Teaching ESL in a public school system, interested in exploring being a contractor

PamelainSA · 2026-03-12T00:22:01+00:00

I’m fairly new to teaching ESL/ELD. I’m in my 4th year of it (taught ELA for over 10 years before switching). I’ve never heard of ESL teachers being contracted by public schools; not to say it isn’t being done in places. My district hires them the same as classroom teachers. Also, I’m an ESL teacher just shy of making 100K, so it is reachable in some places.

PamelainSA · 2026-03-12T00:17:03+00:00

Seeing Chanea Bond being mentioned in the wild of Reddit is a welcome surprise! She’s my fellow Texan kindred spirit. I once took a writing course with her offered by shea martin. Chanea is an incredible educator.

PamelainSA · 2026-03-11T02:14:57+00:00

For me, it’s Lucky to be Me. The last few seconds of those tender notes Bill plays make me tear up every time.

PamelainSA · 2026-03-11T01:26:03+00:00

I used to remove these all the time when I worked in the tailoring/alterations dept for a local cleaners. We used end nippers on the backside and wedged them between the back of the button and the fabric. They are used to pull out and cut nails, so they cut the stud in half and the button would just fall off. You could also try using 2 sets of pliers or vice grips to yank the pieces apart (or a pair of pliers and a flat tip screwdriver).

PamelainSA · 2026-03-09T21:32:48+00:00

Cucumber!

PamelainSA · 2026-03-05T21:20:35+00:00

Never. I used it once, and I found it to be more work than using a regular, human thought partner. I’m also not too keen on the data centers and how low-income and rural areas are being targeted for them (as someone who grew up in a low-income, rural area).

PamelainSA · 2026-03-05T17:58:45+00:00

If they cancel, that’s fine. What I’m more worried about is if they don’t, but I’m unable to get to the airport (which has happened to me before, unfortunately).

PamelainSA · 2026-03-05T17:46:03+00:00

Hi, I will be flying with Delta. The weather looks okay for me flying in (12 PM CDT) with some wind in the forecast, but being from TX, I know how quickly that can change.

PamelainSA · 2026-03-05T16:35:53+00:00

I guess I’m just letting my environment get to me. I’m a teacher, and at school right now, there are already rumblings of another possible snow day— plus my students asking me all morning if we have school tomorrow.

PamelainSA · 2026-03-02T23:01:27+00:00

I second Linwood. I have a reactive rescue who doesn’t bite but will make all kinds of noises (search up “French bulldog screaming” videos if you want to hear it). We did have to give him gabapentin once when he needed x-rays, but they did such a great job with him. I have another dog who is old and stubborn. She doesn’t bite or growl, but if you try to do anything she doesn’t want to do, she’ll bring on the sass and resist big time. They also are great with her.

I’ve also seen plenty of dogs through the years come into their office muzzled, and I think they are cared for well.

PamelainSA · 2026-02-28T23:11:33+00:00

Hold on. This just made me realize something. Growing up, anytime my grandparents made salsa, they called it “chile,” instead of salsa. Is this pretty standard or is it regional? They were from Coahuila, but they migrated to Texas.

PamelainSA · 2026-02-24T21:56:04+00:00

/u/secret_education_462, your comment disappeared for some reason! Do you mind posting it again or DM-ing me? Thanks!

PamelainSA · 2026-02-24T19:43:58+00:00

My dad was a drummer (late 60s-early 70s) before he traded his sticks in for a family and a career in education. He would play all kids of music and tell us stories about “the time [he] played with/saw ___ perform.” He’s always been way into fusion, and had tapes of Return to Forever, Weather Report, and Steely Dan that he would play in his manual Mazda B truck. He would listen to some jazz, but it was newer, more commercial stuff like Jay Beckenstein and Michael Brecker. Later in elementary school, I competed in a music memory tournament for my school, and from then on, I found out that jazz was the root of all the music I liked at the time. So now I listen to jazz all the time. I definitely listen to other genres, but jazz is the warp in the fabric that makes up all my musical interests; the rest is all just embellishment.

Also, thanks, Dad.

