[Mr.NJ]

Day 3: While in the hallway with my co-op the following convo took place:

Co-Op: Where do you plan to apply for jobs?

Me: X & Y (my county & the county I student teach/go to college in)

Co-Op: Great! We'll be hiring about 200 teachers for the fall.

Me: 200?

Co-Op: Yep, our contract expires this year and many veteran teachers will probably retire when they are disappointed in it. I was one of 200 when I was hired 8 years ago.

Me: That's great!

Co-Op: The Principal will probably observe a few of your lessons later on in the semester, he is on the hiring panel and one of the senior members so he'll have a lot of say plus the district like to hire their student teaching.

Day 3 and I'm "winning" already - now I just need my Praxis score

[bookgeek59]

Woo hoo! So get your score, your resume, and your shiniest personality ready and GET IT!

[Ima Teacher]

We have hired at least 8 of our student teachers. We figure that they're giving us a several-month job interview.

[Mr.NJ]

My college tells everyone that it is a 4 month job interview but my co-op to be talking about it on day 3 I must have done something write in the past 3 days..I have neat handwriting, I have nice ties

[choppie70]

Nice!

I would suggest you brush up on your homonyms though!

[Elise82]

WOW! That indeed sounds very promising. Pick a sure-fire lesson for the P to observe. Make sure you're leaving a good impression when he does "walk-throughs", too.

[Evergreen]

I heard that same line when I was student teaching.....the district ended up not replacing the teachers who took early retirement, just increased class sizes. Ended up subbing for a year, then taking a long term sub. Don't put all your eggs in one basket, because if there's one thing I've learned-it's that the gossip is rarely true.

[Mr.NJ]

I would suggest you brush up on your homonyms though!

Took me 5 minutes to find the write thing you were talking about

[dudley911]

Do your absolute best all the time. This same thing happened to me when I was hired. There were over 100 new hires in my district (unheard of before) and I was hired after being a student teacher in that district. Good luck to you!

[Mr.NJ]

Everyone for the wishes & advice!

Evergreen - 200 teachers is a lot to not replace, while they may not hire 200 they would hire a lot.

This isn't my dream district but it's a job (especially today) I won't put all my eggs in this basket, still applying elsewhere but at least there maybe a light at the end of tunnel.

[linda2671]

and she was hired for this year.
It could happen.

[Evergreen]

I'm just saying that the number may be far from 200. I know that our district predicted a mass exodus of early retirement takers. Then the economy tanked and people realized that they'd rather stay working for a few more years to try and recoup the money they lost from their retirement funds when the stock market fell. So instead of the 85 they predicted would take the early retirement package, 6 took it....so they didn't replace them. You're 3 days into Student Teaching....don't count your chickens before they've hatched.

[BioAdoptMom3]

Wow, that's extremely encouraging ! Good luck and keep us posted!

Nancy

[Yorkie Owner]

you tons of luck!

[suzyteach]

I student taught from September - December, and graduated in December. My teaching license came in late January, and I was hired at the school were I student taught in mid-February. It can and does happen.

Do your best, learn from your mistakes, and good luck!!

[cassita]

Good Luck Mr. NJ...it seems as though things are looking up for you

[purplexowl]

That's great for you and very encouraging for us who will be looking soon too! When I tell people I'll be graduating in May and hopefully getting a job I always get the "Well, it took so and so 2 years" and "Our county barely ever hires!" etc etc. It's good to hear that some schools are still on the look-out. Get your Praxis done and good luck!!

[Allielynn22]

I see that you are from NJ... what county are you doing your student teaching? I live in NJ too. This suprises me given all the cut backs from our wonderful govenor!! Are you el ed? Good Luck to you!!!

[deana021]

That sounds promising as an applicant. In the recent cut backs in education all over the country, its sounds very good that there are several possible positions to become available in the next school year. Good luck!!

I'm just curious... how did this all work out?