New to teaching? New to middle school? This is a quick post to describe middle school issues that affect student success. Aside from transition issues, the pain that comes from leaving cozy elementary classrooms, students confront intimidating challenges on entering middle school. A few issues to think about before your interview:

1. Organization — what does the school organization look like? What team will you be on? How are teams organized? How do they work together? When do they have common planning time?
2. Organization — how will you help students with their personal organization? Oh, those lockers! By October, the papers may be spilling out, some of them completed pieces of homework that never made their way to a teacher. Paperback books will be crushed. Bananas may be oozing down the back of that metal box. One job not listed on the job description will be getting your students organized. Create a rough plan for managing that so you will sound ready if the issue arises in an interview. Emphasize the importance of helping students learn to be organized, the small details like regular, rigid adherence to the daily planner. Emphasize the family/teacher link and your plans to communicate with parents regularly when you observe organizational problems.
3. Study skills — what might you do to improve/develop your students’ study skills? How can you work in techniques for active learning? How can you help students take advantage of their learning styles and best times during the day? What can you teach to help students retain material? Mnemonics, study guides and graphic organizers are favorites. Do you have a special talent for any of these?
4. Multiple learning styles — how will you differentiate for learners in your classroom? How will you know your students are on target? Some answers: Pre-assess and make sure students are staying with you through regular checks such as exit slips and quick question/answer moments. Experiment with different groups so students can best help each other and learn from each other. Work with cooperating teachers to appropriately adapt materials. Communicate with home regularly to see if parents are observing problems or stressors you can manage before they spiral into ugly academic results or behaviors.
5. Reading — how will you promote reading? Your intended area of teaching does not matter. Reading is pivotal to long-term school success. Teaching your students how best to approach their social studies textbook helps set them up for later success in a wide variety of classes. Think about how to work that reading piece into the interview should the right opportunity arise.
6. Adolescent craziness — how will you address the extreme angst and emotionalism that some kids demonstrate in middle school? What will you do when Phillipa runs out into the hallway in tears because May told her that her she had small breasts? When Justin melts down because his hamster died? How will you manage when a pregnant seventh grader has a panic attack? Given any scenario like the above, I recommend telling interviewers you will seek advice from social workers and counselors. More serious problems should be delegated quickly to these professionals. If you don’t quite know how to address adolescent wackiness yet — you’ll learn — show a sense of humor and emphasize that you will communicate with family and other school professionals to get the help you need when the crisis arises.

Many elementary/middle/high school issues overlap. Different administrators go down different roads in an interview. But these are issues to think about before you sit around that table with the hiring committee.

Good luck!

I started as a high school Spanish teacher, entirely unintentionally. My original intent was to teach high school mathematics. I wanted to work in the high school where I had done my student teaching and the Department Chairman did not discourage me. He was expecting to make multiple hires. I waited. And I waited. One woman with previous experience was hired, then another. The Department Chairman called me in July to say two anticipated positions still awaiting funding might not be funded. He then suggested I talk to the man in charge of the bilingual department to see if that department had a possible mathematics position.

(I apologize if some of this is familiar history to regular readers.)

I journeyed north in the summer heat, into a school with almost no air conditioning, none in the classrooms.* A sweaty, flushed, blond man with a fondness for videogames told me that no math positions were available, but the school desperately needed another Spanish teacher. Could I teach Spanish?

It was mid-July. I would have signed on to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts or even Potions if either position had been offered. My Spanish was oh-so-rusty, but good enough to hack my way through a job interview. Within little more than an hour, I had met administration, shook hands, and signed on to teach Spanish, all with a slight sense of unreality. Then I went home and started furiously reading books and watching TV in Spanish. I immersed the household, a slight challenge for the daughter learning Spanish and a real learning experience for the one taking French. My husband’s Spanish was functional and he played along.

