My New Jobs

The past few months have been quite busy with lots of changes for me on the job front.  In May I applied for and was offered a job at Sylvan Learning Center.  It's been a great part time job for the summer; however, the overall experience has not been what I expected and I don't plan on continuing my work there in the fall.  I also applied for and was offered a job as a W-A-Y mentor through the main branch of our local school district.  Though much of my previous work in the field of education has been with very young children, I'm looking forward to trying my hand at helping at-risk teenagers as a welcome change of pace.  I start training for that tomorrow, and I'm excited to see where the job leads.

This past week was particularly busy as I interviewed for a position at East Washtenaw Multicultural Academy in Ann Arbor.  The interview went well and I found out on Friday that I'll be working as a preschool teacher for them this coming school year.  While I don't see myself teaching preschool for the long haul, I do want to work with young children and this is a way for me to get my foot in the door and get some valuable experience under my belt.  The program for which I'll be working is a state funded GSRP program, which means I'll be servicing low income families who might not otherwise have the chance to send their children to preschool.  I'm looking forward to the coming week, when I'll be able to meet the families with whom I'll be working for the 2011/2012 school year.  In considering this job and my future, I've decided that if money and this horrifying economy were not an issue, my true ideal job would be to teach second or third grade in a public school setting.  Unfortunately, this job market is not one which lends itself to any sort of cherry picking--a job is a job after all.  Still, I think it's good for me to have some kind of idea of what I want for my future.  I'm pretty broadly qualified, educationally speaking, which was an intentional choice on my part.  It's not that I wouldn't be happy teaching other grades/ages, or, for that matter, using my reading endorsement and teaching language arts to middle school students, but at least if I have an area upon which to set my sights, I'm more likely to make intentional choices toward that goal.

Time will tell.  There are several other jobs for which I've applied, and I haven't heard anything about any of them.  I'm not exactly sure what that means...I suppose it could be good or bad.  It's August now though, so I would imagine most schools will be conducting interviews and making their decisions very soon.  Unless something unexpected happens in the very near future, I'll be teaching preschool for the foreseeable future.  A job is a job, after all!