The End of an Era

I think some serious apologies are in order. The end of my school year was absolutely lovely but completely overwhelming. There are so many updates because I have completely slacked in writing a new blog post. Major updates include: 

1. I finished my student teaching placement and missed all of my students and cooperating teachers moments after I left the building for the last time
2. I graduated college 
3. I was offered a full-time teaching position for the 2014-2015 school year as a special education teacher 

In reality, I was offered my teaching position the day before my graduation, so it was the best graduation gift I could have asked for. The past few weeks have been a time of celebration, relaxation, and reflection.  

I am a completely different educator from where I was just one year ago. I remember sitting in one of my education classes, thinking, “I need to go to grad school.. for something else. I don’t think I want to teach. Can I really do this?” It was a time of complete identity crisis. Teaching was a profession that I had spent all of my life wanting to enter. It was what I told people I wanted to be since I was in second grade. I always knew I wanted to be a teacher. Now just months before I graduate college I’m going to change my mind!? All of those worries and fears washed away when I began student teaching. No longer was I sitting in the back of the classroom listening to my professors lecture, now I was in front of the classroom. I was the one (usually) leading the conversation. Seeing my students every day and having them share their accomplishments with me solidified that the past four years of college weren’t a waste. I was in the the right field. I was going to be a teacher, and a great one at that. 

I think out of everything in my undergraduate college career, I am most proud of the incredible relationships I have built with my peers, classmates, and future teachers. I am so proud to call these people my friends. I know I would not be where I am today if it weren't for these amazing individuals. 

Their dedication to the field of education and their students amazes me. I am not shocked by it, though. I have known since our first education class sophomore year that each of these students would become outstanding teachers. For some, they have been fortunate to receive full-time teaching offers for the upcoming school year like me. Some are already working full-time for the remainder of this school year as maternity-leave replacements, education assistants, and substitute teachers on a daily basis. I am so proud of all of their accomplishments and I have no doubt that they will continue to succeed since leaving our college campus. 

We are dedicated, motivated, and inspired. We are inspiring. We are teachers. 

@LetsLearnMoore  @MsMarano  @MsSiegelReads  @MissTrautwein  @MissDenko

I can barely put into words how proud I am of all of you. Congratulations Class of 2014. 

Job hunting is a full-time job!

It seems like I am starting to get into the groove of this whole whole blogging thing. I still don’t have a set schedule for myself, but sometimes I have a topic that I just can’t wait to talk about. So, I open up a new tab and I begin to write. 

As graduation nears closer and closer, I, and many seniors like me, find the overwhelming need to find a job. I find it particularly pressuring because I am from New Hampshire but I have no desire to return to the Granite State. I would much rather be here in New Jersey. The commonality that all us seniors feel is that applying to jobs is a full time job! 

Because many districts use applitrack, you can import most of the common fields when applying to new districts. It still seems to take me hours and hours to apply for a single position. One application for a school district in central New Jersey took me close to ten hours to complete. Granted, I’m including time spent researching the school district, writing my cover letter, and completing the application, but ten hours.. and I’m not even guaranteed an interview! The hardest part is knowing that there are literally hundreds of others just like me who are also applying for that one position at that one district. 

So the question becomes, “how do I stand out?” I’ve had this question in mind over the years and I have tried to prepare myself not only academically, but socially and professionally as well. I have worked hard at my collegiate education class. I have tried to branch out to other local professionals in areas that I am interested in. I have attended countless lectures and workshops to increase my professional development and proficiency across a variety of areas and topics. One piece of advice I was given as an undergraduate student was that “what you lack in experience, you must make up for in professionalism.” I believe this is a great piece of advice, and I have tried to hold myself up to this standard. I know that hiring a first year teacher is a risk to any school district, so that means I need to be the most professional unexperienced teacher in the room. 

It excites me when I greet students in the morning before they enter the classroom. It motivates me when when I take part in a twitter chat with so many dedicated and seasoned professionals in the field. It empowers me when I’m working with a student and I see it “click” for them as they understand the concept. Suddenly, they have become the teacher and they are the ones explaining what they know. It’s a wonderful thing to experience. 

Though I’ve spent hours sitting behind my laptop as I type away about my philosophies of education, differentiation, inclusion, and technology in the classroom; though I’ve spent too much time dwelling on all the other applicants that school districts are sorting through; though I am becoming more and more nervous about landing a job, I am more excited now than ever to have my own classroom with my own group of students.

Yes, job hunting is a full-time job, but in the end I know it’ll be worth it. 

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Are you a college grad (or soon to be one) and also applying for teaching positions? Are you a tenured teacher with some application/interview tips? Comments (or tweets) are always welcomed and appreciated.

@CallahansClass

Teachers Tweeting on Twitter

I was recently speaking with two peers of mine, both student teachers, as we left a seminar together. Jess (@MsSiegelReads) and I were sharing some of the many uses of twitter and how much we were learning and connecting to other educators and our PLNs. We mentioned to the third person, our friend Brittany, that she needed to get on twitter and start using it a lot more.

Brittany explained that she was hesitant to have one. “What if students, or even worse, parents find it?” “That’s.. kind of the point,” we tried to explain to her. Still, Brittany wasn’t sold. She was nervous and afraid of the potential harm that social media can place upon us. I know this is a common feeling among many educators.