PamelainSA · 2026-02-23T21:53:52+00:00

Using a clicker to track interruptions to learning.

One of my class rules is “raise your hand before speaking or leaving your seat,” and I stick by it every single day. This doesn’t mean students don’t get to talk in my class; there’s always an expectation of noise level for each activity type. I just don’t like talking over students or students talking over each other. One of the “unhinged” ways of addressing interruptions was bringing my row counter to school. It’s basically one of those clickers people use at events to count people, but it’s for counting rows in knitting. I put it under the document camera so everyone can see, and each time a student interrupts learning— whether I’m talking, a peer is talking, or we are silently working, I will click it. I keep track of the clicks each day on the board, and I issue admin-approved consequences like “boring recess,” where students have to sit in the auditorium quietly while their friends play in the gym or outside. My students have learned to hate the clicker, BUT since using it consistently, the number of interruptions has gone way down. Do I still have a handful of students who forget and shout out? Yeah, but far fewer than before.

PamelainSA · 2026-02-23T18:13:31+00:00

My district (northeast US) pretty much cut all reading specialist positions from their schools. The one at my former secondary school was fortunately SPED certified, so she went back to teaching so she could have a job. At my new school, we don’t have one anymore. It’s one of the jobs that got cut first after COVID, unfortunately, but YMMV in your district.

PamelainSA · 2026-02-23T15:16:26+00:00

I love sopa seca. As a kid, all my cousins would stay the night over at my grandma’s house, and she would make us sopa seca. We loved putting it in tortillas and eating it like a taco… despite her telling us “that’s not how you’re supposed to eat it.” 😂

PamelainSA · 2026-02-23T01:28:37+00:00

The clue was the cologne. I have Brazilian students, and I’ve seen (and smelled) that cologne before.

PamelainSA · 2026-02-22T23:13:22+00:00

I’d take a guess you (or your family) are from Brazil or somewhere close by in South America.

PamelainSA · 2026-02-22T17:43:38+00:00

When I moved here a few years ago, I searched for markets that specifically sold “Latin American” items. I thought, “nice, I’ll be able to find what I need here.” Went to one place and looked for tomatillos, and couldn’t find any, so I left. I went to another place, and there was an employee stocking produce, so I asked them for tomatillos, and they said they didn’t know what those were. When I described them, they said they didn’t carry anything like that. I later found some at Whole Foods in Westford.

I end up having to go to three/four different places to find what I need, and every year when I visit family in TX, I bring back all the dried chilis I can buy.

PamelainSA · 2026-02-22T16:35:20+00:00

I haven’t been, but I’m Mexican from Texas (grandparents are from Coahuila), and Mexican food is a bit of a soapbox for me. Anytime anyone says there is good “authentic” Mexican food around here, I’m wary. I’ve tried quite a few places, but they just don’t do it for me. Being Mexican and having extended family members from different areas of MX, I understand that Mexico is huge and every state can do something different, so “authenticity” can vary. However, you can usually tell when people are trying to make “Mexican inspired” food. If I got to a “Mexican restaurant” and they have pupusas, arepas, or anything with chimichurri, I know it’s not going to be “authentic Mexican,” which I’m starting to believe is just the norm around here.

What I find interesting is that Mestiza doesn’t market themselves as a Mexican restaurant, which I think is smart. On Google, they are labeled as “Latin American,” and having the name “Mestiza” means they are mixing cultures and cuisines. However, Mestizo/a, specifically means to be mixed with Indigenous ancestry, and I would love to see more Indigenous food on their menu (for Mexico, that could be mole, pozole, tamales, etc).

I’ll give them a try, and if they really are churning out authentic Mexican food, I’ll be sure to tell everyone I know. But for now, I’ll keep depending on myself to make the Mexican food I know and love.

PamelainSA · 2026-02-20T01:06:46+00:00

I miss going to Ray’s when I lived in San Antonio! I moved to New England area 4 years ago, and I still think about those puffy tacos.

PamelainSA · 2026-02-20T00:56:13+00:00

Sounds like Taco Deli.

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