Maybe you are out there looking for the right early elementary reading position right now. I’d like to suggest you throw your hat into the ring for a middle school language arts position as well. Here’s a fact to consider: I was convinced I wanted to teach high school mathematics, but eventually I ended up teaching bilingual middle school classes instead. I taught bilingual mathematics, but I also enjoyed language arts, social studies, and science. (Oh my, do I have endorsements 🙂 .) In fact, language arts and science turned out to be my favorites. I discovered I preferred middle school to high school as well. Heck, I love middle school. Kids in transition are kids you can reach.

A colleague once explained to me why he preferred middle school mathematics over high school mathematics.

“You can get them to believe in themselves,” he said. “You can still convince them to like math.”

We agreed that middle-school students often proved more reachable than their high school counterparts.

In terms of job searches, what I want to convey is that what you planned to do may not turn out to be what you most enjoy doing. So if you are trying to find that position and not having much or any luck, consider moving up in age. Or down. If you are not finding any open high school history positions, consider middle school social studies. If you qualify or almost qualify for a health endorsement, apply for middle school health classes instead of high school biology.

It’s almost July. At this point, I’d advise taking a few chances. Fact: Spanish had not been my plan, but overall I enjoyed teaching Spanish more than I enjoyed teaching mathematics. I enjoyed teaching metaphors more than I enjoyed teaching geometry. I loved astronomy.

As we move into July, administrations will be worrying about filling open positions. If you qualify for a position, I suggest applying. If you are close to qualifying for a position in an area where no qualified candidates may exist, consider applying. Defense Against the Dark Arts may sound sexier, but Muggle Studies will get your foot in the door.

You may find your true calling in Muggle Studies. Who knows? The latest rubber ducky research could turn out to be a fascinating read. At worst you will be an experienced teacher with a story to tell when you start applying for Dark Arts posts in the spring.

*Fortunately, I was younger when I applied for employment in that sweltering office. Some American schools still have limited or even no air conditioning. I recommend being careful when considering working in those schools if you are unusually heat-sensitive. 

(Assistive technology that might be used by instructional aides.)

My post is largely anecdotal. I don’t know the stats for turning an aide position into a teaching position — those stats may not exist — so take this post with a grain of the proverbial salt, since the “Aide” strategy has been known to work, especially when an aide was busy taking education classes toward a teaching certificate. Districts may reward aides with that new certificate or degree, “promoting” them into a classroom of their own.

It’s mid-June and you may be feeling worried or even desperate. You want to nail that position down so you can enjoy the rest of the summer. You want to know that your dollars on education have been well-spent.

In the next few months, you may be tempted to take a position as an instructional assistant in order to get a foot in the door. A district may even suggest this to you after they hire “Bob” to fill the position that you interviewed for the previous week. They liked you. They also liked Bob, who had more experience, but they do have an opening for a helper in a special education classroom. The Principal suggests you apply.

What to do?

I would tell that Principal, “Thank you. I love your district. But I want to teach.”

I mostly advise against the instructional assistant strategy. Those positions sometimes provide full benefits but they tend to pay poorly. Classroom aides make about the same wage as a starting prep cook in a chain restaurant in many districts, and less than the waitstaff pushing martinis out on the floor. They may make less than that prep cook.

https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Teacher_Assistant/Hourly_Rate lists sobering data on pay for these positions. According to a PayScale salary survey, teaching assistants are largely women, and overall the group averages $10.86 per hour for pay. Only around one-half receive benefits such as medical coverage and about a third get dental coverage.

I suspect those salary and benefits numbers run higher for standard public school districts, and the averages are being pulled down by private and preschool numbers, but regardless salaries for teaching aides remain low. Many instructional assistants in public schools cannot afford to opt into the family insurance coverage their district offers. While personal health insurance may be free, family coverage requires a monthly premium that teaching aides commonly cannot afford.*

Pay differs greatly by location and district. Many areas pay better, and a significant range in salaries can be found in a small geographic area. According to https://www.teacher.org/career/teaching-assistant/, teacher’s aide employment opportunities are expected to grow about 9% by 2022 — which certainly should provide job security. Teacher.org lists average salary for a teachers aide at $23, 640.

