not attached to TN or CT, have you thought about teaching overseas? There are lots of English jobs abroad that pay well and would love to have you. Im not sure how it looks on a resume, but I know of certified teachers here in Japan who return to the states without much difficulty, (or at least did before the market tanked).

72

So true, so sad. I seen so many cases of people who work hard but receive no reward; I’m starting to think that the keys to success are hard work plus an effective combination of physical attractiveness, social smoothness, and plain good luck. I know a young person in the educational field who isn’t yet thirty, but has soared to professional heights, and gets flown all over the world for conferences, in many cases leading them. As a sideline, she started a “music project” a few months ago and is now being invited to perform in different cities. I’ve played guitar most of my life and can’t find people to jam with in a garage.

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OP: You could also try teaching or tutoring online. You might feel as if you’ve sold your soul in some cases, but at least it would be work.

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I’d be interested in learning how to get started in this myself. I tried to hang out a shingle offering pre-grading edits of college papers, but it was an utter failure. Too late I realized that, apparently, any students who care about this already know how do do it for themselves. Meanwhile the professors don’t seem to give a damn anymore. ESL speakers who obviously don’t have a firm grasp of the nuances of the language still garner top marks on written assignments. In my time an otherwise good effort deficient in accurate spelling, grammar, and appropriate usage, would be marked down. Usually, not devastatingly so, but the student might receive a B instead of an A.

75

(bolding mine)

That was kinda my reaction, too. Hey OP: I have two degrees and relevant experience, and I still spent two friggin’ years hunting for work after I got laid off. Just because you have some credentials doesn’t mean you automatically get a job. Especially (say it with me all together now, folks) “in this economy.” (God I hate that phrase.)

Seriously, though. You may have heard something on the news recently about the economy completely tanking, unemployment rates shooting up, school districts and cities slashing their budgets left and right. . . ? I think they mentioned it once or twice in the last few weeks. :rolleyes: All that, and you still think a new job is just going to fall into your lap? Don’t forget, you’re competing against people who have actually done this for a living and thus have actual, real-world experience. You have none. Keep that in mind.

76

How does one get into the Good Joke Society? Do I just have to tell awesome jokes? Because, really, I feel I should be allowed in.

Are you an English teacher?

BTW: I got a teaching job before I even finished college. I’m not saying this to rub it in or anything, I’m simply making this point: be useful to the schools. I filled a niche they desperately needed filled ASAP, so I got a job (this was a few years ago). Figure out what niche needs to be filled and fill it. (And no, I wasn’t an English teacher either ;)).

77

Huh. We’re meaner than that in my dept. We mark down for all sorts of problems. Most students we get don’t even bother to spellcheck or grammarcheck anything and don’t absorb the info they’re given. The ESLs may try harder but that doesn’t mean their work is better. Everyone is graded accordingly.

78

[Mod hat off]
Purplehorseshoe, you roll your eyes at the OP, and wheelz you mock her as a self-entitled whining golden child. Did you bother to read the OP, wherein she says she’s applied to five districts and 100 positions? I realize this is the Pit, but as so many have mentioned, it’s a tough marget. Is there any reason to belittle the OP if she gets a little frustrated?

79

It isn’t just teachers. Someone I work with (we are both lab techs, albeit temp workers) said she feels she wasted time getting a degree in biology, she makes more money as a waitress.
On top of that she says several of her friends have gone into nursing thinking there are tons of jobs, but there is a hiring freeze on that too.

So even careers in education and nursing, supposedly good jobs, are getting locked up and locked out.

But look on the bright side. Corporate profits have gone up by $600 billion a year since the recession started, are doing better than they were pre-recession, and sooner or later those monies will trickle down to the rest of us. I can feel the golden showers already. Keep in mind this is under the liberal, socialist, marxist president where corporate profits rebound so quickly while the job market stagnates and degenerates. I’d hate to see what happens under a Tea Party president.

80

Seems to me that scolding a recent grad who’s just slammed headlong into just how horrible, difficult, and frustrating the job market is right now is akin to watching a toddler fall down and get a split lip and bloody nose then laughing at the child just prior to beating it for being clumsy and careless. The OP is new to the world outside college and just had a learning experience - yet you are scolding this person for somehow not magically knowing how things are outside of school.