Two Ways to Help

Sat, 6 Mar 2010 10:33:26 -0500

Just a quick note about a couple things going on right now on the internet...

TeachersPayTeachers is having a promotion for today only -

To celebrate our 5,000th facebook fan we are throwing a sale on everything in the catalog today. Use Promo Code R3P3L when you checkout to enjoy 10% off.

Sign up to buy or sell: Teachers Pay Teachers

My stuff: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/varkgirl/

I use all my revenue from Teachers Pay Teachers to fund my DonorsChoose projects. Which brings me to the 2nd promotion...

From now until March 8, DonorsChoose will "match" all donations made through "teacher pages." So whatever you donate will be doubled. Here's mine:

http://www.donorschoose.org/mrsmaiolo

Thanks for your help!

A few quick site updates:

Reader's Theater Photos

Misc Fun Stuff

Website visitors can help our classroom by purchasing items from my Amazon Wishlist or making a PayPal donation - all donations and ad revenue received on this site are spent on classroom books and other materials.

Parents - you can also help our classroom by purchasing books for your child from Scholastic book orders. Many books are $2 or less! Every order placed earns bonus points which I use to purchase books and other classroom materials. Every monthly order totaling $20 or more earns us a coupon for $10 in free books for our classroom. If you order online, I get an additional free book pick, which I will use to select a book for your child!

Click the link below to place an order! Username and password are both "maiolo." FGCU students, feel free to order as well! This is a very inexpensive way to get books for your future classroom!

THANKS! Questions? Comments? Feel free to email me.

Advice for teachers looking for jobs

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 11:15:13 -0500

This post is part of the Teaching Jobs Portal: “How to land a Teacher Job”. What was your journey like to become a teacher? If you’d like to share your experience with other aspiring teachers please see this post for more information

Finding a teaching job can be hard, but here is some advice to make it easier…

I think I got my first teaching job purely based on luck. I am honestly not sure why they chose me for the long term substitute position I started in November 1999. I did not have good interviewing skills - I was horribly shy and terrified. But somehow I got the job. I had a horrible year - battling with behaviors and some interesting parents with little support from administration. But it was a great learning experience. The following year I moved to a different school with more support and had a much more productive "first" year of teaching! I had some experience under my belt.

Then I moved to Florida. I interviewed at my current school and was much better prepared. I had emailed my resume to the Superintendent - apparently a good move because he was really into the use of technology (this was 10 years ago so it wasn't as prevalent as it is now). I had a classroom website from my previous school to share with the principal at my interview, as well as a portfolio of photos and other work samples. And most importantly, I had good references. My former principal gave me a glowing recommendation that "sealed the deal."

I have since participated in interviews from the other side of the table as an interviewer of potential new hires. Some of the things that stuck out at me as real positives (things that made me want to add somebody to my team!) were:

Real classroom experience (a couple interviewees went to an online college program that provided little or no classroom internship experience!)
Photos and visuals to demonstrate the above classroom experience
The ability to talk about real things they would do in their classroom in detail - not just big words and theories they learned about in college but did not know or understand how to apply
Professionalism (one interviewee actually showed up in jeans!)
Positive talk about kids - even (and especially) those with difficulties
The ability to recognize strengths and weaknesses in oneself (somebody actually said they had NO weaknesses! Wow!)

Having said all of that, one of the people I helped interview and hire ended up being a horrible fit for our team/school even though I thought he interviewed beautifully and would be perfect for us! Another interviewee who I happened to know personally was horribly nervous and had an awful interview, but was very successful as a first year teacher! So maybe my first principal had it right when she hired me - the interview isn't everything! I interviewed badly and got the job and became really successful! So, who knows?

Thanks for reading!

This post is part of the Teaching Jobs Portal: “How to land a Teacher Job”. What was your journey like to become a teacher? If you’d like to share your experience with other aspiring teachers please see this post for more information

Website visitors can help our classroom by purchasing items from my Amazon Wishlist or making a PayPal donation - all donations and ad revenue received on this site are spent on classroom books and other materials.

Parents - you can also help our classroom by purchasing books for your child from Scholastic book orders. Many books are $2 or less! Every order placed earns bonus points which I use to purchase books and other classroom materials. Every monthly order totaling $20 or more earns us a coupon for $10 in free books for our classroom. If you order online, I get an additional free book pick, which I will use to select a book for your child!

Click the link below to place an order! Username and password are both "maiolo." FGCU students, feel free to order as well! This is a very inexpensive way to get books for your future classroom!

THANKS! Questions? Comments? Feel free to email me.

Updates

Two Ways to Help

Advice for teachers looking for jobs