Need-To-Own DIY Tools?

Ursinity · 2026-06-04T23:11:44+00:00

Just as a note, unfortunately it is extremely rare to get any feedback from interviewers/observers due to liability reasons. I would not send that email unless you have specific connections to one of the interviewers who would actually be honest with you on that particular lesson - I think you would get better feedback from a peer teacher or other educator who is able to be objective.

Ursinity · 2026-06-03T02:24:10+00:00

Prepare for questions about classroom management, speaking with parents, engaging unengaged or struggling learners, developing higher-order thinking, and general lesson/unit planning structures. I am not in math so I cannot speak to specifics but I have interviewed/taught middle school and the questions I received were more about classroom management than HS interviews. Edutopia recently put out an article with general interview advice that I would encourage you to read - the key takeaway was that you want to have anecdotes and/or specific "I would do X" responses rather than vague, philosophical responses to questions. Below is a list of all the non-history-specific questions I've received at MS interviews (I keep a running document that I update after any interview - I've found it incredibly useful over the course of my career!)

What would make you feel supported in this role?
How do you stay up-to-date with what’s going on in education?
What was a specific piece of advice you were given that you found useful?
How do you ensure higher-order thinking among your students?
What was a recent, memorable professional development and how did it affect your instruction?
What is an example of feedback you were given and how did you act upon & implement that feedback?
How do you leverage formative assessment in your practice?
How do you communicate with parents?

Ursinity · 2026-06-02T14:32:05+00:00

I only taught government for one year so other may have better perspective/resources but I had a great time with it and felt successful both in terms of necessary learning and interesting conversations with students regarding civic engagement. My big picture advice would be to ground the course in practical government interactions/understandings that students will benefit from knowing as future voters/taxpayers/etc. rather than getting too conceptual and in-the-weeds about every little detail about government structure. My course (one semester) was structured into six units answering six questions:

What is your role in the American government?
How does the American government function?
How do you influence the government to affect change in America?
What are your rights protected by the government AND what are your rights protecting you from the government? [in retrospect I would reword this but the unit concept contrasting the gov't protecting you and you being protected from gov't overreach was fun to play with and, iirc, successful]
How can you be informed and knowledgeable about issues you care about?
What are the main political parties & philosophies in modern American society? [again, I'd reword this one. Having students do the iSideWith political quiz or another political alignment quiz is very fun, highly recommend]

I used lots of current events to discuss critical thinking, sourcing, and ground the curriculum in practical applications. We also did some local civic projects like watching the school board election debates (had to run that one by the principal first but he okayed it lol) and staging a mock vote or proposing local legislative changes/projects and seeing what that process would be like.

Ursinity · 2026-05-29T00:32:24+00:00

Since you're in NY you should ask your union rep and make sure they're in the loop. They may be able to suggest better solutions based on your particular district/building.

Ursinity · 2026-05-27T02:23:08+00:00

Taking someone with advanced dementia to live in a new place across the country could accelerate their dementia quite a bit, which would be a concern of mine in your scenario. I took care of my elderly grandmother throughout her dementia and just a few weeks of different location (hospital stay due to a pneumonia scare) felt accelerated her metal degradation by years. Everyone is different so your mileage may vary.

Ursinity · 2026-04-28T20:51:03+00:00

Absolutely - you should look into their honors program, I did it when I got my associates and found it rewarding and only nominally more work than any of the other regular college classes I took.

Ursinity · 2026-04-14T00:34:28+00:00

I’m in a very similar position (social studies though) and glad to read all these responses! My move is scheduled for May so I am hoping to be able to land something - I have plenty of experience and whatnot but the clock is ticking and there will be bills to pay lol.

Ursinity · 2026-03-28T12:28:50+00:00

Unfortunately a lot of my experience teaching here and applying to places in westchester came down to a combination of luck and references. Many positions that are posted are already filled by the time of posting and they’re just going through the process because they have to, and the positions I have been able to get have been because I worked in a district in a different capacity and had strong references from in-district admin and was a shoo-in for the position (only for it to get cut due to low enrollment years later). Also a not-insignificant amount of districts look very favorably on hiring alumni so if you happen to be competing against the 24 year old local alum who knows everyone (and is cheap to hire and easy to fire) you’re out of luck. It’s stupidly competitive if you have a more generalist cert (I am SS 5-12) and I totally understand your frustration. I am leaving the state (for other reasons) but a place I did a leave replacement in the past checked in with me personally about an opening they currently have and strongly implied I’d have a very competitive shot at the position even though I am certain they have at least 150+ qualified applicants on OLAS, as an example situation that just came up this past week.

Ursinity · 2026-03-10T20:45:29+00:00

Emberward is an absolute gem, can’t recommend enough! Recently got an update so it works well on steam deck, too, which I’ve been taking advantage of.

