I just resigned my job

You've done the righ thing.

congrats!!!! i just got promoted myself to manager, so im happy for us both.

Yowza! You rock Samantha!

Kewlest English teacher in the city, I'm sure. :-) Congratulations!

S are you in with a school yet? Does the staff realize how high the fashion stakes will be raised once you start working there?

COR!!! congrats and good good luck!! :):):)

Hip hip hooray for S. on her magical resigning day!

I may not know the school I'll be in until the end of the summer. The school district here has a program where they hire you, train you during the summer, certify you and send you off. All paid. I *do* have an English degree, just am lacking our state's certification. Schools are desperate these days so they're tripping over each other to get late-twenties career changers like me.

I must begin to dress dowdier to hide the tattoos and put distance between me and the kids. I guess that means I'll have to stop using my Emily and Hello Kitty purses too. . .

Congratulations! And good for the youth of Dallas too!

I must begin to dress dowdier to hide the tattoos and put distance between me and the kids. I guess that means I'll have to stop using my Emily and Hello Kitty purses too. . .

What! The job market is on your side, yes? Resist the pressure! Unless yer comfortable with it all. ;-)

With both experience and the MA under my belt, I could probably get back in the teaching swing of things easily, though again the MA means I'm probably overqualified for most places here in California. The alternate options are JC teaching (no stability, part-time contracts, etc.) and private schools (my dad teaches at one that's cool, but my friends down here with local experience have horror stories). Ah well. S. will make up for my reticence and then some. :-)

A good, honorable job. Well, as long as you don't force your views on your students. ;)

Congratulations.

Forcing your views on your students = CLASSIC!

Ned, I don't think an MA makes your overqualified and I doubt the schools would think so either. You'd be on a higher pay scale. if you're interested you should check it out. Kids need cool, intelligent people to teach them.

As far as "dressing my age"... I think it's necessary in the beginning to help establish authority in the classroom. While in the long run it's good for kids to feel they can relate to you, if you to control the classroom from the start or you never will.

I subbed for a long time and my relative youngness always won points with the HS crowds. Every single class I was in front asked me "Miss, you smoke pot?" I would always say "that's not something I need to discuss with you." then would get all excited b/c I didn't say no. Being friends when with the kids when you're subbing = essential. Being friends when you're their teacher = secondary. It's a matter of survival.

Congratulations, and I am SO SORRY. Keep your purses, I say!

S, it depends entirely on the locale. Near Akron, where I'm from, the public school districts will flat-out not take you up for consideration if you have your master's. However, here in NYC, it's not only encouraged, but also required that you get it within five years of being hired, if you don't have one already.

Back to writing my education exam, and counting down the days until only two more years until I have my certification (and a bachelor's).

why on earth would a school refuse to consider someone for being highly educated? that's so stupid that i can't believe it.

It is, and so is the reason behind it--the union requires that teachers with master's degrees be paid a higher introductory wage than those with bachelor's degrees. If the school can't or doesn't want to pay up, no candidates with higher-level degrees need apply.

i wish you much happiness in yr new career s. congratos

Kids need cool, intelligent people to teach them.

*blush* I'm flattered, S., and I won't rule it out entirely. But that said, the potential restrictions on what I could do and teach with 'minors' (I use the quotes because maturity has different standards than the legal one) would likely kill my enthusiasm. My eleventh grade English teacher assigned me Gravity's Rainbow as an extra-credit project; that's the type of thing I'd want to teach *everyone* -- and get strung up metaphorically for.

Ned, I am muting your post-horn!

YOURE THE MAN NOW DOG!

Congrats.......the kids you teach will be cooler than the average fucks if you swing it just right.......check yourself, who are you in it for? Thugmonkeys in distress or aspiring boho slime.......you're still in your twenties so I'm guessing there will be polarization.....I can speak tons on your situation cuz I had a young female eng. teacher in high school I clashed with severely, but for now let me drop two rules: 1. do not talk bad about rap music in class. 2. do not rap in class

I like rap music and have never rapped myself so I think I'll be fine.

Hurrah for Ms. S.!

Ned, I am muting your post-horn!

Wrong novel, surely. ;-)

Yeah, yeah, but a chance to mention Pynchon on ILX is a chance considered taken.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!

While looking to see if there was a thread about the horribly derpressing dread which descends on Sunday evenings I came across this thread.

My excitement! The sense of adventure! The naviete!

now I'm even more depressed. . .