T Travels: July 2013

The Vistas over Ventura County

These last few weeks have been a flurry of activity. First, Oxnard was really great. I hung out with some awesome people, with my parents, my fabulous friends, my cousin and my brother. However, there was an instance that dampened my mirth: I lost my job.

Okay, so I don’t really want to get into it, but the whole plans of teaching 12^th grade and so forth: scrapped. Basically, Tuesday June 18^th I was called by my former principal and I had to reapply for the position and interview again…in other words, jump through some hoops. I started looking for work right away. From that day on I looked for job openings. I spent the rest of the week hanging with my Dad, looking for work, hanging with my mom, visiting fabulous vistas in Ventura, and then picking fresh avocados and stone fruit. Though, I was a bit stressed Chelsea, Dad, Mom, and Phil were super supportive and kept me grounded. Eventually, Chelsea and Toast came down late Thursday night, and we spent Friday and Saturday in Oxnard doing the rounds. Moreover, on Friday I got the official word: I was not rehired.

Though this caused more stress, I had an interview set up for that Monday at my dream school and I wanted to prep for it. We left Saturday evening and spent Sunday in Sacramento getting settled. The rest of the weeks leading up to now I spent job hunting full time. I looked on all the sites from non-profits to district schools to charter schools. I wrote cover letter after cover letter; posted and re-posted my resume. I sent e-mails to everyone I knew asking for letters of rec or leads on jobs. I even had a spread sheet set up that listed all my contacts, all the applications I had sent in, and if I had followed up with them or not. By the time the fourth of July rolled around I had a list of 17 jobs and 12 contacts. Unfortunately, I did not get the job at the dream school, but there is a happy ending.

I had another interview at a different school set up for Friday the 28^th of June. It was a school I had applied for last year, but heard nothing back from them so I gave it another shot this year. I interviewed on Friday. They called me back for a demo lesson on Tuesday, and they offered me a job on Wednesday July 3^rd. YAY! I am super excited. They wanted to move quickly and so did I. It’s an inner-city school and I think I will be teaching 2 classes of 8^th Grade, 1 class of 9^th Grade, and 1 class of 11^th grade. A lot of preps, but the classes should be small (about 30 students per class) and I am really looking forward to curriculum development. Furthermore, this school really emphasizes evaluation and peer feedback so I will be reviewed by my principal, my humanities leads, and get structured coaching and tons of feedback. At the end of the year I know I will be a better teacher.

So we come full circle, we stepped out of the wardrobe, pierced our way through the looking glass, and climbed out of the rabbit hole. We headed down to Palm Springs for the fourth with a lighter heart.

In Palm Springs we mostly spent time near the pool, having wonderful conversations, seeing some fireworks, reading and relaxing. All the pieces that make a vacation a vacation: good people, good food, good times.

As of now I am finalizing the paper work for this new school, I have a week long training next week and start my first full day on July 30.

Chelsea is doing great she is still plugging away at her internship and learning so much about the law. She can write her own update when the time comes. But for now summer is in effect, the state fair is coming to town, and stability is returning.