Is anyone else out there having difficulty finding a HS teaching position in NC for the upcoming semester?

I earned a 3.34 from State and have my license in Social Studies 9-12. I did very well with student teaching. I've applied via the NCDPI application to all 100 counties, sent resumes directly to about 50 principals, and have sent out about 30 applications via teachers-teachers.com.

I've scored a grand total of two interviews thus far this summer; both had <60% passing rates on the majority of their EOGs, neither of them gave me an offer.

What am I doing wrong? Could the fact that I didn't get all my resumes out until early-June have anything to do with it? Does no one want to take a risk on a first-year teacher w/o a Masters?

This sucks. wtf NC?


[Edited on July 29, 2006 at 12:02 AM. Reason : .]

7/29/2006 12:01:04 AM

That doesn't sound right at all...there's some bad mojo somewhere.

If you're a risk taker and can stand to be away from NC, move somewhere else, like a state that's not 48th nationally out of 50 states for lowest teacher salaries

7/29/2006 12:03:04 AM

Quote :

"What am I doing wrong?"

Quote :

"I have my license in Social Studies 9-12"

7/29/2006 12:15:06 AM

I heard that social studies and english were the hardest ones to find a position in. They are really in need of science and math...thankfully i'm in science and hopefully won't have a hard time finding a position.

7/29/2006 12:21:21 AM

^Exactly what he said. How much follow-up have you done with principals? Sometimes you literally have to bug them to death to get an interview and hear about a job.

7/29/2006 12:26:03 AM

^^^ yeah

NC's about to be SOL when I go to grad school for something useful. The hell with altruism.


^ Not a whole lot, honestly. I can't justify calling principals to inquire into the status of a non-existant vacancy. I've been bugging a few HSs that actually posted SS vacancies, though.



[Edited on July 29, 2006 at 12:31 AM. Reason : .]

7/29/2006 12:27:40 AM

Just teach at a private school. The pay isn't as good, but there are far less niglets.


http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=niglet

7/29/2006 3:18:36 AM

as a child growing up i never understood why teachers earned such low salaries.

7/29/2006 3:24:57 AM

I hear Hyde County needs people

7/29/2006 3:31:50 AM

Robeson County also needs people but for the love of god don't teach there unless it's a final resort.

7/29/2006 4:04:49 AM

Quote :

"as a child growing up i never understood why teachers earned such low salaries."

Because their jobs don't require any rare skill, great intelligence, or produce immediate, tangible benefits.

7/29/2006 4:25:39 AM

Quote :

"Hyde County"

Quote :

"It has the distinction of being the only county in North Carolina without a single stoplight (although a blinking yellow light hangs near Swan Quarter)."

[Edited on July 29, 2006 at 4:29 AM. Reason : thx wp]

7/29/2006 4:28:49 AM

Teacher pay really isn't that low, considering they only work 10 months out of the year. Do something productive over the summer and you make plenty.

7/29/2006 9:50:40 AM

my dad is a history teacher for hs. he is constantly job searching. its pathetic really, they expect the history/ss teachers to be coaches.

7/29/2006 9:53:25 AM

social studies is hard - most of the teachers are lifers - buddy of mine had to move to charlotte to get a job

7/29/2006 11:10:35 AM

Quote :

"like a state that's not 48th nationally out of 50 states for lowest teacher salaries "

It's actually not that bad in NC. The state usually ranks around the 23rd or 24th.

7/29/2006 11:53:59 AM

I know that it is extremely frustrating, but you are not the only one in this situation. Many of your peers are in the same situation. I know that myself and several of my friends from the English Education program have had similar difficulties finding a job. The only ones who did get jobs had a job offer that stemmed from filling an interim position or went to extremely rural school systems.

I graduated in December and I have been looking for a job teaching High School English in the area ever since. I have not been looking all over North Carolina because my husband wants to stay in the area, but I have had really shitty luck in the Wake County area. I've had 6 interviews and two unsolicited calls from schools more than an hour commute from my home. Nothing really came from the interviews other than honing my interview skills and learning that Wake County (at least) has no interest in teachers right out of college. It's very disheartening because I was a dynamite student teacher and I will make a phenomenal teacher.

