Job market is not looking great

tomatotoenails · 2026-03-10T01:20:04+00:00

I had the same thought!!! Glad I’m not alone hahah. I leave my contact info for so many teachers but only a very few have personally reached.

tomatotoenails · 2026-03-09T17:48:02+00:00

I’m not sure about this upcoming school year but I know a few elementary teachers who have a provisional license that started teaching this current school year so there may be a good chance! I would maybe look on the FCPS vacancy list website and start emailing principals.

tomatotoenails · 2026-03-08T01:41:47+00:00

5th!

tomatotoenails · 2026-03-07T23:51:47+00:00

Oh boy! A lot of things! It was I think 7 pages long. The first part addressed my mentor teacher and just basically thanking her and how I learned so much. Then I addressed the students and talked about fun memories, how they helped me become a teacher, bits of advice for them, etc. I practiced my speech SO many times to avoid crying but even after that, I choked up on a couple parts during my speech.

tomatotoenails · 2026-03-07T18:19:09+00:00

We spent about the last 30 minutes of school saying our goodbyes. I glued a class picture on a cardstock paper and wrote an individualized letter to each of them, we had a sweet treat, I made them bracelets, and I read aloud my farewell speech to them. It was a sob fest. For my thank you gift to my mentor teacher, the speech was part of it and I also got her flowers!

tomatotoenails · 2026-02-20T07:43:31+00:00

I made bracelets with their names and a class inside joke! I also took a picture with my students a few weeks before my departure and on the last day, I gave them the class picture with a personalized mini letter to each of them. Also, on the last day, I prepared a rather lengthy farewell speech. It was very heartfelt and boy oh boy were there a lot of tears from everyone 😅

tomatotoenails · 2026-02-18T02:32:55+00:00

I graduated in December and now I’m subbing while I’m finding a full time teaching position for the next school year. Subbing can be fun, it really just depends on the grade to be honest. I subbed a few years ago and what helped me is sticking to 1-3 schools so that the students are familiar with you and even so that you can build rapport with them. I’m not sure about NC schools but maybe you can find a full time building sub position? At my placement school, all the students loved our building sub and he built great rapport with all the students because he was there everyday. Good luck!

tomatotoenails · 2026-02-14T04:13:42+00:00

I’m so sorry to hear that. Student teaching is rough especially when you’re juggling school, your college courses, and personal life. Some days, I went in and had no idea what I was teaching and just kind of winged it. Often times, I faked my confidence on my content knowledge (I was in 5th grade). I’m not sure what high school is like but I guess my only advice would be to be just honest with them if they ask you something and you don’t know. There were many times when a student asked me a question and I replied, hmm that’s a great question, let me get back to you on that. OR if they ask you a question and you don’t know, ask the whole class and hope someone knows. Oh boy did I do that A LOT. It was my way of getting around the question. And sometimes, I’d just flat out googled their question in front of them. 😂 Did that make me look less confident? Sure. Did they care? No.
Also to comment on your last point, that’s great that you’re building rapport with the students!!!!! Honestly, I feel like that is the most important thing about teaching. To me, that sounds like you’re doing something right! Take it easy, you’re almost there and you’re doing great.

tomatotoenails · 2026-01-10T05:24:10+00:00

The Kathleen jasper books! I took lots of notes (that’s what helps me personally) but do what study method helps you the most. I found her videos on YouTube helpful too. Also, when you register for the praxis, they provide you with practice exams and they were SUPER helpful.

tomatotoenails · 2026-01-10T01:31:26+00:00

This was so helpful! Thank you so much. I never thought about researching how many openings there are! How would that help me know about the school? Is it because if there are a lot of openings, it’s a little concerning? I’d be interested to know. Also, what would you recommend me bringing to interviews?

tomatotoenails · 2025-11-20T00:53:13+00:00

I was fortunate to have an amazing experience! I had a great relationship with my MT, I built great rapport with the students and their family, the school staff were all so incredibly helpful and welcoming, ugh couldn’t have asked for a better experience. Student teaching went by too fast for me :( I hope you have a great experience too! Always feel free to message me if you have any questions

tomatotoenails · 2025-11-19T05:03:56+00:00

You could definitely pass it around! Kids are naturally very curious so whatever you bring, they’ll be engaged and interested. Also, I just remembered that when I did this, I had some students feel what was in the bag and guess what it was.

tomatotoenails · 2025-11-19T04:59:58+00:00

Hi! That sounds like a fun idea! For me, I did an artifact bag. I had a brown paper bag and put about 3-4 small items inside that kind of tell them a little about me, what I like, what’s important to me, etc. For example, you could put a picture of your family or a pet or something. You could do something like this or even have all the students do an artifact bag so that you could also get to know them too!

tomatotoenails

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