How to Get Your First Teaching Job - Teacher Habits

How to Get Your First Teaching Job - Teacher Habits:

How to Get Your First Teaching Job

It’s summer, the season of baseball, ice cream, the beach, and road construction. It’s also the hiring season. Districts everywhere are working to fill their open positions and the competition at some is at hot as the sand on the soles of your feet. Many aspiring teachers enter the interview season with fear and nervousness. They scour the web for anything that might give them a leg up. There’s a lot of advice out there, some good and some not. For this article I reached out to eight school administrators to find out what sets apart those teachers they hire from those they don’t.

Before you even sit down to write your resume, there are a couple of things you should do. First, clean up your social media. If an administrator can find a scandalous picture of you, then so can any parent, student, or future colleague.

Next, take advantage of relationships. If you substituted after student teaching (and you should have), then now’s the time to call school secretaries, teachers whose rooms you subbed in, and principals who are familiar with your work. Almost all of those people want to help young people succeed (that’s why they’re in education!), so don’t be afraid to ask them for letters of recommendation, to put in a kind word to administrators they know, or to use their names as references on your resume. These connections don’t guarantee you a job, but they can often lead to an interview.

Your Resume

First impressions are almost all that matter. Your resume will, if you’re lucky, get a couple minutes of consideration before it’s put into one of two piles. The administrators I talked to want a professional looking How to Get Your First Teaching Job - Teacher Habits:

Catch up with CURMUDGUCATION

CURMUDGUCATION:

Catch up with CURMUDGUCATION

What They Deserve

by Peter Greene / 1h

Before we get started, let me be clear-- this is not ALL conservatives, and in many cases not ONLY conservatives. But there is a thread that runs through current aspects of conservatism that ties many issues, from education to health care, together. As has been noted to the point that we are flogging the marrow inside the stripped bones unearthed from beneath the dead equine flesh, there are a lot

Another Free Market Competitive Fail

by Peter Greene / 1h

Word came yesterday that my county will join the list of communities that no longer has a Sears. It has been an anchor store at our one mall since that mall opened a few decades ago. Now, come October, it will gone. And there are lessons here for education reformsters. Coming to a mall near me Folks have been tracking Sears' growing problems for years, and while there are a variety of diagnoses, m

JUL 06

Why Churches Should Hate School Vouchers

100+by Peter Greene / 1d

It seems clear that the wall between church and state, particularly when it comes to educational voucher programs, is collapsing like a stack of cheerios in a stiff wind. This is not good for a variety of reasons, but those reasons do not all belong to supporters of public education. Even before I was a cranky blogger, I was telling folks that religious institutions should be right out there resis

JUL 05

Dear Lily. Re: Betsy DeVos & The NEA RA

38by Peter Greene / 2d

Dear Lily: Many news items came out of the NEA RA this year-- some pretty interesting, and some pretty routine, but I have one to cheer and one to complain about. Cheer There will be no photo op. After years and years of making compromises in order to keep an imaginary seat at a mythical table, this statement from you is a breath of fresh air I understand the motivations behind Randi Weingarten's

What Bad Bosses Say

17by Peter Greene / 2d

Forbes likes listicles with a business bent, but sometimes they seem applicable to other areas. School areas. For instance, here's their piece " Ten Things Only Bad Bosses Say." Let's see what portion of this resonates. Do we hear any of these from our on bad bosses-- and note that these are absolutely Forbes ten markers for bad bosses. That I did not make up. 1. I don’t make the rules — I just en

JUL 03

Wasting Tax Dollars on Advertising

36by Peter Greene / 4d

Charter fans like to say that charters will improve public education by pushing public schools to compete. Here's a story that proves them half right-- some public schools apparently feel compelled to compete, but not in ways that have anything to do with educational quality. The public school system of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, has, like many Pennsylvania school districts, has been hit hard by mon