Pros for the Instructional Assistant position:

1. You get your foot in the door. By next year, everyone will know you.
2. Those assistants often make quality classroom instruction possible. That quiet voice in the background helping the teacher maintain order, explain tough concepts, and sometimes even adapt materials? That voice helps teachers to differentiate instruction better than any strategy taught in any professional development.
3. Surveys show job satisfaction is high. These positions are often low stress. Unlike teachers, you don’t have regular evening work. Like teachers, you get a great vacation schedule. You will be given the chance to build relationships with smaller groups of kids and you may be vital to the success of “your” kids.
4. You often get to observe different classrooms as part of your duties, learning techniques for when you land that first teaching position.
5. Possible medical and dental benefits, likely free for just you.

Cons for the Instructional Assistant Position:

1. Low pay compared to teachers
2. Little or no control of classroom procedures, depending on the position.
3. You become seen as a highly useful instructional assistant — BUT not as a teacher. When you go to apply for future teaching positions, you are not a teacher and you will be competing with people who are teachers. That puts you at a big disadvantage in the hiring process.

Exceptions to what I just wrote: Let’s say Ms. T is going to retire next year and everyone knows this. You will be working with Ms. T. I’d make it clear that I was willing to take the assistant position because I wanted Ms. T’s job next year and then I’d watch to see how the hiring committee reacted to that.

In smaller, more rural districts, the teaching assistant to teacher plan also becomes a more likely win. In these districts, familiarity counts for a lot. The fact that you are a regular face at high school football games will be noticed in a small town. Rural districts are less likely to be flooded with applicants for positions and are more likely to go with a local than an outsider. Too many previous outsiders may have moved on from Mossycreek, Montana after deciding they could not face another year in a town with only erratic cell reception, one dingy tavern, a reduced-hour or closed post office, and a tiny food and liquor store that closes when the owner goes on vacation. (I now owe those small towns a post explaining why they can be great places to teach :-).)

Your personality counts if you take the instructional assistant path. Are you an extrovert, the sort of person who discusses the Cubs or Cavaliers passionately in the teacher’s lounge? Do you automatically look for volunteer opportunities or coaching positions? Do you have that booming, commanding voice that quiets a lunchroom? If so, you have better odds on making the teaching-aide-to-teacher-strategy work. Quiet competence will please your district, but will not necessarily help district leaders see you in an instructional role.

I intended this to be a short post but it got away from me. I wrote today’s post because I know too many teaching assistants who intended to use their positions as stepping stones but did not find teaching positions later. They are not necessarily unhappy with their positions, but not a one of them wants to try to live on what they are paid.

*If a person needs family insurance coverage, these positions offer one way to get that coverage. The premium may eat up a huge chunk of the aide’s salary, but I have known multiple people who used their instructional assistant position for family coverage despite the fact that family coverage gutted their pay. A self-employed spouse might earn most the family’s money while the aide provides benefits. Actual cost of family coverage in two places I worked: $1,200 per month.

More on finding that first or new position. This post may not help with this summer’s employment search, but will be worth consideration for those determined to break into education who are struggling, especially those who know a second language.

My last school had two bilingual/ESL teachers for each middle school grade. During my final years, I taught bilingual math and science. My counterpart taught bilingual language arts and social studies. We’ll call him “Anaximander.” Despite the fact that virtually all of our students who qualified for bilingual services spoke Spanish, other grades had ESL teachers who could not speak Spanish. Not enough Spanish speakers with the subject area credentials had applied. Those who did speak Spanish often preferred to work in elementary schools.

I’ve packed a lot into the above paragraph. Most teachers will know these facts, but for clarity’s sake let me add a few details: Those bilingual services are obligatory in Illinois and many other parts of the nation unless parents sign their children out of services, in effect against advice. Like special education requirements, bilingual education requirements create teaching position openings.

