One of the new adventures I’ve embarked upon since my layoff in 2011 is substitute teaching. Many unemployed teachers I’ve spoken to have been substituting for a very long time, sometimes half a decade or more, waiting to get back into a permanent position. Substituting can be one of the worst – or best – situations in which an […]
The Unemployed Teacher
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum, Opinion, The Unemployed Teacher
Teachable Moments During Teacher Unemployment
As teachers, we instinctively look for those teachable moments in the classroom. You know them – those moments when suddenly space and time open up to reveal an opportunity to take what is at hand and turn it into a way to delve more deeply into whatever subject we are teaching. Exercising this habit outside […]
Posted inOpinion, The Unemployed Teacher
Education Myths that Eliminate Good Teachers
Teachers are among the many casualties of this faltering economy, especially young, motivated teachers. So many promising educators –who have chosen a career path of little financial reward because they want to help growing young minds — are waiting in the wings, wondering when they’ll get their opportunity. Those new teachers now must compete with […]
Posted inFeatured, Opinion, The Unemployed Teacher
The Unemployed Teacher: Why Do We Become Teachers?
This is my second school year (and 16th month) without a permanent teaching position. Like thousands of other out-of-work teachers, I spend many hours a week looking and applying for jobs. The world of unemployment is filled with extremely relentless efforts that produce very regular rejections. Sometimes you hit a job opening at just the […]
Posted inOpinion, The Unemployed Teacher
The Journey of An Unemployed Teacher: A Shock to the System!
I mentioned last week that there have been over 350,000 teaching job losses since 2009. Usually the story of education job cuts stops there. But what really happens once the decision to cut is made? Every state in the union has districts that have experienced a massive shock to their system through a Reduction […]
Posted inCurrent Events in Education, High School, Middle School, Opinion, The Unemployed Teacher
The Unemployed Teacher: A School Year Begins…Without Us
I took it for granted. I took for granted that once I found my passion and had seven years experience under my belt with it, I was safe. My passion is teaching Social Studies – I especially love Civics and Sociology, but have taught everything from Global Studies to US History. I had developed and […]