my unwanted acquaintance, part 3

I promise, you will soon find out who the "unwanted acquaintance" is (from the title of this blog). It just takes awhile to set it all up.

Okay, to catch you up: I graduated from college with a degree in elementary education. I did my student teaching and was a substitute teacher for 6 months. I moved up to Northern California to work at an outdoor science school for 3 years. And after looking for any and all teaching jobs (at public and private schools), I could not find one.

I had a friend who taught 4th grade at a nearby private Christian school. She told me they were looking to hire "aides" for their classrooms. It was only part-time but, hey, it was a job and it was experience in a school. And THEN she said she was planning on leaving her job at the end of that year. Hmmmm. In my mind I thought, "What if I was her aide this year? I could get to know all the students, staff, and parents at the school. And then when she left....I could apply for her position with a foot already in the door!"

So that's what I did. There were two fourth grade classrooms and I switched back and forth every day. I did a lot of the administrative tasks for my friend and the other 4th grade teacher. Made copies, graded, organized field trips, put up bulletin boards, assisted in class assignments, etc. And when the teachers were sick, I would sub which was great because I already knew the kids.

4th grade Native American Day

Since the job was part-time, I was also able to go back to school. When you get a teaching credential, it's only a preliminary one. You have take 30 units of post grad within 5 years to renew your credential. So I would work at the school Monday through Friday and then be in my graduate classes all day Saturday from 8-5. I did my homework and wrote my papers in the afternoons when I got home from my job. I was making enough money to just barely cover my rent and bills but I kept telling myself it was only for a year. Hopefully the following year I would be a full fledged teacher! Woot.

But it was not meant to be.

I won't go into it much, but they ended up giving the 4th grade position to the daughter of someone who already worked at the school. Even though she had just finished college and didn't have as much experience as I had. It was a blow. Not that I felt that I had deserved the position, but it was a bit humbling being just a part-time aide when I had my teaching credential and could be teaching a class myself. But I did it because I had hoped there were be a teaching position at the end of it. I didn't even know they had already sort of promised the new teaching position to this other girl. Weird.

Sigh.

Back to square one.

Again, no one was hiring for the fall. I had to start widening my circle of job hunting. Before, I was looking at schools within a half hour of where I lived. Now I had to look at schools within an hour of my home.

And then comes my friend, Emily.

If you guys have never checked out her blog, it's on the right side of my page. I met Emily years ago when her husband and I would do dramas at our old church. I immediately liked her, her hubby, and their adorable daughter. Both Emily and her husband worked at a private Christian school about 50 minutes away from where I lived. She thought her school had a couple teaching positions open and got me an interview with the principal. Yeah!!

It was a very strange interview. The principal seemed very nice but not really what I pictured a principal to be like. She was kind, but seemed a little flighty. The interview didn't seem very professional. More like an informal gab session where she told me about the school and asked me a couple questions. It was kind of unorganized. She said it looked like there was a third grade position open in the fall and they'd keep me in mind. I left the interview like she didn't really know me and I hadn't represented myself very well.

But then I got a phone call a week or so later.

"Hello?" -me

"Hello Sarah, it's ---[principal's name]---. How are you?"

"I'm doing well. How are you?"

"Great, great. I wanted to call and let you know that we've looked over your application and references and we'd like to offer you a teaching job."

*shocked silence*

"Oh my goodness! Wow, I am honored. Thank you so much!"

"You're very welcome. We're looking forward to having you on staff. There's just one little change."

"Oh? What is it?"

"It's not for third grade. It's for first grade."


End of Part 3.