Anybody see the truck that ran me over?

Holy. Cow. I'm. Tired.

Some quick observations: I'm tired. I forgot how exhausting it is being "on" for hours on end. The activity level at my other job went in bursts: sometimes there would be really intense action and a lot of demand, and then there would be relatively long lulls. Now, the last three periods of my day are one right after the other for me and it's action, action, action. Leaves me feeling a little ragged.

And those last three periods are what's called "project physics", or physics for students who need a physics/science credit but who probably aren't going on in science. Those students need a little extra help in terms of motivation, since they might not be very interested in being there in the first place.

Some of my classes are very small and some are large and the difference in managing them is pretty significant. Time management is a really big issue in the larger classes, and after only one day on the job I can clearly see the argument for smaller class sizes. Maybe my perception will change as I become better at classroom management.

What a whirlwind. I think I'm going to go to bed now.

First day!

Today is our first day in front of students. A big career decision, few years of planning, a big move, saving up and taking the required classes, and it's finally here.

I'm a little overwhelmed, but in a good way.

Deep breath and...

Union guy

Today, we were going through teacher orientation at OPRF, and as a part of that we had an opportunity to join the teachers union. It's not compulsory, but if we elect not to join we pay a "Fair Share" fee since the contract we signed had already been negotiated by the union. At least this is how I understand it.

The fair share fee is close enough to the annual union dues that it doesn't make much sense not to join, so here I am.

I never saw myself joining a union. I'm in a really alien world, and I guess it will take me a while to come to grips with it. It continues to be an interesting journey for sure.

Here we go!

I've signed a contract and I'm happy to announce that starting next week, I'll be teaching physics at Oak Park and River Forest High School in Oak Park, IL.

I have a great mentor and I can't wait to get started!

Jobs to go around?

Just a quick update on the jobs situation for my class.

There are 13 people in my class, one of which had a job already when she started. Of the 12 that remain, 6 have jobs now.

Considering that I was told by an Alt Cert alum that the offers wouldn't start coming in in earnest until I had a certificate (which none of us yet has), I guess 50% employment is pretty good. We'll see.

Dogs are barkin'...

This week, we spent Mon-Thurs teaching something called the Summer Sleuths, in partnership with the Illinois Math and Science Academy. Sleuths is a kind of science summer camp for students entering the 5th - 9th grade, and they spend 4 days investigating a problem developed specifically to teach kids about problem definition, research, critical thinking, data gathering and analysis, and presentation of results. You know - science. They are four very, very full days. And we were all really, really tired.

Comparing notes afterwards, we found that many of us had a similar thought: that if four days of this were so demanding, how on earth would we handle a full school year of it?

To our amusement, we found that we all rationalized our way to a list of reasons that this experience was actually more demanding than teaching a regular class, and that it wouldn't be so hectic once we got into our own classrooms. And we may have been right about some of that, but the conclusion is inescapable for the 13 of us in the class who are to become teachers: we're going to be working our asses off in our new careers.

That said, this week was simply awesome. I can't wait to start in the fall.

The fat is in the fire.

I've been offered a job at a large, suburban, public high school teaching five sections of physics, starting in the fall.

And I accepted.

My god, what have I done?

I commented to some people close to me that it's odd how years of planning, preparation and even anticipation of this moment still didn't fully prepare me for the shock of actually saying "yes" when offered a great position. I'm still reeling a bit, but this all just became a lot more real for me.

I don't "officially" have the job yet, since they can't legally hire someone without a certificate. But we do have an agreement that upon successful completion of the Alt Cert course at Benedictine, the job is mine. (So the school and I are not married yet, but we're engaged.) It seems quite solid - and by that I mean that they're very sincere and I have little doubt that this deal is all but done - but there's a little discomfort associated with not having a contract signed. Guess I better get used to a little discomfort regarding job security.

There are 13 people in my class at Benedictine, all following a similar path. So far (1.5 weeks into the 8-week class) only one other person and I have gotten jobs. I'm told that it's normal for so few to have jobs at this point in the summer. I trust the wisdom of the folks here since they've been doing this for more than a decade. But i'm VERY relieved to be in the position I'm in.