Two stories here:

I had taught high school Spanish, then mathematics before I decided to try to switch to bilingual education. I wanted the smaller — sometimes much smaller — class sizes, and I had discovered I loved helping launch kids into English-language learning. In Illinois, a desperate need for bilingual teachers had led to the creation of the Type 29 certification, a temporary certification that gave teachers five years (now six I believe) with short extensions to finish the formal coursework for the bilingual endorsement. The test for that Type 29 certification was essentially nothing but a language test. I clobbered that test, as might be expected from a high school Spanish teacher. My district then helped pay for my courses.

Anaximander’s story is more interesting. He had intended to be a social studies teacher when he graduated, but was unable to find employment. Finding that high school or middle school social studies position takes luck in many geographic locations. His job search failed and then failed again. At this point, Anaximander made a bold decision for a man in his twenties. He decided to learn Spanish and go in the back door. He attacked his studies with vigor, even going to work in a chain restaurant so he could practice Spanish. Without going into detail, the master plan worked. Anaximander has been teaching social studies for years now.

I can’t speak for how well this strategy would work in other states, but I offer up the idea to those searching for teaching employment. Did you take Spanish in high school? Do you know another language well?

My middle-school employed a number of English as a Second Language (ESL)* teachers who did not speak Spanish. Because of shortages in qualified Spanish-speaking applicants, the district accepted educators whose second language was Polish or German, for example.

What does this mean for job-seekers? In Illinois, Type 29 tests are offered in Japanese, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Polish, Hindi, Bulgarian, Urdu, Mandarin, Gujarati, Bosnian, Lao, Greek, Assyrian, Serbian, Korean, and Filipino, as well as Spanish. Other languages might be possible; the state will prepare special tests for low-incidence languages.

Once you have the Type 29 certification, you can find a position in a district that’s desperate for bilingual educators. Some districts provide generous tuition reimbursement, although that reimbursement varies greatly. Some districts offer none.

Eduhonesty: I can’t speak for the nation and this back door will not work in some locations. But if you are still looking for that new or better position, intensive Spanish-language studies may be exactly what you need, depending on where you live. Even if not part of your formal certification or endorsements, being able to say you speak Spanish will improve your odds of getting hired in many districts throughout the United States.

P.S. Some years back, I took an ESL course along with would-be educators who were trying to use the backdoor strategy despite not having a strong second language. The ESL endorsement can be enough without special language skills, but all other things being even close to equal, candidates with language skills will get that open position. I’d push Spanish first if you have any ear for languages at all.

P.S.S. Do you vaguely remember that high school Spanish, now mostly faded away from lack of use? It’s early June! Put the subtitles on what you watch. YouTube has El Exterminador 2 con Arnold Schwarzenegger for your viewing pleasure and many other fun options. Your television is loaded with familiar shows in Spanish. Still use DVDs? Play your favorites in English with Spanish subtitles and then try Spanish with Spanish subtitles. Your library probably still has those CDs for learning Spanish in your car. You might be amazed how quickly your Spanish comes back to you.

*The acronym can vary — ESL, ELL, or even EL.

O.K. Few of us can knit a robot. Regrettably few of us know what to do with knitting needles. Even those of us who can knit robots will probably never be able to make a Robbie of our own. Oops. Straying off topic…

Back on topic: So you have an interview. Yay! This post will be short.

Your first priority should be to scour that district website. Did District #42 start a knitting club recently? That’s a bridge for you if you can knit. What else are they doing in #42 that you would have loved to do when you were 13 years old? Has Snape School instituted a new afterschool reading program? Mention that program and tell the interviewer you would love to volunteer to help with afternoon reading activities. Add details. Tell the interviewer about the article you just finished on Pre-K language learning and introductory phonics.

If you know anyone who works in #42, you should ask that person about their favorite parts of the district, as well as their least-favorite parts. Ideally you might even be able to find out about an interviewer or two. The Principal owns horses? Do you have a possible bridge there? Other questions: What are the kids like? Has the district been changing in the recent past? Why is this new position open? Some of these questions are not good interview questions — asking about school populations or people who left can be problematic — but if you can find out this information informally, you will be better able to sound knowledgeable in your interview.

