My name is Mrs. M and for 8 years, I worked as a Child Protection Worker for our local CAS (I'm from Ontario, Canada). During my maternity leave with my first child, I decided to go back to school to finish what I had started - teacher's college. I graduated in 2008 from D'Youville College in Buffalo, NY and was fortunate enough to get on my local school board's supply list before a major hiring freeze that lasted more than 2 years.
I supply taught for a year and a half before I got pregnant with our second child. I had a second maternity leave and the 2010-2011 school year was my first year back. During that year, I got a long-term occasional (LTO) position at a local high-needs school that lasted about 6 weeks. It was a good way to get my foot in. In May 2011, I was offered another LTO at the same school in a grade 5/6 classroom to fill in for a maternity leave contract.
Last year, 26 people got laid off from our board. When staffing occurred in June, I didn't get anything regular and was back supplying.... or so I thought. In August of 2011, I got a phone call from the principal at that same school telling me that the LTO I had previously been on would be posted as a Grade 2 LTO and she "strongly encouraged" me to apply to it. So I did. And I got it.
I finished that grade 2 LTO last week and am back supplying for the last couple of weeks before summer vacation starts. In the meantime, many postings have come out for teaching positions. The board will be hiring about 55 brand new permanent teachers this year of which I hope to become one. They also posted over 50 LTO positions for the next school year.
I've learned a lot about the hiring process and things that teachers can, and should be, doing to help themselves get a job. My hope is that this blog will turn from a "how to get a teaching job" to "having a teaching job", but it could possibly end up as a "supply teaching survival" blog. Let's keep our fingers crossed for the first of those possibilities.
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