2010 - the Early Months - A New Beginning?

Laura and I arrived home on Christmas Eve. We were so happy to be home. Christmas was a quiet affair. Early in January, I subbed in Westerville. Then I got a wicked case of bronchitis. hmmm... think it could have been from the stress.... I can laugh now but let me tell you that I wasn't laughing at the time. I went to the dr to get meds and they made me so sick I almost died, literally. When I stopped taking them, because I just couldn't swallow another, I broke out in a rash that had me racing to the office. Oh, said they, this is an allergic reaction... you could have died if you took anymore. It took a few weeks to recover from that ordeal... but I emerged feeling more like myself, and, bonus, a few lbs. lighter! LOL

I subbed in Westerville on a Wednesday. Funny aside from that experience: Scene: 5th grade, self-contained, inclusion class. Boy walks up to me and says, as a matter of course....Mrs. Koch, you have an accent. Now I don't think I have an accent that is very remarkable... for a NYer. I don't say: long-guy-land or cawwww-fee, or Chalk-let, but I know there are some words that send out flares here in Middle America. Knowing this I said, "I do?" wondering where this was going. His response put me in stitches: "Yeah, you do. You from Italy?" Merciful Heaven!!! Really??? I think I will go to my grave laughing about that!

Anyway, back to the story, the next day, I got a phone call from the principal at St. Paul's asking if I would like to come in for an "interview" as a 5th grade maternity replacement.... The gods were smiling on me again! This is the job they talked about in the summer!!! I had this in the bag, right? But when I got there, they told me they were interviewing several people, it was not a given. I was grilled for 90 minutes. I left feeling confident that I did well, but.... didn't know if I was "in" or not. 3 weeks later, I got a phone call on a Tuesday to start on Thursday. Really? I jumped at the opportunity. I was going to teach social studies and language arts! Two subjects I certainly had lots of expertise in! I was thrilled.... I threw myself head first into the subject areas and the kids. But it was typical Catholic School... 3 sections of 35 kids. The kids were good. It was a group of very strong personalities. I enjoyed the teaching portion of the semester. The kids, though not the group I had left, were entertaining and interested in the subject matter. The 5th grade team was tolerant of working with another sub.(One of the other 2 had also had a baby earlier this year) They weren't exactly welcoming or warm. As a matter of fact, I was entertaining myself by using a behavior mode program as I was attempting to teach them to respond to the phrase, "Good morning!" One did open up. The other, treated me like I was lower that whale dung in the deepest darkest depths of the ocean. Really? In her defense, I heard that the difficult woman had been having issues with the principal, creating an ever-challenging environment for her to work in, and that environment was passed along to me. Suffice it to say that the 3.5 months I was here were...difficult and disheartening. But at the end of the year, she left to go to another school nearer to her home. Yipppeeee!!! An opening. Of course I applied immediately! Finally, a break close to home! At the end of June, I received a nice note, from the vice principal, attached to form letter (which said they were considering a handful of qualified candidates and essentially I was one of 5 candidates) that stated, "Have a nice relaxing summer, Patty." Wooo Hooo! I took this as a good omen. They were revamping the program and would be in touch. In retrospect, I should have called immediately to ask when interviews were beginning, but I waited for their vacation month, July, to pass. I called that first Monday in August, to hear that they did in fact revamp the program and hired a new English major to teach 5th grade LA and religion..... Well, that was devastating! Really? Beat out by an English major? How many times has that EVER happened before? Wait! Let logic reign! She was a relatively new teacher = cheaper.... again. Guess this isn't going to change anytime soon.

I started subbing in Westerville when school opened in August. This will be my only year to do this, so I am hoping to make a good impression on someone who counts. So far, it has been a wonderful experience. I have worked in classrooms from K through 8th grade. I apply to every single opening I see in every district I know. I continue to live in the hope that someday, someone will see what I can do with a class and hire me. I know it is difficult for districts with budget restrictions to hire people with experience, but many of the districts here have a 5 year policy...meaning they won't pay for more than 5 years experience, so salaries are capped there for seasoned new hires. I would gladly trade my 16 years of experience to be on level 5 of the pay scale just to be in a classroom, however, with 12 openings recently, I heard through the grapevine yesterday, that there were 1800 online applicants. They chose 8 to interview... It will take a miracle for my application to even get chosen. Trying to stay positive. Continuing the Novena for a miracle.....