7/29/2006 12:10:51 PM

I beginning to think the only way I'm going to enter the teaching field without having to start at a Dangerous Minds schools is if I get SPED or ESL certified.

Which would require me going back to school for some more undergrad crap. And given my experience this summer there's no way I'm shoveling more resources into teaching HS.

^tru dat


[Edited on July 29, 2006 at 12:34 PM. Reason : .]

7/29/2006 12:14:47 PM

my friend got a job as the SS teacher at thomasville middle, he's also starting up a new middle school soccer team, the other friend of mine is starting to teach history at reynolds in winston..he's also O-line coach for the jv team, so i guess they do want you people to be coaches..every history and Ss teacher that i've ever had coached either basketball or football.

7/29/2006 12:29:39 PM

I've been out of work 5 of the 8 months that I have been out of school because I have been banking on finding a full-time teaching position. Unfortunately, it looks like I'm going to be substitute teaching or working as a teacher's assistant just to bring in some sort of income. Because, afterall, what exactly does one do with an education degree if you're not teaching? When I mentioned to my husband that I may as well go to grad-school, he wigged out because he's been counting on me to start bringing in some money soon.

7/29/2006 12:29:48 PM

The annoying aspect of this whole thing is that while I was in school I was told my job-finding experience would be completely different. "Sure, your pay will be low, but you can have your choice of schools anywhere in the state!"

Whatever. Yesterday I was fully prepared to jump on an offer from a school with <100 students, all female, all at high risk, >95% minority, ~20% teenage mothers. I didn't even get that offer. (For reasons I completely understand, but the point is I would've taken it without hesitation I'm so desperate)

I want to run into one of Dr. Alibrandi's classes and yell "Run Awaaaaaaay!!!"


^ Yeah. I'm working in a Lowes garden center for now. Apparently history/education degrees are good for getting forklift work

[Edited on July 29, 2006 at 12:40 PM. Reason : .]

7/29/2006 12:37:17 PM

^me too! I was told that we all couldn't work in Wake County, but we would all find jobs. That would be fine and dandy, but I cannot just up and move right now or commute an half or more one way.

I know someone else who is working at Best Buy and someone else who is working at Food Lion with their education degrees and if things get bad enough, I'll go back to Customer Service at Best Buy; but damnit, I didn't go to college to work in retail.

[Edited on July 29, 2006 at 12:44 PM. Reason : ^s]

7/29/2006 12:41:56 PM

i can't believe anyone with a history degree would be surprised at the difficulty in finding a teaching job

7/29/2006 12:43:56 PM

^ How is it at all obvious? I was told it'd be cake.

7/29/2006 12:47:50 PM

if you thought everything would be fine and easy with a history degree - someone lied to you

7/29/2006 12:53:57 PM

wow you got some terrible fucking misinformation

you should seriously injure your advisor

math and science jobs might be easy to land but definitely not history

you got screwed

7/29/2006 12:56:37 PM

Here are all the current vacancies in Winston Salem: http://wsfcs.k12.nc.us/employ/teacherjobopenings.pdf

I have to drive down on Monday to NC State to get an official copy of my transcript.

Do not come to Guilford County.

Orange County/Chapel Hill-Carboro is pretty good too from what I hear.

7/29/2006 12:57:02 PM

What's wrong with Guilford County? I've noticed they have a lot of English openings. My husband and I have been thinking about trying out that area after our lease is up and he's in a position to transfer with his company.

7/29/2006 1:10:52 PM

Do you know any people in the school system from your home county? They may be able to help you.

Also, here is the job listings for Vance County, where I live.

http://www.vcs.k12.nc.us/VCSWEBSITE/VCSCERTIFIEDVACANCIES.htm

They have a high school social studies job open there. PM me if you want more info.

[Edited on July 29, 2006 at 1:21 PM. Reason : .]

7/29/2006 1:12:46 PM

^^ My high school in Guilford County had like 2 English openings every year.

