I'm a middle aged woman who has never held a professional career position and was a housewife for years. I got into substitute teaching and loved it, so I got certified to teach ELA 5-12 thru ABCTE and then took the praxis tests to teach sped mild to mod and passed so I'm gearing up for the job hunt. Pluses: *Degree from an ivy league university that I paid for myself *Lots of experience with kids, like summer camps and girl scouts *Lots of sub and parapro experience *High IQ, though you'd never know it from looking at my earlier transcripts--grades came up considerably in Jr and Sr year though. *Great with kids and love, love, love English and lit *Many interesting life experiences such as a round-the-world in a year trip Weaknesses: *High school drop-out *Went to 4 universities and took 12 years to eventually graduate *Severe inattentive AD/HD, though doing much better with meds *No extracurricular activities in high school and few in college *Must work in public schools as I'm getting ready to be divorced I can see how my weaknesses could be spun in a positive light if I were looking only for a position with at-risk teens and I'd like to do that, but I'm going to be willing to teach in any type of position-- middle or high school, and special or gen ed, so my weaknesses I'm afraid will appear as just negatives to most principals. Also, I homeschooled my daughters for years and they are excellent students in their school now--both are voracious readers and I taught both girls to read. One has a $12,000 scholarship to an excellent little private college here and both make all A's. I can see how mentioning the homeschooling could be a plus or a minus depending on what mindset the principal has. Would you mention it if it were you? Or would that be too risky? BTW, I did this as a labor of love, not b/c I was mad at the school or looked down on them. Would you mention the AD/HD if it were you? Also, I should mention that my most favorite group would be the twice-exceptional--those students who are gifted but have some sort of learning disabilities and b/c of my own disabilities, I'm excellent with those with AD/HD.
stepka, Did you get references from your subbing? That would help the most, I think. How long have you subbed? If it has been awhile, you may be able to talk about that rather than your student teaching. Use your strengths (and all of your contacts) and you should be fine. Good luck! If you were able to figure out a way to pay for an Ivy League school on your own, you will be able to figure out a way to land a teaching job!
I subbed for about a 1-1/2 years and have been a TA for a year. I have several teachers who are willing to write me letters though it's hard to say b/c I've asked about 10 and they all enthusiastically said yes, but only 2 have done so, this far. In about a week I'll send out a reminder on email, but I'd hate to nag, or maybe they just didn't want to say no to my face--hard to say, but I asked those who most seem to like my work. Your answer makes me feel more confident, so thank you.