JUL 02

Personalized Bait and Switch

37by Peter Greene / 5d

Personalized Learning is getting the hard sell these days. It's marketable for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that nobody really knows what Personalized Learning is. What it suggests is something appealing, like Individualized Education Programs for everyone. Personalized Learning fans like to trot out exemplars like Chugach, Alaska, a remote, tiny town where a school system create

ICYMI: July Already! Edition (7/2)

19by Peter Greene / 6d

Here's some reading for your holiday weekend. May it be a good one. Arizona Replaces Teachers with Persons One more state institutes a warm body law as a way of filling more teaching positions Washington State is Wealthy, But Doesn't Pay for Schools Can you guess how much rich Washington residents pay in taxes? Can anybody guess why the legislature refuses to meet its own funding requirements for

JUL 01

Alternative Certification Paths

13by Peter Greene / 6d

We need alternative paths to the classroom. Mind you, we don't need paths that are shortcuts. We don't need an alternative path that is just a five week long truncated training that wouldn't prepare a camp counselor for a summer with 

CURMUDGUCATION:

Dallas Dance: Dancing Into School Districts with Digital Devices

Dallas Dance: Dancing Into School Districts with Digital Devices:

Dallas Dance: Dancing Into School Districts with Digital Devices

Resigned BCPS Superintendent Dallas Dance Takes Consulting Jobs

By Joanne C. Simpson

Dallas Dance could be coming to a school district near you. For a visit anyway. Dance’s new role after leaving his $275,000 annual superintendent job at Baltimore County Public Schools after June 30–at least two national consulting gigs.

Both companies, MGT Consulting Group and the Center for Digital Education, have had at least tangential relationships with numerous BCPS vendors, the superintendent, or the school system itself.

Recently, Dance announced a full-time position with MGT Consulting Group, a large Florida-based educational consulting company with offices nationwide.

Among other goals for the for-profit consulting group: “Future-Facing. MGT recognizes the changing face of education, as requisite knowledge shifts and desirable goals are reimagined so students are prepared for a 21st century workplace. With our broad knowledge background and significant experience, we will give you solutions that are appropriate and actionable.”

A current focus of MGT Consulting, one shared by Dance, is “technology strategic planning:” “Our experts know how to effectively produce strategic planning documents including all necessary inputs and are able to present the technology strategic plans to governing bodies in a way that encourages adoption.”

Dance’s strategic planning skills are evident in reports for BCPS, including Blueprint 2.0. Yet there are questions about the financial efficacy–as well as no objective evidence of positive student learning outcomes–for Dance’s signature laptop-Dallas Dance: Dancing Into School Districts with Digital Devices:

Saturday Reads Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all:

Saturday Reads Diane Ravitch's blog

A site to discuss better education for all

Here is the Link to MAD Magazine’s Betsy Poster: “We the Unqualified”

by dianeravitch / 11min

In case you want to print out your very own Betsy poster, here is the link.

Jeff Bryant: Why Democrats Should Unite For a Charter Moratorium

by dianeravitch / 0min

Jeff Bryant argues cogently in this article that Democrats should unite on behalf of a charter school moratorium. If the ademocratic party wants to revive its base–labor and civil rights–it should heed Jeff’s sound advice. Charters and 

Jersey Jazzman: Chris Christie Show His True Colors, on the Jersey Shore

1by dianeravitch / 28min

Jersey Jazzman notes that Chris Christie will soon leave office as the most unpopular governor in the nation. He loved to ridicule those who disagreed with him, and one of his favorite targets was the state’s public schools and teachers, most especially their union. He never acknowled that the state is one of the three top-performing states on national tests (NAEP), the other two being Massachuse

Indiana Voucher Study: Students Fall Behind, But Do They Really Catch Up After Four Years?