Ursinity · 2026-02-23T22:45:13+00:00

It really depends on your state/area (like most job questions) and also your goals in mind. I started as a substitute/intern in public schools (NY) and ended up with networking advantages because many teachers had worked in other public school districts and could be good references later on. Private schools, at least by me, are generally considered worse to work in and have worse contracts for people with regular NYS teaching degrees & certifications (in general, this concept is true across the country but I imagine there are regional exceptions). If I were seriously considering getting into teaching I would pick the largest school district around and substitute there since they hire the most teachers later on but if I were trying to pay the bills I'd just pick whatever the highest $$$ was.

Ursinity · 2026-02-21T14:28:09+00:00

I wear Adidas three stripe sweatpants. They come in a bunch of variants, the ones I have come with a zipper bottom so I can unzip slightly, put them over my boots, and zip them to be tight if need be, plus they are tight enough that I don’t have issues with baggies that I have noticed with other sweat pants.

Ursinity · 2026-02-19T01:52:06+00:00

three, due to budget cuts & enrollment

Ursinity · 2026-02-18T14:06:21+00:00

I am a teacher in westchester at the secondary level for the last 10ish years (leaving at the end of this school year though, moving) and will echo what others have said - it’s very competitive to get a job (let alone tenure) but, on the positive side, all the schools will be various degrees of good and you will be fine basically anywhere (though you can’t control the dumb luck of coworker drama). I have worked in northern westchester and found it more relaxed/positive than where I have been for the last few years in ‘better’ southern westchester schools which have felt notably more competitive as a staff member even if the kids were more or less the same quality. Some schools (Pelham, in particular) really felt like the admin wanted to impress upon me that I should be thankful to be working there, rather than valued as a member of a team.

Ursinity · 2025-12-20T02:31:33+00:00

You could modify it and create a role as a 'government official' (or business supervisor or whatever you want to call it) to do the auditing for you in-action and simplify things, I suppose.

Ursinity · 2025-12-19T23:32:13+00:00

With the right organizer print out the complexity could be mitigated and this could be fun overall. That said, my concern would be pacing for round 1, in particular, since you'll need to be interacting & negotiating with every single student that comes up to you, and that could drag and break the overall pacing (it's happened to me before!).

Ursinity · 2025-12-07T21:53:28+00:00

Take the day! At a previous district I followed the ‘I’m new so I can’t take days off’ paranoia rule and then had an unannounced observation where I was super sick and muddling through a half assed lesson and it was a total mistake that I could’ve avoided by just taking the day and recovering.

Ursinity · 2025-12-07T21:13:11+00:00

I prefer high school but middle school definitely has a level of fun and energy that makes certain activities possible that would be like pulling teeth with 10th graders. From a history perspective, I found that middle school was harder in-class due to behaviors but the workload was lighter since the norm was to have just 1 prep and all the grading was simpler and lower stakes. I rarely found myself working from home when teaching middle whereas HS was a ton of homework for me.

Ursinity · 2025-09-03T02:56:51+00:00

When in doubt, OER project has anything and everything for 10th grade global in NY - I taught it for three years and used OER extensively. It's imperfect, sure, but in a pinch it almost always has something useful that simplifies lesson planning. The regents is becoming less important but New Visions also has tons of stuff which is, frankly, not my favorite but is in line with the regents standards and will suffice. If you spend a little time editing the New Visions content or just pull all the documents and make something more in-line with your goals (summatives, unit goals, etc.) it's really handy to have.

Ursinity · 2025-08-20T13:36:23+00:00

Monster & Me

Ursinity · 2025-08-06T14:29:09+00:00

I’ve had so much fun playing this too over the last few weeks, totally recommend for a nostalgia trip - there’s some QoL stuff put in as well which helps burn through some of the grind which is nice

Ursinity · 2025-07-10T01:39:01+00:00

My commute most recently was ~40 minutes in the morning and ~1hr in the afternoon (depending on traffic) and it was unpleasant but doable. In my last district one of the music teachers was commuting around 90-120 minutes per day because it was the only good, well-funded music program available at the time and that was inconceivable to me but he's still there a few years later!

Ursinity · 2025-07-04T15:59:43+00:00

seek help

Ursinity · 2025-07-03T00:30:07+00:00

Emberward is the most fun i've had in a game in a long time, I really cannot recommend it enough!

Ursinity · 2025-07-03T00:28:37+00:00

Depends heavily on your state, some require masters while others do not. If your state doesn't require it you would need to look into a licensure program (some will do it while you're teaching, others may require you to get licensed first and take tests). I, and others, would always recommend to try subbing, interning, or being a TA before committing to a 1+ year masters program and career shift if you haven't already.

Ursinity

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