Guilford County Schools is retarded overall though.

7/29/2006 1:14:21 PM

^^^^ Yeah, I've been bugging the Glenn principal about the social studies opening. It's been posted all summer long. wtf Adolphus?

Everyone I've talked to has said Guilford has one of the worst administrations in the state. Nearly all their schools are failing. But it's not like I'd hesitate to take a job there.

^^ Northern Vance should be expecting my resume in a couple of days.

[Edited on July 29, 2006 at 1:22 PM. Reason : .]

7/29/2006 1:20:49 PM

As posted earlier in this thread, schools are mostly looking for math and science teachers. Schools are looking for information systems and Spanish teachers, too. In any event, the situation is unfortunate for the rest of us.

Believe me, I empathize with you. I am a graduate student pursuing a concentration in English and postsecondary education. I, however, have no desire to teach at the secondary-school level.

7/29/2006 4:43:19 PM

There are a lot of things wrong with Guilford County

1) They make all students in Guilford County take Alg 1 in the 8th grade even if they aren't ready for it. The students that fail take it in 9th and 10th or until they pass it. That is why a lot of schools are failing to meet AYP standards.

2) They like to push students into classes they are not ready for. They like to see high AP and honors enrollment rates even though 1/3 of the students are not ready for the class(nor will be ready for the class).

3) Administration was bad at my school and the school I taught at was supposed to be one of the better schools. When you send a student to the office for disrespect to a teacher, the admin tells the student to go back and apologize even if this student has a history of doing it. They don't want high suspension rates because it "makes them look better." Also when a student doesn't do well they blame the teacher before they blame the students. Students are not held responsible and accountable for their actions. When rules are set, they aren't followed.

There are other things too. The school I taught at last year lost over 40 percent of its teachers because they went to different schools or different counties. I left because I was blamed for my students doing poorly on EOCs in Geometry, when most of them couldn't solve an equaton or remember something simple as the sum of the angles in a triangle is 180 degrees or they hyptenuse is the longest side in a right triangle(across from the right angle).

The school I will be teaching at next year is worse academic-wise, but the big difference is that the administration supports its teachers and know that they(the teachers) are doing the best they can with what they have.

7/29/2006 4:56:29 PM

http://www.teachforamerica.com/supporters_charlotte.html

http://www.teachforamerica.com/supporters_ncarolina.html

Teach for America people seem to have the option of inner city charlotte stuff and rural NC places like goldsboro, so maybe those places are worth looking into.

7/29/2006 5:07:17 PM

this thread is a showcase of stupid decisions

Not only did you decide to teach, you are whining because you are afraid to move to somewhere with jobs, and you are whining about how you were tricked by your advisors.

7/29/2006 5:10:12 PM

then i expect you to homeschool your kids whenever you have them

7/29/2006 5:20:34 PM

The nonsensical response doesn't surprise me.

7/29/2006 5:21:50 PM

Quote :

"Not only did you decide to teach"

Perish the thought...

Quote :

"you are whining because you are afraid to move to somewhere with jobs"

A) It's called a North Carolina Teaching License. Not a USA Teaching License. Moving from state to state is a difficult thing to do, and principals almost always go for local help over out-of-state help. However, since you mentioned it a few counties in SC, TN, and VA that posted vacancies also have my resume.

B) Yay, let's travel accross the US on my own dime to get a job that pays 28k/yr. School systems don't pay moving expenses.

C) My soon-to-be significant other will soon have a job in NC that pays well. This trumps my low paying job.

Quote :

"and you are whining about how you were tricked by your advisors."

Are you trolling or dumb?

7/29/2006 10:45:03 PM

I bet Durham Co. schools needs teachers, the ones at my high school (Jordan) are dropping like flies because they don't like the new administration/block scheduling. A lot of the teachers left for Chapel Hill/Carrboro, and also I think they're building some new high school or something near the wake/durham county lines, I don't know if its public, but an old principal from my HS is starting it out and a lot of teacher who were loyal to him are following.

7/29/2006 10:54:12 PM

the state of the schools in durham is why i went to catholic schools after 5th grade....