4by dianeravitch / 26min

Indiana has one of the nation’s largest voucher programs (34,000 students) and has been in operation long enough to collect four years of data. The latest voucher study reached the conclusion that students who get vouchers fall behind in the first two years, notably in math, but eventually catch up to their public school peers. But do they? Steve Hinnefeld reported on the release of the study, bu

MAD Magazine “Honors” Betsy DeVos With a Poster of Her Own

16by dianeravitch / 1h

A reader sent me the link to this poster, which appears in the current issue of MAD Magazine. I don’t customarily engage in ridicule, but what DeVos is doing to the public schools of America, what she is doing to civil rights enforcement, and what she is doing to college students struggling to pay for their education is beyond ridiculous.

19 State Attorneys General Sue DeVos for Delaying Rules Protecting College Students from Predatory Colleges

11by dianeravitch / 2h

Led by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healy, the state attorneys general in 19 states sued Betsy zdezvos, who is failing to protect the interests of college students who are preyed upon by for-profit colleges, like the defunct Trump University. This Secretary has carved out a unique role as the defender of corporate interests against the rights of students. Her motto might as well be “Let t

U.S. News Kicks KIPP NYC School Off Its List of “Best High Schools” Due to Gary Rubinstein’s Analysis

78by dianeravitch / 3h

Let’s begin with the stipulation that the lists of “America’s Best High Schools” based on test scores or AP coursetaking encourage schools to game the system and are invalid on their face. Then, congratulations to Gary Rubinstein! He not only demonstrated that New York City’s KIPP high school gamed the rankings by U.S. News & World Report, but the magazine noticed his critique, decided Gary was r

YESTERDAY

Your Chance to Join the Success Academy Team!

7by dianeravitch / 22h

Success Academy is hiring! Of course they are always hiring teachers due to the high rate of teacher turnover. More than 50% leave every year. https://www.themuse.com/jobs/successacademycharterschools/real-estate-acquisitions-coordinator-9da675 Success Academy is looking for a Real Edtate Acquisitions Coordinator, who will report to the Associate Director of Operations, who reports to the Directo

Southold, New York: Elementary School Will Get Giant Mother Goose Shoe!

26by dianeravitch / 23h

David Gamberg, superintendent of schools in both Southold and Greenport, on Long Island, in New York, had a dream. He wanted to install a custom-made Mother Goose shoe, in which children could play. He wanted it to symbolize the district’s commitment to childhood and play. He started a fundraising campaign. He was just short of his goal. A local businessman, who owns the town grocery store, contr

Borowitz: Betsy DeVos is the Only Person Who Can Stop North Korea

8by dianeravitch / 1d

Andy Borowitz, who writes humorous pieces for the New Yorker, says only one person can stop North Korea. He says Betsy DeVos is enroute to North Korea to reverse its progress in math and science. Vouchers for everyone! That will cripple its nuclear program.

A Global Guide to the Power of Philanthro-Capitalism

10by dianeravitch / 1d

Antonio Olmedo wrote this analysis of Philanthro-Capitalism. VENTURE PHILANTHROPY & THE NEOLIBERAL ECOSYSTEM: WHO NEEDS A MINISTRY OF EDUCATION? By Antonio Olmedo, University of Roehampton Coinciding with this year’s World Social Forum in Davos, Oxfam released a report based on Credit Suisse Global Wealth Databook [1], denouncing that the top 1% richest people have gained more income than the poo

Ohio: Kasich Vetoes Bills, Hurts Children

13by dianeravitch / 1d

John Kasich likes to be unpredictable. One minute, he plays the moderate, sane Republican in contrast to irresponsible, impulsive Trump. Then he acts in Ohio and shows that he doesn’t have a clue about education, the most important responsibility and budget item in every state. Stephen Dyer of Innovation Ohio writes: “While Gov. John Kasich’s line-item veto of the Ohio Legislature’s freeze on Med

Texas: Voucher Proposal Won’t Help Children with Disabilities

29by dianeravitch / 1d

They’re baaaaccckkk! The zombies called vouchers will be introduced again in the Texas State Senate, once again under the fraudulent claim that they are intended for children with disabilities. Governor Greg Abbott is calling a special 

 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: