I know, I've completely abandoned this blog. With work and a puppy and trying to get a teaching job I've just had zero motivation to write about any updates. I have however, kept a journal about my journey to teaching and let me just tell you that as soon as I let go of trying to control getting a job by MYSELF, God showed up big! He always does and He is never failing.
My student teaching ended on April 13. I wish I would have posted more about my experience there like I did at my first placement, Coble Middle School. But, hey, at least I'm back and in the groove now! :)
Since then I have been testing for state certification and sending resumes to schools with Language Arts openings. It is the most non-personal thing I've had to do in order to get a job. You have to apply to the most general email listed on the district's website and basically hope that a principal runs across your name and resume out of thousands of other people in the system. You also have to have an application completed for the district as well. I hand delivered a few resumes to two school thinking that would help...no. I checked multiple districts every morning for new job postings and personally emailed the principals of the schools in which I was student teaching. I got a response from one that said to keep on trying and applying because they hire up until the first day of school. UP UNTIL THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL?! It was then that I realized that I couldn't wait all summer to get a job that close to school starting, especially as a first year teacher. I remembered the saying, "It's all about who you know." I started emailing anyone that I knew that worked in the school district, in any capacity, and asked that they please pass my name on to their principal. I took a lot of it into my own hands and felt the Lord quickly say that He was in control of this situation, not me! "Ok," I told myself. My focus had gone to "get a job, get a job, get a job" and not asking the Lord what He was going to do and/or where He wanted me to teach. It was about what IIIII wanted, not the Lord. I let go of control and anxiousness and I think I even went a few days without checking the website for new postings. Soon after, I got a call from Shackelford Jr High about an open position. Long story short, I interviewed with them a week later and was notified that I did not get the job 2 days after that. I was crushed. I cried and cried. I had set really high expectations for myself and got so wrapped up in getting it that I didn't even prepare myself for getting a call that said I would not be offered the position. Slone, my husband, comforted me that night and told me to keep my head up and that something would come along. The next morning, I was checking the website again for additional openings.
I need to back up for just minute and say something about this phone call from Shackelford. It is in the Arlington Independent School District (AISD), meaning it's in Arlington, Texas. I live in Mansfield and was focusing my efforts there since I wanted to be close to home. I had filled out an application online with AISD but by no means was I really pursuing any openings there, plus they had zero positions listed online to apply for! The way I see it, the Lord dropped this one right in my lap once I gave up control of trying to do it all myself and said to me, "Ok, let's start here." Even though that outcome didn't turn out as planned (and it rarely does!) I still trusted He was at work and would land me somewhere perfect.
So I have now had practice in one interview and been shot down (ha!). The following Sunday I was teaching my 6th graders in Sunday school and one girl mentioned that her mom works as the Director of Secondary Personnel in AISD. What my ears heard was, "My mom can email a principal with openings that few people know about." I wrote down her email and emailed her first thing Monday morning. She forwarded my information on to TWO principals and Tuesday morning I was contacted for an interview at Nichols Jr High. I interviewed with a panel a few days later and drum roll, please....was turned down again! I called my mom just bawling my eyes out. Ironically enough, she had gone for a promotion at her job about a week prior to this (and didn't get it) and knew just what to say to pep me up. I picked myself up and moved on to the next (after a few days of sulking)...
Within the next few days a principal's secretary called me for an interview. The first two interviews had been with panels, but she said I would only be meeting with the principal in this interview. That was less stressful and I felt prepared because I had just had two great interviews as practice. I show up on a Thursday and interview for about 30 minutes. At the end he said that he would be leaving for vacation the following day and that he wanted to make a decision by the end of the day. I would receive a phone call if I was offered the position and a letter if not. Soon it was 5pm, then 5:30, then 6...and Slone and I both had to assume that the principal had left for the day and that I did not get the job. This time around, I wasn't sad. Well, part of me was but I didn't cry like the first two times. There was almost a peace about it as well that the Lord had given me. Friday morning, I emailed him to say thank you for his time and for the interview. I also emailed the secretary to see if she knew that someone had been offered the position. I didn't hear anything from either of them but something (possibly the Holy Spirit) kept telling me that he hadn't made his decision yet. But I forced that thought away because I knew I had to move on and keep searching. Monday evening rolls around and I'm leaving Texas Power (my current full-time job). I get a call at 5:15 from the principal of the school I last interviewed. HE OFFERS ME THE JOB! I literally paused for about 2 seconds and said, "Oh, ummm, ok!" I apologized for sounding so shocked but (politely-haha) reminded him that he said I would have gotten a call last Thursday if the position was mine and that I had assumed I didn't get it. He mentioned a few things that came up and he had to get done before calling me. Granted I told him in the interview that nothing would keep me from taking the position, I was very thrown off by the call and asked him if I could call him back with my answer because I wanted to discuss it with my husband first. I told him that we had mentally moved on and were looking for a job somewhere else since I didn't get a call the previous week. I think he was shocked that I didn't accept right away but it's always important to me to discuss big changes like this with my husband. He is along for the ride too and I wanted us to be on the same page about my next move. I got home and told him the news and asked him what I should do. His response, "Go be a teacher, Plum!" And I smiled really big and ran outside to call the principal back. He said that he was excited to have me on board and that I wouldn't regret the decision to work there. He mentioned that lots of changes were being made at the school and that I would be able to see the fruits of that in the upcoming school year. I knew from the beginning of my search that I wanted to be in a school that was "revamping," if you will, and one in which I could be part of big changes for the better. We ended the call and I contacted Rhonda Clark, Director of Secondary Personnel, A.K.A. the mother of the 6th grader I teach at church. I thanked her for recommending me so quickly to these principals and she said that she couldn't take the credit for it because it was her daughter that had told her so much about me and how I would be a great teacher. I almost started crying when she said that. It just touched my heart so much to know that such a young person would think to talk to their mom about getting someone a job. Rhonda told me that I would need to come in the following day and sign my letter of commitment to the district, so I did just that and signed up for the next new hire orientation for July 11.
When I went back inside I hugged on Slone and just couldn't stop smiling that I had just been offered a teaching position. We decided that we would go celebrate at our favorite place, Suzushii. Before we left, I wanted to give Tana (our puppy) a chance to use the bathroom so I went to let her outside. As I looked out the back door, I saw this bigger-sized bird that I had seen a time or two about a month ago in the backyard. I wasn't sure what it was but knew I hadn't seen one before and yelled for Slone to come see it. He informed me that it was a roadrunner. I couldn't believe it! The mascot of my new school is a ROADRUNNER!! (They are officially called, Chaparrals) Is God cool or what!? He was just confirming for me that He is, as always, in control of every detail! I will never forget that confirmation.
That night, I reflected on the things that I felt the Lord say and do in this whole process. In all of 3 weeks, I had 3 interviews and a job offer at the final one. It was a whirlwind of emotions and trying to sort out what it was that the Lord was doing but I believe he led me to the perfect fit which is Hutcheson Jr High. I wanted to control every piece of it from the beginning but it wasn't until I sat back and realized that He was trying to get me to the right school by HIS means that I started to see Him work week after week.
If you read through all of this, I applaud you! :) Mostly, this post was for me to have to reflect back on and see how God weaved it all together. And I think it's only fair that if you are going to follow my teaching journey from here on out, that you know how I got here :)
Keep on Teachin' On!
~Megan
