I HAVE A JOB!!!

SOOOOO. I don't know if you all are aware of how stressed I've felt recently since I had not been placed. Originally the Kansas City Missouri School District (KCMSD) promised teach for america 51 contracts. We signed these before we left for training in Chicago. HOWEVER , when we got back we found out there were only 31 promised contracts. These contracts were all discovered this past week, and all the 31 contracted people were able to go to new teacher training. I, along with about 15 others were not contracted, and were pretty sure we might be unemployed until the 2nd or 3rd week of school (when the teacher hiring freeze was over)

HOWEVER, i got a call on Thurdsay night from a Principal, asking me to come and interview for a Bilingual speaking teaching position, teaching either 2nd or 4th grade. I was nervous for the interview but excited because I felt like I was very qualified for the position, and was SUPER excited b/c this is actually known as one of the better schools in KCMSD. It is still about 98% free-and-reduced lunch, and about 60% african american 48% hispanic, but it is one of the higher performing schools in the district AND In an awesome area! It is .9 m from my house! I could walk if i wanted to!

So i interviewed with the principal who seems awesome! She was very very excited about helping all students achieve no matter what, seemed to really care about her staff, and called the staff a "family". This was great to hear b/c a lot of schools have NO interaction w/ their adminstration at all! So even though it seems as though I will be working very hard, and long hours, we are working towards common goals all together which is exciting!

I got a call the day after the interview letting me know I will be teaching SOME grade at the school (pre-k-8th) and I will be teaching ONLY in Spanish. The way the program works is that each group of students has 2 teachers, one English speaking one, one spanish speaking one. They spend half their learning time only in Spanish (with me!) and during this time we ONLY speak Spanish. Then they spend the other 1/2 of their learning time with the English speaking child. It is the only school that does this in the entire state of Missouri, but it is designed to help the English speaking children learn SPanish and vice-versa. I'm very excited and know it will be HARD, but hopefully my Spanish will improve rapidly! It's like studying abroad... but in the US :)

My first day of work is Monday, and I will be in my school all week going through Professional Development, meeting staff, getting my classroom, and preparing for DAy 1 of school which is the 24th. MAN!

So overall i'm super excited! I'm loving KC, meeting lots of great people, and making good friends! I still miss everyone, but i HOpe you guys are having a wonderful end of the summer as well!

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