Research. Research. Research. Without being nosy or demanding, find out as much as you can before the interview begins. You want to find those connections, those bridges between yourself and interviewers. The more connections you can make, the better the fit you will appear to be.

Good luck!

You completed your student teaching. Did classroom management come easily? Did teaching feel natural? Was it fun? Did you get through your critical objectives? As you seek your teaching position, reader, I recommend you reflect on these questions.

There’s a mystery wrapped in an enigma where teaching’s concerned. Why can one person step into a classroom and own that room, while another wrestles with seating chart after seating chart? Two older men making career changes ended up in my teaching cohort, both big, physically imposing guys with thick, gray hair. Both went on to find positions. I’ll call them “Hal” and John.” John ended up struggling, forced to move on from his first position to another district as he tried to figure out how to be the teacher he had planned to be.  I discussed this fact with Hal.

“John’s not doing well?” I said, or something like that.

“I hear he’s having trouble controlling his classes,” Hal said, lowering his voice as if saying something shameful.

Hal had taken full hold of the reins in one of the toughest districts in Illinois. He was succeeding in a school that chewed many, other new teachers to shreds. A natural himself, he assumed the average teacher would be able to manage classroom behaviors.

As the Gershwin song says, it ‘ain’t necessarily so. I believe almost everyone can learn to manage classroom behavior, but some people require professional development to get to a place of ease and comfort, while others simply exude control from the day they first walk into their room. I remain fascinated by this fact. Consistency helps, establishing and reinforcing norms helps, practicing transitions helps, providing brain breaks helps, etc. etc. etc. through many PD recommendations. But in the end, I swear that sometimes Mary just has the magic before she ever sees Hogwarts, while Inez has to crack those potions books night after night to get the same effects.

Why am I writing this meandering post? Because as you seek your new teaching position, whether you are Mary or Inez matters. Why were these two erudite, physically-similar men who had taken the same classes to get their master’s degrees in education having such different experiences in the field? Because classroom management magic, while it can be taught, is not parceled out in equal quantities.

Frankly, I was too nice and understanding when I started, and that fact bit me more than once. I lost too much time to fostering a democracy at first. I gave too many bathroom breaks to too many students, students who I would later discover were taking breaks with every single teacher they had throughout the day. I reexplained too many concepts. I’d squandered a regrettable number of student minutes by the time I pulled myself together with the help of various mentors.

While you are trying to decide if you are Mary, Inez or some Mary-Inez hybrid, let me ask a few more questions:

1) Did you work with a motivated or less-motivated population? If you worked in a district where over 90% of students go on to college, be careful. You may think you have great management skills, but the skills required to keep students on-task in a district where an eventual university education has become the norm are not the same skills required to manage in a drop-out factory. If you worked in one of America’s top schools, you may not be able to judge the degree of your natural knack for classroom management. Kids in these schools often manage themselves as they keep their eyes on that Ivy League option, long before they take the spring tour of Williams, Brown and Yale.

2) If you worked in an inner-city, urban school and most students were doing your assignments, while listening to you explain new concepts, despite the fact you were a new teacher, you probably have all the magic you need to take any position anywhere.

3) Did you have to keep changing those seats, making new charts, and working on the behavior piece during your last teaching experience? You might want to try to find an easier position to start. Some positions are best left alone. Thirty-five kids in a drop-out factory can sink even the best-intentioned educator, especially in that first year or two — although if you make it through those first two years, you should be able to handle just about anything.

In my previous post, I recommended kissing the frog. I’ll stand by that advice with one caveat: If classroom management felt like a struggle during student teaching or your first year, you might be better off ducking larger classrooms and classrooms in districts with exceptionally low test scores or a history of disorder.

I’d suggest going for low class size rather than an easier commute or higher salary. I’d also suggest skipping districts with exceptionally low test scores. Low test scores imply lower levels of motivation, among other problematic factors, and less-motivated students tend to offer tougher behavioral challenges.