Not many think of twitter as a resource, but that’s exactly what it is. It’s an amazing hub for exchanging and sharing information and ideas. I’m constantly clicking on links to blogs, articles and apps to check out and use in my classroom. I would not have found these blogs, articles and apps without twitter.

Twitter chats are also a great way to learn and connect. Chats are usually held weekly at a specific time and using a certain hashtag. Each chat (hashtag) is dedicated to a topic each week that we come together to discuss. In one hour, I have sometimes learned more about a topic than an entire semester at my university. These passionate and inspiring educators are up to date in their field, want to share their wealth of knowledge, and want to learn just as much from everyone else sitting around the virtual table. In #TeachChat, I even won these “Better Choice Chips” because of the answers/tweets I was sending (thanks again, @ReallyGoodStuff!).

I realize that most of my readers are tweeters, bloggers and educational progressives, so perhaps most of you skimmed this week’s blog more than read it. Still, maybe this post needs to be shared with someone who isn’t quite as comfortable; whether it’s an administrator, fellow teacher, peer or mentee. Hopefully it could at least inspire a conversation. I know I’ll be sending the link to my student teacher friend, Brittany. Maybe she’ll find a little more comfort in tweeting.

Did you find my blog through twitter? Did you find my twitter though blogger? Let me know in the comments and then be sure to follow both Jess (@MsSiegelReads) and Brittany (@LetsLearnMoore). ...and of course, if you’re not already following me @CallahansClass!

My Philosophy

WOW. I must say, when I started this blog last week I thought it would be a good place for me to document my thoughts as I continue through this world of education. I thought I would maybe see ten visits to the site. I was shocked to receive 125+ hits on my first blog post within 24 hours. The power of twitter and a PLN... (Which will be another post soon enough.) In order to tell you a little bit more about myself, I thought I would make a post on my philosophy of education. The foundation of my philosophy was started over a year ago, so I am constantly working to improve and update it. 

A little more about me.. 

From a young age, I knew that I wanted to be a teacher. I have always been an excited and motivated student. I have always had a desire to be in a school, and I have always had a desire to learn. While some may say that the sole purpose of school is to learn academics, I believe that it is so much more than that. 

School is somewhere that children learn skills that are essential for survival in our society. School is also a place where children can discover who they are. The most important purposes of school are to have an equal opportunity to develop both academic and social skills. While students must have adequate intellectual abilities, it is one’s social skills that are so essential to effectively communicate these ideas and intellects. School is where both of these skills can be fostered and developed. Learning occurs socially, academically, and as a combination of the two. The student, however, must feel that information being taught is relevant to them in order for learning to take place. Proof of true learning is not just understanding the material presented, but synthesizing (and eventually evaluating) the material. It is not simply memorizing nor learning it by rote. All students may not personally connect with all material, but all students need to see the relevance of the material in their lives. 

The curriculum for a classroom should be one that is relevant to the students. The curriculum must also teach the students essential content knowledge. Students should feel motivated to learn the curriculum material, but the material should also be flexible and open enough for the students to begin to develop their own ideas, views and opinions. Students should learn from each other just as much as they learn from me. That’s why I believe in having a responsive classroom where community learning is incorporated into daily lesson plans.  

There is no doubt that each student is different. Each comes with a variety of different views, interests and experiences. Regardless of these differences, it is essential for students to be taught how to discover and think on their own. I believe in the power of inquiry based learning. Any concept or theme can be taught and therefore later forgotten, but if a student is guided as to how they can make their own discoveries and think on their own, then the possibilities for education and learning are endless- both inside and outside of the classroom. As a teacher, bridging learning between inside and outside of the classroom is my ultimate goal.

Most importantly when designing my classroom, I want my students to be able to both think and learn independently. The most effective way to do this is a student-centered approach to education through guided discovery. I believe that providing a student-centered atmosphere is the best way for students to stay engaged and motivated with their learning. Furthermore, I believe that lesson plans should be rich enough for students to move from engagement to empowerment. I want my students to feel competent and powerful with their newly gained knowledge. My students should be able to connect what I am teaching in the classroom to their everyday lives outside of the classroom. My lessons are useless without real life application.

The world is constantly changing. Times change, students change, and because of this my lessons will change as well. The one thing that will not change is my desire for my students to feel independent, powerful and competent young adults as they continue through life. What happens in my classroom is just the beginning. 

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For my full educational philosophy, and philosophies on assessment, homework, technology and other topics, click around my website at mrcallahansclassroom.weebly.com. If you have a quick hello, tweet me @CallahansClass. 
Finally, what are parts of your educational philosophy? What do you agree and disagree with? What should I have considered and included? Let me know if the comments below.

And now.. I blog!?

I have always admired educators who seem to do it all.  Not only are they in the classroom five days a week, but once they leave their school they begin lesson planning, grading, tweeting, reading, and blogging. As I continue my experience in the field of education, those inspiring educators seem to be rubbing off on me. 
...Because after my lesson planning, grading, tweeting, and reading, here I am now blogging, too. 

As a brand new blogger and preservice teacher, I plan to keep this casual for myself and my readers (the few and far between). I have some ideas jotted down for what I would like to write about, but I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself to post on a daily or even weekly basis just yet. I know it may be a nuisance not having some sort of schedule. I’ll be sure to announce when I have a new post. Hopefully I will be posting more regularly once I get the hang of it.

Thanks to everyone for looking at my brand new blog. For now, you can learn more about me by checking out my website at mrcallahansclassroom.weebly.com and following me on Twitter @CallahansClass.