Because I am not fully certified as a Reading Specialist, I have been working as a "long-term sub" this entire year. Without a contract, there is no guarantee that I'll be hired back. I reapplied for my own job last Friday. Here is the personal statement that went along with my application:
I love this school district. Before teaching full-time this year, I had been a sub on and off for the past two years. From my first visit to *middle school*, I was blown away by the affability and energy of the faculty and the enthusiasm of the students. I spent as much time as I could working in the building. I loved the positive environment. I frequently took notes on all the projects and teaching techniques I saw to use later in my own practice. Being hired as the school’s Reading Specialist last fall was genuinely a dream come true.
For the past year, I have been fully committed to this job. I have worked harder at *middle school* than in any other position I have had before. My car is consistently one of the first ones in the parking lot in the morning and one of the last ones left in the evening. My typical work day lasts between 10 and 14 hours. I like that every day is a little bit different. I spend my time planning and gathering materials for my literacy courses, assessing individual students, providing one-on-one and small group instruction for struggling readers and enrichment for those working above grade level, connecting with other staff members and parents, helping with our after school program, and researching current theories and best practices for reading instruction- among other things. Most days I am with students from 7:25am until 2:20pm, with a half hour for lunch. As a long term sub, I am neither a union member nor under contract, and therefore am not in breech by scheduling myself out of a planning period. I have taken only two sick days this entire year. I listen to podcasts from the International Reading Association in my car. I write academic papers about the reading process on the weekend. This position opened up at the point in my young adult life when I had grown sick of “exploring my options”. I was ready to sink my teeth into my career. That is exactly what I have done, and I have done it on an hourly pay rate, without any benefits, and with the knowledge that the district could hire a “full-time” teacher at any point. Imagine what I could do if anxieties about finances and job security were taken off the table.
I am currently working on a Reading Specialist certification course. Admittedly, it has been much more slow-going than I had originally anticipated. When time has been tight, and I am faced with the option of doing my own academic work or planning instruction for my students, my students’ needs have always come first. The flip side, however, has been that my students are my source of inspiration. My motivation quickly went from, “How can I get the best grade on this assignment” to “How can I find a way to help this specific student?” When studying, I can apply faces to the concepts I am learning. This year I have openly enlisted a number of students as my “guinea pigs”. I try various activities and lesson with them immediately after learning about the concepts myself. For example, one of my students struggles with word recognition. As I made my way through my course, he and I worked with both analytical and syntactical approaches to phonics, sight words, repetitive and echo readings, and a number of other strategies. We experimented until we found a balanced approach that works for him. Not only that, he has ownership of this personalized program because he was evaluating the techniques right along with me. I have had similar experiences with other students, small groups, and full classes. While I may not be fully certified yet, I would like to continue to form these types of partnerships with *MS* students.