You will get better at classroom management year by year, but if that management piece felt like hard work during student teaching or in your last teaching position, simplify for now. In practical terms, drive an extra 15 miles to get 20 kids in your classroom instead of 30. Look for a district with a strong mentoring program, too — and don’t take the principals word when he or she enthuses about the mentoring program. Talk to first and second year teachers about the program. How often did they meet with mentors? Did the mentors sit in their classes? How often do new teachers get to observe other teachers? What sort of professional development does the district provide?

Eduhonesty: To summarize, if you are “John” or Inez, pick your toads carefully. If you are “Hal” or Mary, kiss any toad you want.

More later and good luck in your search!

P.S. Another teacher commented on my previous post, suggesting that applicants consider part-time positions. Yes! If you can afford to take that part-time position, you will have less overall work, giving you more time to perfect your classroom management skills, lesson planning, and data management. You will be able to give more time to individual students, too, a win for everyone.

Still looking? If so, then I am still helping.

What’s the big challenge faced by first-time hires? Whether as a cashier at Krogers, an engineer at Boeing or a kindergarten teacher, the first hurdle new applicants must leap stems from their lack of practical experience. You must convince others that you know enough to do what your employer expects.

That creates the first barrier to tackle when trying to land a starting position. Especially in wealthier and stronger districts, you will probably be competing against applicants with classroom experience. Many teachers try to move from the $35,000 per year job to the $45,000 per year job by changing districts, and districts like to hire that man or woman with a year or more of full-time teaching experience. Classroom management is largely (or even almost entirely, depending on where one attends school) learned on the job. Those first few years of experience consequently carry great weight in an interview. If student teaching is the extent of your experience, a position may slip away because you look great, but “Indira” looks great, too, and she has proven she can manage a classroom. She probably also has a portfolio showing the many clever assignments her students completed last year.

Don’t give up. Even if you lack experience and connections within a district, please remember that every teacher out there got hired for a first position at some point. If you student taught in a district, that should help, allowing you to talk about a school’s student and staff culture. Use your student teaching. You might want to praise a teacher whose management skills you admire, citing specific examples of how he or she kept students on task and moving along. Share great strategies for managing transitions you observed and any other classroom strategy you intend to steal from more experienced colleagues. It’s usually a good idea to include a mistake or two you made while student teaching that you managed to correct with help and advice from colleagues.

You did not do your student teaching in your first or second pick for where you want to teach? That brings me to today’s critical observation: Don’t be too picky!(OK, a little pickiness doesn’t hurt :-))

You are looking for a FIRST teaching position. Yes, you would like to work 12 miles from home in a district that pays $10,000 more than most of the districts around it, a district loaded with money, technology and support. But the competition for those positions will be fierce. If you refuse to look at the position that’s 30 miles away in the underpaid district with teachers moving carts between remodeled closets, you may be refusing to look at the position that offers you your best chance to begin teaching.

I understand the desire to hold out for the best possibility. But I am writing these posts for would-be teachers who missed the first hiring wave in the spring. Do you want to chance missing the year? You can move on once you have experience — a move that will be much easier if you take a position for the upcoming year. My first bilingual middle-school position was 34 miles from home, and my drive took 55 minutes in the morning darkness and sometimes over two hours in the afternoon congestion, stoplight by stoplight, by stoplight. I snaked my way along county roads in an area with no expressways. The following year I cut that commute in half, zipping to work at 70 MPH for much of the drive. You are signing on for 190-some days of teaching, not life.

For the most part, I recommend applying for the outlying and less prestigious positions. You can let a year or two slip by if nothing you want becomes available but that teaching certificate gets dustier while graduates keep streaming out of colleges and universities each June. Once you start teaching, you can apply for other positions later, joining that favored pool of applicants, slightly-experienced-teachers-looking-to-better-themselves-who-can-probably-manage-a-classroom. You might also find your 30 mile commute takes you to a place you love.