Same Boat... may not be a good thing!

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Home : 2004 : November : 29

Same Boat... may not be a good thing!
By Chicago Teacher

Hi! I was in the same boat. I have my M.Ed. in elementary education and inner city and private school teaching experience, as well as subbing, and being a SPED aid. I moved to Central Oregon this summer when I got married
and there are NO JOBS. Oregon's public schools in general are having a rough time as far as budgets for education goes, and since I'm in a smaller town area, there aren't a lot of private schools either. I have heard there are 400+ teachers in the system of the public school district where I live who are applying for positions or are waiting it out as a sub. I'm not sure if that is true,

but it seems like it. I don't even know people who can get an interview for a public school classroom teaching job! I didn't have luck with the private schools either - they aren't hiring new teachers. Sooo... I put my name on sub lists and didn't get many calls. I was offered a job as an aide for $8.00/hr 6 hrs/day and said no.

I ended up putting my inner city and pre-teaching experience (in social services) to work and am now teaching life skills to recently paroled teenagers. Not what I thought I'd be doing in a million years, but fulfilling and just as crazy as a normal elementary school day.

For me, leaving classroom teaching was the right choice, my primary interest has always been working with at-risk or high needs kids, so switching settings wasn't a huge jump, and I couldn't deal with the unknowns of infrequent sub calls, etc. Sorry this probably isn't the most uplifting message for you - considering my perseverance didn't get me anywhere in the El.Ed. world, but I did end up with a job I love and you will too! Good luck!