[hopey_glass]

I am a self-contained teacher. Big class K-5 cross-cat. I love my kids but I have no duty free lunch, no planning period and a big class. The classroom duties take a lot of time and I don't have anytime to do paperwork, etc. except after school. My family never sees me because I'm either at work or working at home and working on weekends.
How did you get a resource job?
I have adapted and general education special ed, middle school regular ed all subjects.
Any advice helpful.
Resource jobs in our district are coveted EC jobs so what did you say or do to get the job.
Plus resource gets the materials they need to teacher whereas a self-contained teacher doesn't (in our district) - they don't want to spend the money on self-contained classrooms.
Thanks!

[lovingsped]

I don't think resource jobs are harder to find than self-contained in our district but we are a pretty big district. I hear you on the no-planning time, lunch with kids and having to buy or make all of my own curriculum but I still love having my own room and could not see trading it for all the indignities that come for sped kids and teachers in a general ed setting. I am also not sure that the workload is less since you would have a bigger caseload.
How could you get a resource job? Is there a way for you to network in the district (take courses, be on committees, volunteer for initiatives...). I think once you have some name recognition for the people who do the hiring, you have a foot in the door.
Good luck.

[Lillybabe]

According to what one of the special education teachers at my school said resource may be disappearing anyway. According to her, special ed. teachers (maybe only in my state?) are now required to do direct instruction based on CC standards. This means she's no longer allowed to help students finish assignments for their classroom teachers, provide homework help, etc. From what I've seen this is what I've seen resource teachers do. They have been the ones who make sure students have materials, fill out planners, use their schedules, etc. At least in our school at the Junior High level the special education teachers with resource caseloads spend all of their time helping students keep up with coursework rather than actually doing much direct instruction.

As far as how to get a resource job, I have no idea. In most areas special education jobs are hard to fill. In my area we're actually talking about cutting positions as many teachers have very small caseloads.

[hopey_glass]

lovingsped - the resource teacher at my school has about 4 planning periods and less than double my caseload. There is no push-in and it is all done in small groups per grade.
My district is small and we really don't have initiatives or district-wide committees. But I do take classes. It seems that once you have self-contained, you cannot get out of it.
Lillybabe - I haven't heard that in my state but things are very much in flux here. The resource teacher does instruction that he has packages for. He also helps with classwork.

[Tounces]

Can't you talk to your administration about getting a prep time? How can they justify not giving you one? Do your kids go to specialists? Maybe some could double up and go with a para, same for lunch.
Get references from those you work with and tell them you're updating your credentials.