Overqualified

   
A little while ago I vented about being overqualified for jobs I was applying for over at The Bitter Blonde. I know what you're thinking, is it even possible to be turned down for a job because you're overqualified? Uh, in my experience, yeah. And apparently others, like Shana Berenzweig, agree, as reported by NPR:

But now she sometimes considers that degree she paid so dearly for a liability, at least when it comes to some jobs. She takes it off her resume when applying for waitress jobs.

"It's almost like people are just going to assume that because I have a master's degree, I'm going to ask for money," she says. "Or if something better comes along, I'm just going to jump ship."

I'm knee deep...

  
... in research notes, transcripts, painfully boring books about research... not to mention job searching...

This is why I've been so lax in posting lately. This is why my posts have been centered around job searching lately. This grad school thing has been such a painful process for me. I am thoroughly amazed that I managed to not only graduate high school and undergrad, but I was a straight 'A' honor student. How? I hate school. I've never been able to tolerate reading assigned readings, I've never been able to sit through lectures, I frequently turned assignments in late and I was never prepared for tests. Yet, I somehow managed to get fantastically fabulous grades.

This blows my mind. I hate reading. I hate writing. I hate listening. And grad school has brought that all back to me. I remember when I graduated undergrad, I was SO happy to be done. I wanted nothing to do with school for a while. As a teacher, I knew I would have to eventually go back to grad school, but being in school for SO many years was tiring, and I needed a break!

Get your foot in that door!

          
Trying to find a job is tough business. Trying to find a job in education is even tougher. Especially nowadays. For one, job openings don't pop up year-round and for another, there are A LOT of job-seeking teachers out there, unemployed and otherwise. I've been at this job hunting business for quite some time, about eight years now. I've had some jobs here and there, but I got to say, unless you know someone, unless you've got you're foot in the door, it's hard to even get called for an interview for a job opening. Here's how I've gotten my jobs...

It's that time of year again...

   
Yup! Hunting season! And by that, I mean JOB hunting season! We teachers are a lucky bunch in that job openings in our profession come around only once a year (for the most part. Occasionally you can get lucky and score a long-term sub position during the rest of the year that might result in a permanent position, but one shouldn't count on it).

Actually, I guess it would be fair to say that jobs open up twice a year. Once in the springtime and once again in the summer when schools who have lost their teachers to springtime openings are now scrambling to fill their vacated positions by September. But again, one should not count on getting a job this late in the hunting season (although two of my jobs did fall on my lap during this time. I guess I was lucky like that. I haven't been since, so I'm not holding out this time. Springtime hunting it is!).

I draw on my skin...

A day in the life of an Elementary Art teacher. Part 3.

     
 ...because unless you've ever been one, you really don't know what it's like.

(If you missed Part 1, you can find it here. If you missed Part 2, you can find it here)

10:53am- 1st grade teacher shows up at door with 1st grade class (they're early by 2 minutes, of course). 1st grade teacher apologizes and offers to wait (which you appreciate, but hey, they're already here). 1st grade class drops lunch boxes off at door (they, the lucky pipsqueaks, have lunch right after wards). 1st grade teacher spends next 4 minutes explaining about behavior problems in 1st grade classroom and their new behavior plan (you politely nod throughout this all the while knowing that her plan will not work in your classroom). You lie and say, "I'll be happy to use your strategy in my art room." 

10:57am- 1st grade teacher is on her way. 1st grade class is settled down. Class begins. Class is interrupted by 3rd grade student (it seems 3rd grade teacher needs brown construction paper, but not that shade of brown, and not that shade of brown, but this shade. And can you cut it to be 15x19?). 3rd grade student leaves. 

11:03am- 1st grade class is settled down (again). Class begins. Quick review. Pass out supplies. Students start working. Spend next 30 minutes answering questions, wiping noses and bouncing back and forth across the classroom like a spastic art genius running on fumes.

A day in the life of an Elementary Art teacher. Part 2.

...because unless you've ever been one, you really don't know what it's like.

(If you missed Part 1, you can find it here)

8:08am- You patiently wait in the hallway for your first class, 5th grade, to arrive (their class begins at 8:10).

8:12am- You're still waiting (the Principal was late with the morning announcements, therefore making your first class late).

8:15am- You see 6th grade class headed your way (wait, what, 6th grade?). You check the clock. You check your schedule. You put on "confused" face. 6th grade teacher registers "confused" face. 6th grade teacher explains that he and 5th grade teacher switched times because 6th grade will be going on a field trip later and didn't want to miss art (while you appreciate this gesture, you silently curse them for not telling you). 6th grade teachers asks, "Didn't we tell you? I hope this isn't a problem." (all the while you are doing some quick mental adjustment and reorganizing to prepare for this). You lie, "No problem." (just as you notice 5/6 grade Special Needs class headed your way. 5/6 grade Special Needs class normally comes with 5th grade class, but their teacher chose not to switch their schedule around because it would mess up her schedule, and can't they just come to art with 6th grade class? Who cares that they're working on entirely different projects. You can accommodate them, right?) You lie, "No problem."

A day in the life of an Elementary Art teacher. Part 1.

       
... because unless you've ever been one, you really don't know what it's like.

5:25am- Get out of bed. Shower (during which you will run out of hot water and curse one of your five housemates for getting up early and showering in the other bathroom during your designated shower time. Hate yourself for becoming a teacher, committing yourself to a lifetime of being broke, and forcing you to live with housemates). Start drying your hair (but quickly realize you don't really have the time to). Stop drying hair. Dress. Undress. Get dressed again (because you forgot your second graders are painting today, and you need to wear your "grungy" teacher clothes). Gather up the work you brought home from school yesterday. Make coffee. Make your lunch.

6:35am- Head out the door. Go back in the house (because you just remembered you were working on next weeks plans in the living room last night and left your plan book on the couch). Grab your plan book. Head back out the door. Get in car. Get out of car. Go back in the house (you left behind your coffee. Not a good idea with the day you have ahead of you). Grab coffee. Head out the door again. Get in car (alone, because while there are numerous car pools in your area, none of them can accommodate your schedule).

6:40am- Leave your house. Drive to work (which will take you thirty-five minutes because you refuse to live in the same town that you teach in. There's no way you ever want to run into one of your sixth grade students at the grocery store while you're purchasing a jumbo box of tampons. And heaven forbid you run into a student's uber-conservative mom on a Friday afternoon when you're picking up a much needed case of beer).