90 Days

Yesterday’s interview was challenging. I think that the interviewers were under a lot of pressure to condense what is usually likely a multi-week interview process into a few days, as a result of a last minute vacancy. The interviewers threw challenging questions at me in rapid-fire, many questioning my intentions as a TFA CM and why I would want to be a teacher. I held my ground, didn’t flinch, and only panicked once I was already in my car again.

However, it was an awesome school. It is a Hartford magnet school with an emphasis on social justice. How cool is that? Each student is required to embark on a year-long project on an aspect of social justice. Students are required to engage in after-school activities. Most importantly, students are split into four houses that compete in academics and sports. Yes, like Hogwarts.

If that doesn’t work out, I’ll be disappointed, but I’m still waiting on the Bridgeport interview, and I have another Hartford one tomorrow. I’ll just sit and patiently wait for the job offers to roll in.

This morning, we had a(nother) discussion on racial biases, but the discussion went remarkably well. We were in small groups that were allowed to freely discuss, which is vastly different that what we’ve seen in the last six weeks. It was interesting and even useful.

What followed was a discussion on communicating with families, that was very, very similar to conversations we’ve had before.

In the afternoon, we had a wonderfully depressing session on all the things that can go wrong. First of all, principals have the option to release a new teacher within the first ninety days without going through the union or any other lengthy process. Usually, there is some warning and opportunity to improve, but only usually. In addition, a first-year teacher is under a one-year contract, which can be “non-renewed”. If either of these things happen, TFA will drop you. You will be done, with no opportunity for recourse.

We were told that only a few people have this problem, but it’s still alarming. I don’t think it will be an issue for me, but it’s something to worry about.

Now we get to create a management plan. It’s exciting, but it would be nice to have some idea of where I’m working, because many schools already have standardized management plans that we have to follow. It's still fun, though, trying to figure out how I'll communicate to my students the importance of working hard and behaving in class.