7/29/2006 11:04:11 PM

The problem is you might be up against people who have completed their masters, yet for some reason decided to terminate their doctoral studies. They will have a masters degree, probably a higher undergraduate gpa, a high graduate level gpa, they may have publications, and they probably have taught at the college level as part of their fellowship/assistantship.

I would try to go back to graduate school, if you get into a Research I university they typically pay your tuition, provide healthcare, and a decent monthly stipend (~1300).

[Edited on July 30, 2006 at 1:21 AM. Reason : .]

7/30/2006 1:20:47 AM

Quote :

"A) It's called a North Carolina Teaching License. Not a USA Teaching License. Moving from state to state is a difficult thing to do, and principals almost always go for local help over out-of-state help. However, since you mentioned it a few counties in SC, TN, and VA that posted vacancies also have my resume"

its called reciprocity

Quote :

"North Carolina has reciprocal contracts with these states: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming"

don't they teach you anything in the college of education

7/30/2006 3:29:31 AM

^Yes, they have those contracts with other states, but typically that only helps science people. For social studies they hire locally in almost every circumstance. In addition, he has to compete agaisnt master degree people who decided the Doctorate wasn't for them, and can't find a job.

[Edited on July 30, 2006 at 3:42 AM. Reason : .]

7/30/2006 3:42:02 AM

Social studies SHOULDN'T be that big a hurdle once you pass the grades where local state history is taught (typically at some point in middle school), this is kinda shocking to me

This is why I'm glad I'm going to teach math

7/30/2006 7:01:08 PM

Here's a few additional comments from me. I'll make it as quick and easy as I can.
1) I teach in Wake County. I was able to get a job at the same place where I student-taught because I bugged the living daylights out of the assistant principal who did the hiring. I understand that you're bugging principals, so I'm not sure why it isn't working.
2) One of the teachers I work with got his job because he couldn't find a job when he needed one. He started substituting, he took long-term substituting positions, and then the people fell in love with him and all that he had to offer. I know it isn't the BEST route to go...but it did work for him.
3) One of my best friends couldn't find a high school job when she graduated in December. She took a job at a middle school and is gaining VALUABLE experience. That may not be what you want to do either, but again, it's an option.

I'm really sorry that you're having a difficult time finding a job. Good luck, and I'm always here if you need any advice/help!

7/30/2006 8:02:14 PM

I hope I dont have this problem when i graduate in two years with a degree in business and marketing education

7/30/2006 8:03:49 PM

I just found a lateral entry English position at a high school. All I'm doing now is waiting for the county's School Board to meet and approve me on Tuesday. Oh, and going over every possible scenario of something that could go wrong between now and the first day of school.

[Edited on July 30, 2006 at 8:17 PM. Reason : .]

7/30/2006 8:09:30 PM

Quote :

"2) One of the teachers I work with got his job because he couldn't find a job when he needed one. He started substituting, he took long-term substituting positions, and then the people fell in love with him and all that he had to offer. I know it isn't the BEST route to go...but it did work for him."

That's what I was going to suggest. If you are certified, sub pay isn't THAT bad to use as a gateway to get a job. Just sub at one or two of your favorite school and when you are around the building a lot, and do a good job, you will get noticed.

7/30/2006 8:16:08 PM

if you were me, id move north and try my luck (unions and all, healthcare is nice). if it fails, go to grad school. that was my plan, but now im pretty certain im going to grad school instead and just staying in as long as i possibly can.

7/30/2006 8:24:49 PM

Quote :

"as a child growing up i never understood why teachers earned such low salaries."

being the son of a teacher, i both never understood and saw the results firsthand

Quote :

"Because their jobs don't require any rare skill, great intelligence, or produce immediate, tangible benefits."

because anybody can teach groups of children what they don't necessarilly want to know, while keeping them intrested enough to learn Lets not forget the whole "the children are our future" bit




as the social sciences job, those aren't in demand nearly as much as science/math teachers (as previously stated), you'll find something

7/30/2006 9:04:26 PM