Today I shall express myself in the medium of lolcats:
Yeah, I’ve been pretty tired lately, on account of it has been a shitty week. This time last week I thought I had a nice teaching job lined up, within driving distance to home, and everything was looking OK. I quit my job at the liquor store so I could start on Tuesday. Then, on Monday morning, I actually went down there to look at the school. That’s when things started to turn shitty.
When I talked to the people there, everyone kept telling me over and over how hard the school was. How the students had no social skills and how I couldn’t teach the way I usually did because they would find the work too hard. They warned me, and they warned me again. Then they warned me some more. It seemed like the worst school in the history of anything. As I drove home to get ready for my last shift at the bottle shop, I was freaking out.
But eventually I coaxed myself into a state of cautious optimism, so I rang up the education department that afternoon and said I’d take the job.
That night, I couldn’t sleep because I had started to freak out all over again. After watching dvd nature documentaries until four AM, I decided that I would turn down the job. There was no way I could turn up in the morning all jittery and white as a sheet and expect to be taken seriously by the students.
After that I got about an hour’s worth of crappy, crappy sleep. I showed up in Mandurah at seven AM and waited for the school to open, then told them that I couldn’t do the job. They seemed OK with that, and the secretary even gave me the number of the RAC when I realised that I’d locked my keys in my car.
So, that was shitty. I did some relief on Wednesday and Thursday at a really good school, and that was fun but it just brought home to me how hard it is to get into a place like that. All the dudes there had been on the job for twenty years and could do it in their sleep.
Anyway, with no job - not even my old casual job - it’s time for me to find something asap. Maybe I’ll forget teaching for a while and do something simpler. With bits of paper and a computer. Less pay in it, but I might enjoy it.
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I’ve heard similar complaints from friends who’ve gone into teaching. I hope you find a job soon to tide you over, but I sincerely hope you’re not discouraged completely. The educational system needs someone like you in it, in whatever capacity it can take you.
Comment by Rin — Saturday February 27 2010 @ 2:42 pm
A very odd situation and rather crushing to the self-esteem, I should imagine.
Empathy, much. But no advice or anything else as I simply don’t know what to say.
What did your mum make of the situation - isn’t she a teacher?
Comment by nailpolishblues — Saturday February 27 2010 @ 8:25 pm
Sucks. I saw a couple of positions advertised along James Street in Northbridge, so maybe have a look around that area? Let me know if you’re up for dinner sometime, my shout.
Comment by Mish — Saturday February 27 2010 @ 9:06 pm
Rin - Yeah, I don’t know. I’m a good teacher and I have a lot to offer my kids, but if the job is just going to be a drag then fuck it. I’ll have to see what else I get offered and go from there.
Shelley - Thanks. My mum said they over-warned me and I should just tough it out. She may have been right.
Mish - James St? You mean bartender jobs? That might be fun. And yeah, I’m always up for dinner. Just you gotta let me pay for it because I’m not broke! How about that place in Vic Park… is it lebanese?
Comment by Mark — Saturday February 27 2010 @ 9:32 pm
One was a ‘waitstaff’, I forget what the other was. I am not sure where all the teaching jobs are at :( Tough it out, hopefully something will come up. Will be in touch soon.
Comment by Mish — Sunday February 28 2010 @ 8:15 pm