I wasn't able to email you through the board, so maybe you can email me at: ombern@yahoo.com. Thanks!
It's a LOT of fun, though there are some good and bad parts: GOOD - The kids love music class. I don't have to work too hard to motivate them for my class: they walk in expecting to have a blast, so they do. - I'm good cop, the homeroom teachers are bad cop. They get to have fun in my class, while the homeroom teacher makes them learn math, science and other boring stuff. I'm beloved in the school. - I go home at ~4:00 pm every day, do about and hour of prep work for the next day and I'm done. My friends who are secondary teachers (middle school and high school) are at work until 7:00pm most nights, and usually have obligations beyond that. Elementary music is MUCH less time consuming. BAD - You have to have the right temperment for elementary. Not everyone is cut out for it, so pay close attention while student teaching to see if it's for you. - You're part teacher, part babysitter. You spend some time talking about the treble staff, and then you have to tie someone's shoe. You teach them duple meter, then you walk them to the bathroom. - Parents. Nobody wants to hear that their precious little angle is a demon in the classroom. Expect to be told you're wrong on a daily basis, and be ready to defend EVERYTHING you do in your classroom. - Bureaucracy. There are a million hoops to jump through. But to be honest, that's true in any school, elementary or otherwise.
Thanks, man. I really appreciate the response. I might have to email you for some tips when it comes time to start interviewing. No summer band, no long friday night bus trips during football season, no Saturday marching contests.... seriously, it's starting to sound better and better to me. Plus my fiancee is a kindergarten teacher, so believe me, I hear all the stories, good and bad. Who knows, we might even end up at the same school one day.
That and listening to "Coast to Coast AM with George Noory". When I hit the gym early, I listen to that shiiite while I'm shaving and brushing my teeth. There are some freaky, FUBAR people in the world, but it does make for entertaining radio.
I work at a non-profit organization and my job title is some BS they made up -- E-Donor Relations Specialist (it was a new position when I started). My primary duty is data entry on donations that come in through the mail or the website. I'm responsible for cleaning up the data in our database from time to time, record by record (for 120,000+ donors). I publish the organization's e-newsletter every month. I'm also the resident computer graphics guy, so anytime someone needs a picture photoshopped or an image created from scratch, that's me too. On top of that, I represent the organization at agency fairs when called upon...in fact I'm going to one tonight. Then like pretty much any position, there are odd jobs here and there. I get paid crap and I live on the other side of town from where I work. I loathe it. Somebody tell me what I should be doing instead... I know Microsoft Office pretty well (aside from Access...learned it in HS but haven't used it since), I'm decent with photo editing, fairly talented with video editing, and I know HTML/XHTML. I'm also a whiz with the keyboard as far as speed goes, including 10 key. I'm no computer genius but I've built my own from scratch at least. College degree in Sociology (I know, I know), and 9 months experience at the job described above. I want to do something involving computers, as I find them interesting and my skills obviously lean toward that field. I'm definitely open to more schooling and/or certifications, etc. I just need to know what to go for. Any help is appreciated.
not that i dont qualify or anything. I'm just not sure if i want do be a police officer because of the pay. I know i might sound foolish but im not going to be risking my life for 40k-50k a year..
