Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Rave reviews

Had my formal observation - it was amazing - best review ever.

The principal only had complements. Nothing I could improve upon. He said my lessons were amazing. He was impressed with how I handled the kids. He said my room environment was welcoming and my classroom management was excellent. I'm not the best teacher. Lord no, but I do a pretty kick ass job, and work hard.

So at the observation meeting the principal mentioned all of that stuff above and more. He asked what my career path was. I told him I have thought about admin, but am not sure I want to do it given the hours etc. I said I know it would make me more marketable. He said I'm an asset wherever I go, my organization is superior. He said I'm one of those rare people who has organization, can teach, manage, and lead. He said I would make an excellent administrator. He said no pressure. He's not pressuring me, but said it would be a great path for me. He is also willing to send me to a couple of really neat conferences coming up that I'm excited to attend and sent him the information about.

So... he asked me what I was interested in. I said admin. I am going to email him back, or chat him when I see him at school and tell him I am really interested in curriculum, because I am. I love planning a lesson and seeing it executed. I am interested in technology. I am putting several of my unit plans I have created on teacherspayteachers. I have material that can easily be adapted for all learning modalities, adapted for the class format (blended, traditional, and independent). I like thinking of a product and all the activities the kids can do to reach that. I would also like to do something with technology.

I think I want my admin degree. It is about $12,000-20,000, depending on where I go. It would take 2 years. I don't want to drop that amount of money. I'm trying to save for a car, a rental house, and have some vacation dinero on the side. I don't want to go in debt to get a degree. I am already all the way over on the salary scale and only get a raise for each additional year.

I could take more certification tests to make myself more marketable and able to teach more subjects - I know at the school I'm at a business certification would be the best thing. Business at other schools - not so much. There is an overabundance of PE, history, and math at my school. Other schools - PE is usually in demand, and of corse math and other subjects are.

One thing I think about is many administrators will be retiring - there is going to be a shortage - maybe much like the teacher shortage years ago. So do I wait and put it off, and maybe a district will pay for me to do it? Do I just keep taking certification tests? Do I more or less stay where I'm at in the classroom?

3 comments:

Joe said...

Schools always need good administrators. It's not something I've ever wanted to do, but I just enjoy teaching. If you want to go into administration, I don't thing you should wait. Usually the increase in salary is worth the cost of education.

fan of casey said...

Your title confused me at first. When I saw "rave" I first thought a club review. Congrats on doing great job! You deserve the recognition.

While you are young, you should be willing to sacrifice now for a better future. As long as the loan load is not too burdensome, you can pay them off with your increased earnings.

dan said...

curriculum curriculum curriculum... I'd see what paths/money are in a future of developing curriculum. with your ESL experience and all the sheltered instruction training you've had, you'll see it transfers to any curriculum. right now I'm working on a committee redesigning the COMP I course ,and my whole approach is what do these ding dang dad gum cell phone raised kids need, what strategies are going to work best to teach them how to write etc, but I think you'll find that as newer generations come through school, we'll have students that learn differently, have grown up differently, how do we instruct them in a way that can be successful while stuck in the lecture sit and learn classroom model from ages ago?... of course, admin if you want, besides the organization and management part, apparently it's all about knowing how to listen to parents' grief most of the time. ha does your school/state have any tuition reimbursement or waivers? grants? I got my master's with a state grant 'cause at the time the state needed esl teachers. anyway. yadda yadda. cheerio friend! :)