Luckily for me, There are Worse Things.

Subtitled “Quit being a whiny little young person, because your father-in-law reads this blog.”

Ok, so my last post was a liiiiiiiiiittle emo.

Sorry.

When my mom and dad were my age, they were living in an uncle’s basement (a mean uncle), working 3-4 jobs each, and barely seeing each other.  My dad used to tell stories about working the night shift, since there were after all 24 hours in a day.  Why waste 8-10 of them sleeping?  He worked at a gas station, and would talk about the hookers (yes hookers) who would come into the store at 3am to escape their pimps.  They would clean for my dad, dust, mop, do anything really to just pass the time and forget.

Stories like that make me feel pretty stupid.

Yeah, things are rough. No, I don’t have the job or amount of money that I’d like.  So what, some people my age do. Not everyone is that lucky from the gate, and so many more people are worse off.  In fact, I have absolutely nothing to complain about.

Ways life resolved itself in one day after the last post: (ie God was irritated with my whining)

1) We found someone who wants to sublet our apt starting asap.

2) My car is  not dead after all. My dad felt bad when he heard we would cash our savings bonds to fix it, so one of his guys is putting the labor in and trying to make it work. (Side note, I was unaware of the extreme emotional attachment I had to my car until it was almost taken away.)

3) I literally JUST got called for an interview next week.

So… yeah.

More about this interview. (Because I started this draft JUST after getting called, and am finishing the draft after the interview).

Remember the last interview I had where I didn’t get the job? Well, this interview is for a position at the district of the person who got the job. (If that makes any sense.). Her getting the other job means she’s leaving this job. Anyway.

It was my shortest interview to date; 15-20 minutes. I didn’t like that.

They only asked a few questions, but I felt like they were really on board with the few answers I did give. They seemed to really connect with me through my previous experiences at my marching band’s school, since it is small and rural like this district.

Regardless, they said they would call “in a few days” to inform me if I made the second round. Here’s the fun part.  The second round would take place Feb 8th, at 6:45pm. Why? So you can interview in front of the entire school board, they will make a decision on the spot, approve you at the 7pm meeting, and oh, by the way? You start work the next day.

Yikes.

(raises hand slightly)

I’ll do it!

Crazy.

 

-therottedapple-

That Special Time of Year…

As I was lying in bed last night, I came to the startling revelation that I had completely forgotten about this blog.

WHAT?

The only explanation that I could come up with is that when life well.. improves, you tend to spend more time out in it, and less in your own little cyber-world.

To put it simply, the interview I had went extremely well.   They said they would be calling either tonight (Thursday) or the next day (Friday). After spending the few obligatory days in terror, fear, and self-loathing, the principal called me back at 5pm on Friday to give me the good news.

I made it through to the second round!

I had just arrived at the charter school I teach part-time at, so when the phone rang I probably looked like an idiot as I dashed in a circle a few times before darting into an unused classroom.  As the man talked to me, I paced crazily around the round tables, trying to take in what he was saying while not tripping over extension cords.

About 6-7 individuals were interviewed for the first round, and 2-3 are moving on to the next.  This second round will take place on December 14th, which is next Wednesday.  It will be in front of the school board members, and apparently they are just asking us questions.  This seems a little odd, so I’m not sure what to expect.

Usually, a first round interview consists of your standards questions, and if they like you enough, you move onto the second round to teach a demo lesson The decision is made from there.

However, in this case it seems like the opposite is happening. So I don’t know.  I’ll be asking my colleagues for advice on this unique situation.

Here’s the timeline: Interview on the 14th, the school has two days to make their decision and notify the individual. The 18th (Sunday) I have a Christmas party at my gram’s. (This is important to note). The 19th (Monday) is when the individual will be approved as an employee by the school board. This gives the new person 5 days to shadow the current teacher until he leaves FOREVER.

Not the best timeline, giving the new person only a week. Oh well, I’ll do what I can. 😉

SOOO excited, but a little frustrated at the delay. There’s only so much studying you can do for the standard interview questions.

Wish me luck.

ALSO, on the same day I was called for a second interview, I was accepted into grad school. Yes, Friday was a good day indeed.

-therottedapple-

 

Thanksgiving

I was going to wait until tomorrow (actual Thanksgiving) to post this, but I’m home alone and let’s face it, tomorrow I’ll be too busy and sick in the stomach to actually follow through.

Good, great, wonderful news: I have an interview.

I’ve known about this opening since October, but  I try not to make a big deal out of it so that I’m not completely crushed when it falls through. (See the post from last summer, if you forget.)  I’ve made a few friends within this district, talked to others, and I’m thrilled to be one of 5-7 people interviewing for this job.  In exactly a week, I’m to teach a 10 minute lesson to a panel of music teachers and administrators.

Eager to get started, I settled on a recorder lesson. I called a colleague of mine, who is the assistant director of one of the bands I work for.

“An interview! That’s great! What are you going to teach?”

“Recorders.”

*awkward pause*

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m EXTREMELY thankful for her advice, and am VERY glad she gently pushed me away from that particular lesson, and pointed me in the direction of one better suited for an interview scenario. After playing around with a few things, she gave me something that I think would work great.

I will nail this.

My friends and husband will be forced to sit through my lesson as I practice. That’s the hard thing about doing a demo-lesson: treating the panel like your students. It’s one thing if you’re teaching them math or how to write a paragraph.  I’m going to be telling them to sit in a circle on the floor, singing and dancing with me. That’s a little tougher to do with older people wearing suits.

Regardless, I’m very excited and thankful for the opportunity.  The school is about an hour from where I live, but I NEED this job. Husband and I have no savings now, and we’re just living within our means currently. When summer hits (and there is no more sub work) I’m going to be either be A) screwed or B) bagging groceries. If I’m super lucky it could be C) All of the above.

 

Got it!

I’m currently reading into the theory of proactive teaching versus reactive teaching. To prepare for next Thursday’s interview, I’m writing a classroom management plan.  When I’m done I’ll share, but for now, I’ll post my lesson plan here for the interview.  At the very least, I can reflect in a week about what worked, and what didn’t.

*****************************

In anticipation of the holiday season, I leave you with photos of our Merry Christmas last year. (Though mostly of our cats.)

This is our quaint little tree from last year. It’s pretty sweet.

This is Happy Cat, discovering the joy of Christmas. He was only 6 months old at the time.

And here is Snape Cat, hating everything joyous and pretty sure that the tree is a defeatable enemy.

I am thankful to have my husband, my family, and my health, regardless of the fact that there are other things in my life that still aren’t perfect.

Happy Thanksgiving!

-therottedapple-

 

Why Interviews are Like Prostitution.

 

Why Interviewing is Like Prostitution

1) You swear you’ll only do it a few times until you earn some $$$, but a year later you’re still there.

2) You get all dressed up to impress, even though you know you’re just going to get ******.

3) They either want a seasoned veteran or someone young and unexperienced. Either way, you’re not going to be what they want.

4) If you’re too loud they’ll get irritated and know you’re faking it.

5) If you’re too quiet they’ll assume you’re not really into it and just need the money.

6) One guy is in charge of everyone but you’ll never see him unless you screw up.  And everyone knows he’s around, even if you forget.

7) Price is never up for negotiation, and usually the first thing discussed.

8 ) You tell yourself you won’t get roped into doing anything extra that’s outside of the job description, but after they dangle that extra $$ in your face you consider it.

9) If you act too bored or confident they’ll know you do this too often.

10) There are lots of us doing it in broad daylight, but no one seems too concerned about it.

-therottedapple-